Brewing Up
Innovation
After craft-beer lover Ted Fleming
received a diagnosis of Crohn’s
disease during a routine physical,
he made a decision to give up alcohol.
He soon found that he missed the social
connection of sharing a beer with friends
and the discovery process of trying new
craft beers. Friends suggested he try nonalcoholic
beers and he tried everything that
was available but didn’t like the taste or the
lack of variety.
Fleming’s passion for craft beer drove
him to create his own brew that satisfied
his needs for flavour and to “partake,”
but he needed some expertise to fine-tune
it before he took it to market. Fleming’s
Partake Brewing partnered with Durham
College’s (DC) Centre for Craft Brewing
Innovation (CCBI), located on the Whitby
campus, to refine his IPA recipe.
Funded through an Engage grant
from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the
collaboration began in the fall of 2016.
Researchers brought science to Fleming’s
quest for non-alcoholic IPA that tastes like
a real craft beer.
“Mike Aylward, our brewmaster,
worked with the founder on his IPA and
helped get him the samples he brought to
CBC’s Dragon’s Den in 2018, which landed
him the $300,000 investment from Manjit
Minhas,” said Chris Gillis, manager of
Applied Research Business Development at
Durham College.
CCBI continued to work on product
development with Partake Brewing. “We
were able to assemble a team of industry
experts, Dirk Bendiak, Ph.D. and Dave
Coutts who have 25 to 30 years’ experience
Durham College’s
Centre for Craft
Brewing Innovation
By Candice G. Ball
26 § POURED CANADA § www.poured.ca
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