Brewing chemists honor Charlie Bamforth

Charlie Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences in the Department of Food Science and Technology, has been selected to receive the 2011 Award of Distinction from the American Society of Brewing Chemists and the society’s board of directors.

The award was presented recently during the society’s annual meeting in Florida.

The award acknowledges exceptional lifetime achievement, contribution, and service to brewing and the brewing industry. Bamforth began his work in the brewing industry in 1978. Before coming to UC Davis in 1999, he was the deputy director-general of Brewing Research International and research manager and quality assurance manager of Bass Brewers.

In addition to his faculty appointment at UC Davis, he also serves as a special professor in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, England, and is a fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, the Society of Biology, and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. And he is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

Bamforth, who is also a brewing science instructor for the UC Davis Extension’s Professional Brewing Programs, has written several books including “Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing” and “Beer: Tap Into the Art and Science of Brewing,” now in its third edition.