Beer culture runs through the vain of college culture. The allure of alcohol has always tantalized youth. Now college students at Cal Poly Pomona have an academic application for this eager fascination. If over the age of 21, students will be able to learn how to make their own brew and put it on tap at Cal Poly Pomona’s brewery-restaurant, Innovation Brew Works.

The brewery laboratory is a part of the Center for Training, Technology and Incubation. The program gives students in Collins College of Hospitality and the College of Agriculture a hands-on experience in brewing and brewpub operations. The little brewery will allow students the chance to grow custom yeast strains. They will also study the carbonation process, as well as nitrogenation.

“This will be a great measure for preparing Cal Poly students because it is production based,” said Laura Martinez, vice president of instruction. The students will learn firsthand how to develop many unique hop and malt blends. But in the end, it will all be about the tasty product.

This can be problematic, as students must be 21 to taste test the foamy results of their work.

But this will be changing soon as a new legislation proposed by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro has passed the state Senate in July 2014. Waiting to be implemented, the “sip and spit” bill, the law would allow underage students in wine-making and brewery science programs to taste, but not swallow, the alcoholic beverages in their classes. The bill also exempts qualified academic institutions in which the students are enrolled from criminal prosecution.

It would apply to seven California colleges that offer viticulture and enology degrees (wine studies), including UC Davis, which has the biggest program. The bill has been sponsored by the UC system and supported by the CSU system as well as the Community College League of California.

“But that bill really won’t affect our program because we will still require our students to be 21 years old,” Martinez said. If the bill passes, the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation may consider a change for the future.

Innovation hopes microbreweries in the area will tap into their talent pool once students become certified brew masters.

“If this is an educational facility, I would like to have everyone be able to come in and try a different style of beer,” said head brewer Koby Harris. “I wanted to do a nice spectrum of beer, color, flavors so you can see what truly is out there.”

The idea had been percolating for a year and a half. With a $7,000 investment, partially from private donations, the brewery is now up and running.