Picture Yourself Here: Derick Waters, Sustainable Brewing

Derick Waters earned an associate degree from Kellogg Community College and had planned to transfer to Western Michigan University. When the coronavirus pandemic caused nationwide shutdowns, he switched gears - and that led to his career as a brewer.

"I worked as a server and bartender while living in Kalamazoo until 2022 when I decided to open my own food business, Dirty Vegan," he said. "I ran Dirty Vegan for two years making vegan comfort food until one day I decided to brew a home brew batch of beer. I was hooked and wanted to learn everything I could about beer. I discovered that Kalamazoo Valley Community College had a brewing program and I signed up right away."

Waters said he appreciated how accessible his instructors were. "My professors had great availability to spend time on class material in depth and interact with students one on one," he said. His sustainable brewing training - which involved learning through real trial and error in the full-size on-campus brew house- helped him land a job in the brewing industry. "There is so much science, technology, mechanics, and vernacular that was so foreign to me until I began my course work," Waters aid.

Upon graduation, he was hired as an industrial brewer at Short's Brewing Company. "I brewed on a 30-barrel system and I turned two batches per shift," he said. "I lived up north and worked there for six months before returning to Battle Creek to take a position at Handmap Brewing as a brewer." He is currently training to be the Head Brewer for Handmap. "I brew beer, do cellar work, packaging, set brew schedules, write and audit SOP's, run lab testing, do general maintenance, recipe development, and am learning to oversee all brewing operations," he explained.

Waters thinks people who don't like beer simply haven't sampled enough. "I'd like people to know that there are endless possibilities of beer styles and flavors," he said. "There is a beer for everyone. Check out Taps on Tuesday's at Kalamazoo Valley's culinary building as well as Handmap Brewing."