Spencer (left), Corey (right)
Meet Spencer and Corey, Aslan’s in-house chemists.
Spencer joined us first, about four years ago. He now holds the Quality Control Manager position after building our chemistry program from scratch. “I help make sure that our beers don’t explode,” laughs Spencer. And although he may say it jokingly, he’s absolutely right! Spencer has worked four long and hard years to bring our lab together, all to make certain that we’re making consistent and tasty brews.
“I actually got hired on as a pack tech– because they needed someone,” says Spencer. “I was two weeks into that when Frank (head brewer at the time) approached me asking if I knew how to use a spectrophotometer” (a piece of equipment used to measure diacetyl and IBU’s in a beer). Having completed a degree in Chemistry prior and looking for work in his field, Spencer jumped at the opportunity.
“I was by myself working down here in the Chemistry department,” says Spencer, “In the beginning, there just weren’t a lot of breweries our size doing this…in fact, we’re the only lab in Bellingham and probably anywhere north of Fremont at that” adds Spencer. He knew that if he was going to start an effective program, he had to learn a little from one of the masters. “I [went to] Fremont Brewing for help… [specifically to] Robert Fulwiler (Technical Director at Fremont Brewing). He’s done a ton to help us. And I mean a ton.”
Spencer recalls how starting the program felt a lot like piecing the bare minimum together. “Some of our initial equipment we got for free,” notes Spencer, “and as issues have arisen in our brewery we’ve developed and added more equipment as well as added more methods.” He and Corey –Aslan’s Lab Technician and Data Expert– now operate a complete lab.
Corey joined us just two years ago, following a similar path as Spencer by initially starting as a dishwasher up at our Bellingham brewpub before quickly relocating to the lab. A chemistry student at Western, Corey was eager to get more experience in the field as well. It wasn’t too much later that he was offered a position in Aslan’s lab, training under Spencer.
Now Corey plays a crucial role in many of Aslan’s operations. “I started here on the chemistry side of things and realized it was an avenue for helping manage all the data as well,” says Corey. After self-teaching much of his coding, Corey now helps Aslan collect important data that helps improve our day-to-day operations. “It’s been cool teaching myself how to code. I got a computer science minor at Western, but learning how to implement that into certain aspects of the brewery as well has been a lot of fun,” says Corey. Spencer nods in agreement– “Corey is able to communicate data really well,” he adds.
With the two of them joining forces, Aslan now runs an incredibly refined program with little room for error. “We sample every single batch of beer,” says Spencer, “usually averaging about 12 tests per each batch of beer”. This ensures that all of Aslan’s beer comes out tasting right and consistently tasting the same. “Now we have confidence in our canning,” says Spencer.
It’s because of these two, and the hard work of our brewers, that Aslan is able to keep producing high quality organic craft beer. Thank you to both Corey and Spencer for always going above and beyond and taking care of the little details. We couldn’t do it without you!
