Ever dreamed of becoming a brewmaster? I imagine many of you have thought about completing the training to become a brewmaster. But I suspect an equal number of you have hesitated at the prospect of moving to the U.S. or Europe to go to school and the associated expense.

Well soon, you will be able to study to become a brewmaster in Alberta. Last week Olds College (in Olds, just north of Calgary) announced a new partnership with Niagara College to expand their brewmaster program (the only one in Canada) to the West. Olds will deliver the identical curriculum as the Niagara Program, and will also operate a test brewery, hosted in the Pomeroy Inn and Suites, a new hotel being constructed on the Olds campus.

The two-year program hopes to take its first students in September 2013. It will teach burgeoning brewers the science of zymurgy, but also the business side of beer, including finance, communications and business ethics (which might be an oxymoron…).

So, instead of shuffling off to California, Chicago or Germany, all you young hopefuls with dancing beer mugs in your eyes will just need to endure 2 years in Olds to get a start on your brewing career.

I am looking forward to meeting the first crop of newly minted brewmasters in 2015.