By Natalie Santangelo ’23 Staff Writer 

Nine LVC students partnered with Snitz Creek Brewery for this year’s brew of the Flying Dutchmen Ale.  

LVC chemistry, biology, biochemistry and molecular majors make up the team responsible for the creation of this year’s Flying Dutchmen Ale. These students formulated their own recipes and brewed their own ale. 

Bruno Mochi, a chemistry student, is part of the Brew Crew this year. His favorite part was easy to point out. 

“Hands down my favorite part was getting to grind up the malt during the milling process,” Mochi said.  

The milling process is an important part of the brewing process because the outer layers of the grains are crushed to mash the liquor and access the inner parts of the grain.  The Brew Crew has worked months on crafting a special beer for this year’s event. This year’s recipe used Arian hop, which is a new German variety. 

“They are what give our ale the fresh citrus aroma,” Mochi said. 

LVC has created a strong partnership with Snitz Creek. Working with LVC has given students new opportunities, while also increasing brand awareness of Snitz Creek Brewery.  

“It was nice to have the Snitz Creek Brew Master [Ryan Moncarz] explain every step with us and walk us through how the brewing process goes,” Mochi said. “For anyone who joins the Brew Crew I can see it would be very easy to start homebrewing of our own in the future.” 

Dr. Elizabeth S. Sterner, assistant professor of chemistry, has headed this project for several years.  

“The real challenge each year is making a beer that everyone will love but also have fun details for beer fans,” Sterner said. “This year, I think we’ve done that extremely well.” 

If students missed out on tasting the Dutchmen Ale at Homecoming, it’s available at both Snitz Creek locations and at local businesses owned by Funck’s.