The Beer Doctor
Joining Coors right out of college at the University of Colorado in 1986, Keith Villa was excited to have the opportunity to work around beer. He wanted to learn all he could about the product he loved, and knew his degree in molecular biology would be useful in his new career. Only two years later, he was given the ultimate opportunity to learn about beer, when Coors sent him to the University of Belgium to earn a PhD in Brewing. Dr Villa was only the second Coors employee to become a “beer doctor”, after John Coors was sent to the renowned Weihenstephan (the Technical University of Munich) and received his doctorate in 1986. “Our company has always believed that the best education leads to the highest quality product,” says Dr Villa. Now, Coors counts on the expertise of a several “master brewers” – the honorary title Coors gives to its experts who’ve mastered every aspect of brewing. Some specialize in one aspect of brewing, while others, like Dr Villa, are beer generalists.
Dr Villa completed his PhD in 1992 and now serves as Head of Product Development for Coors. His doctoral dissertation, for which he won magna cum laude (high honors) distinction, tackled the problem of eliminating a buttery off-taste in beer which is caused by the chemical diacetyl. “Consumers like this taste in whiskeys and some wines, but detest it in beer,” says Dr Villa. Ever since, he’s been working to make Coors products the very best beers in the industry. Based on the extensive and growing list of awards won by Coors beers in the US and internationally, it appears that Dr Villa and the master brewers are doing something right.
“It’s nice to come to work in the morning for a company that makes some of the very best products in the world,” says Dr Villa. He points out that Coors products are actually Kosher, a distinction which no other domestic brewer can claim. “A Rabbi visits the brewery twice a year, inspects the facilities and reviews our paperwork to ensure that our ingredients are what we say they are,” he explains. Pointing to the small “U” with a circle around it, representing the Kosher Union’s seal of approval, he confirms, “this seal appears on every Coors can and bottle – it represents the very highest purity.”
He talks fondly about Blue Moon Belgian White ale, which was Dr Villa’s brainchild back in 1994. After inventing the process and formula for this unusual wheat beer, his team took Blue Moon on the road, promoting it to consumers through tasting and “beer dinners” across the United States. To skeptical audiences, they explained the cloudy appearance of the unfiltered beer, caused by suspended protein and yeast, and further perplexed beer drinkers by insisting that it be served with an orange wedge. “Orange peel is one of the ingredients used in brewing Blue Moon, so the wedge really brings out this embedded flavor,” Dr Villa explains.
DrVilla’s brew went on to win several gold and silver medals at the World Beer Championship, but not without extensive, word-of-mouth evangelism by his team. “Pete Coors likes to call Blue Moon ‘our 12-year overnight success story,’” he muses. Backed by the Coors commitment to quality and the patience to let great beers win over consumers on their own merit, Dr Villa is confident that many more success stories are yet to come.