A distillery that was building the operations team for their new bourbon production facility requested assistance from the James B. Beam Institute to help educate their team in the science and engineering foundations of bourbon manufacturing. The team consisted of experienced distillery operators from other distilleries and operators from other manufacturing industries, so the business was seeking to bring the whole team to the same level of science-based understanding of bourbon production to improve readiness of their manufacturing workforce for bringing their new facility online and producing quality products.

The Education Coordinator (Dr. Kevin Baldridge) at the Beam Institute worked with the distillery plant manager to build a three-day training program in collaboration with experts in relevant subject areas including grain milling (Dr. Akinbode Adedeji), grain mashing (Dr. Harmonie Bettenhausen), fermentation (Dr. Tyler Barzee, Zac Byrd, Dr. Czarena Crofcheck), chemical engineering (Dr. Sarah Wilson), and spirit maturation science (Andrew Wiehebrink). The training program included a combination of classroom lectures and hands-on activities to reinforce the key concepts in a practical application for the daily work tasks for the participants in their normal jobs. A pre-assessment at the beginning of each workshop day was given to participants to assess subject knowledge at baseline. At the end of each day, a competitive trivia quiz was employed to assess subject knowledge.

The audience consisted of 20 distillery operators, maintenance technicians, supervisors, and the plant manager.

Short-term impacts:

Knowledge assessment impacts

• Comparison of questions that were comparable between pre- and post-assessments showed increases in subject knowledge for two of the three workshop days, including distillation and process engineering topics and fermentation topics.

Feedback on the impact of the program was solicited from the business and participants:

• When asked about the value the training program brought to their team, the distillery plant manager said:
  1. At Heaven Hill Springs Distillery, we are fortunate to have hired team members with a unique and diverse work experiences inside and outside of the beverage alcohol industry. The James B. Beam institute helped us develop a 3-day workshop targeted to bring everyone to the same level of understanding. The Beam Institute gave everyone an in-depth look at the science and safety precautions within milling, mashing, fermentation, and distillation. From quality standards to temperature profiles, we were able to share confidential information with the Institute and allow their professors to explain the benefits of our process to our team.
• When asked about what aspect(s) helped most with learning in the workshop, the distillery plant manager said:
  1. The benefit of hands-on lab experience was immeasurable. By allowing both maintenance and distillery teams to participate, they all now have a better understanding of the “why we do” not just “what we do.”
• When asked for anything else that might be considered valuable from the experience with the workshop, the distillery plant manager said:
  1. The knowledge of the professors was immense. Not only could they explain with detail, but they also offer examples of what not to do and where to look for answers. The most beneficial aspect of the workshop was having the ability for our entire team to participate.  Being able to hear questions and answers at the same time allowed our team to grow together. I recognize that not all distilleries have the same opportunity to send their entire workforce to a training, but I would highly recommend that you try. Distillery operators can run a distillery and do what you ask them to do, but they don’t all understand why they are doing it.    
• The distillery plant manager also provided self-reported quotes from the participants:
  1. “A lot of fun”
  2. “Grateful for the opportunity to participate”
  3. “I understand a lot more about the process and science behind mashing and fermentation.”
  4. “I always thought fermentation was the easiest part, I didn’t realize is was so important.”
  5. “I really enjoyed the hands-on lab portion of the workshop.”