The team of IQS biotechnology students recently won the third edition of “Moritz University,” a pioneering project aimed at students from Catalan universities who are studying Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Food Science, and Technology, among others, with the aim of boosting brewing culture and talent.
The team of IQS biotechnology students recently won the third edition of “Moritz University,” a pioneering project aimed at students from Catalan universities who are studying Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Food Science, and Technology, among others, with the aim of boosting brewing culture and talent. The award-winning students were Gerard Daunis Roure, Alba Fernández Bessa, Joan Fillol Pastor, Pablo Terroba Benéitez, and Roger Plaza Clar.
For yet another year, the challenge involved learning the secrets of brewing from the brewing masters at the Moritz Brewery in Barcelona, Albert Viaplana and Germán Melgarejo, who took on the role of mentors to the students during this process that began in February.
The winning group stated: “For us, this project has been the best evidence that you can achieve your dreams with hard work. This project made it possible for us to learn many technical concepts about beer production. But what we appreciated most as a group has been the friendship that grew between us during this time. We also really enjoyed the friendly and approachable people like Germán and Albert who we were able to meet and the excitement we felt every time we went to the Moritz brewery.”
The winner will be represented by the upcoming summer beer
The IQS team's winning beer, a sour, will become the next seasonal beer for the Moritz Brewery in Barcelona, Casa Moritz, and Bar Velódromo this coming June. Moritz will give a percentage of the beer sales profits to the winning students.
Over the last few months, the students, organized into teams from different disciplines, received exclusive training from the master brewers at the Moritz Brewery in Barcelona. The students began with theoretical and technical training where they could delve into aspects related to beer composition and production.
After these sessions, the students worked on designing their beer formulas. Then, in the microbrewery at the Moritz Brewery in Barcelona itself and with individual training for each team, they were able to craft their unpasteurized fresh beer proposal.
Technical quality and innovation recognized by the jury
The seven teams defended their proposals before a prestigious and specialized jury made up of master brewers, beer sommeliers, and expert brewers: Aitor Labrador, writer, editor, and founder of Libros de Guarda, the first publishing house 100% specialized in producing and publishing books about beer in Spain and Latin America; Judit Càrtex, master brewer and vice president of GECAN and director of InnBrew: The Brewers Convention; the prestigious Michelin-starred chef Jordi Vilà, culinary director of Moritz and head of the Al Kostat restaurants and the award-winning Alkimia; Pablo Martin, master brewer at Molina For Brewers and associate professor of the brewing master's degree at Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, and the master brewers at Moritz, Albert Viaplana and Germán Mergalejo.
In their evaluation, the jury took into account not only the quality of the proposals presented, but also their innovation component, thus committing to young talent and creativity.
The jury highlighted the high level of all the proposals in this year's edition, both for their technical quality and their innovation, before finally selecting the beer crafted by the IQS team. The winning beer is a refreshing, silky beer with character. It is a sour beer with fruity aromas where fig notes stand out. Their flavourful proposal was undoubtedly a fundamental reason for their beer being chosen as the winner.
Once again, the participating universities were: the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB); the University of Barcelona (UB); the Advanced Polytechnic School of the University of Girona (EPS-UdG); the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), winners of the first edition; IQS (Ramon Llull University); Rovira i Virgili University (URV); and the University of Lleida (UdL).