Dragon Tears Beer from Local Brewery will Support Drexel Students
Thea Bertneski, Matthew Schaffner, Chuck Ziccardi and Jon Deutsch at Bar Hygge after brewing the beer.
Raise a glass, Dragons, to a partnership between Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and Brewery Techne. On April 23, you’ll be able to stop by the brewery’s restaurant, Bar Hygge, and taste Dragon Tears, a dragon fruit-forward sour brewed with Drexel-grown hops, and mixed and named by two graduate students.
Chuck Ziccardi, assistant clinical professor of culinary arts, Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, professor and director of the Drexel Food Lab, and Jodie Haak, Ph.D, chair of the Department of Health Sciences, all in the college of Nursing and Health Professions, kicked off the partnership with Brewery Techne, a 10-barrel craft brewery that puts out IPAs, pilsners, sours, saisons and many more. Two graduate students working on their master's degrees in culinary and food science — Thea Bertneski and Matthew Schaffner, a rising beer enthusiast and an established beer enthusiast, respectively — also were involved with the project.
Matthew Schaffner receives dragon fruit puree to pour into the beer.
Schaffner, who just finished his second quarter at Drexel, hasn’t been in one of Ziccardi’s classes yet, but has run across the professor as he’s been drying hops in the food and hospitality management program’s kitchen garden at the Summer Winter Community Garden at 33rd and Race streets, which Drexel has run since 1998. Ziccardi knew of Schaffner’s interest in brewing, so he pulled him into the project.
“I’ve helped out with a very DIY brew day before, but at this point, there’s a pretty good chance that this is something that I want to do for work,” Schaffner said. “It was helpful to see that there are resources for learning more about it. I followed up and I’ll be heading back there to help out on a full-scale brewing day to be there for the full process.”
Chuck Ziccardi shows hops grown at Drexel.
The Dragons learned about the brewing process at Brewery Techne, located in the same building as Bar Hygge, which owner Stew Keener said is big on education and sustainability. Tom Baker, who likes to play around with the brewing process, is the Fairmount neighborhood operation’s main brewer. For Dragon Tears, which is a fruity sour beer, Baker started the beer in the kettle with wheat, malt and about 20 ounces of yogurt in a 300 gallons tank, then added 40 pounds of blackberry before the fermentation process started.
This means a lot of the berry’s flavor was leeched out, but when the Drexel students came to visit, they added 40 pounds of dragon fruit puree, pitcher by pitcher, to give the beer its themed flavor and beautiful color, along with a bag of cascade hops from the Kitchen Garden. The beer was nearly done; Schaffner remarked that they were there to add an “accent mark” onto the brew with the dragon fruit. Flavor additives like the fruit are referred to as “adjuncts” in the brewing process, which is what the students helped with.
“I’m not a beer-making expert, but beer makers are like chefs, and it’s like cooking with all the variables,” Ziccardi said. “It’s a bit more challenging to brew with wet (fresh) hops so many breweries use dried hop pellets for consistency. Hops can be floral, citrusy or earthy and they can really change the profile of the beer. They’re really specific, and the cool, fun thing about what they do at Brewery Techne is they can play with this stuff, just like a chef.”
Thea Bertneski shows the beer after the puree was added.
Hops have been growing in the kitchen garden for more than 20 years, Ziccardi estimates, and while they’ve never been used to brew beer, they’re similar to herbs and can be added to things like stuffing to create another dimension of flavor, or anything that would benefit from a bitter flavor. The kitchen garden is used in the Food and Hospitality Management program for a classes (CULA 426) that share the name of the garden and are open to all students, regardless of major. The class culminates in a Harvest Brunch. The graduate version of the class is required for Bertneski and Schaffer’s program and teaches students to get to know their food, from seed to harvest. The produce from the garden also gets used in the Academic Bistro.
The Dragons ended up with a refreshing sour beer that’s about 6% ABV. You’ll be able to try it on April 23 from 4–11 p.m. at Bar Hygge during a special profit-sharing night. Drexel-affiliated folks (and supporters!) are encouraged to make reservations for the restaurant or walk in at the bar, where they can try Dragon Tears. Ten percent of profits from the evening will support the kitchen garden and affiliated programs and classes in the Food and Hospitality Management program in the Department of Health Sciences.