Proudly Introducing the "breweRIT" Student Project: Producing a Supply Chain in Craft Beer Production between USA and Croatia

November 24, 2020

The "breweRIT" is a student-driven project focused on producing a supply chain in craft beer production between the USA and Croatia. The USA craft beer industry is incredibly advanced featuring many ingredients that are not available anywhere in Europe. The goal was to introduce these ingredients and knowledge to the Croatian craft beer industry and make Dubrovnik a springboard for similar future projects.

20 dedicated and persistent students from the Hospitality and Tourism Management program, along with their mentor Domagoj Nikolić, were working hard for months to overcome all obstacles posed by the unexpected COVID-19 situation.

The partners in the project are the barley growers of Domoy Farms, Oakville, NY, the malting facility - Valley Malt, Boston, Dubrovačka pivovara - DBC, and RIT Croatia as the main facilitator.

"In the "breweRIT", we were gifted a special varietal of barley by Domoy Farms from upstate New York and turned it over to one of the best US malting facilities, Valley Malt in Boston, to convert the barley into the malt with special flavors of walnut, birch and cherry wood smoke. They also added specially flavored biscuit oats, honey malt, chocolate wheat and chocolate maize into the mix. These unique ingredients that are not done anywhere in Europe were then shipped to our partners at DBC, where the breweRIT pre-prohibition lager beer was finally produced and bottled. The end product is absolutely unique: smooth, slightly creamy, fruity and bitterish, yet still light as lagers should be. You will not find anything similar in Europe and it's a perfect holiday beer and holiday gift", said Domagoj Nikolić.

The role of the breweRIT student team is to provide management support and coordination. The large-picture project goal is to support innovation and product differentiation of Croatian craft beer breweries by establishing and testing the supply chain, creating a unique final product, and building the base for making the operation scalable in the future.

"Although some of our initial plans were disrupted or delayed due to COVID-19, such as those to organize a 3-day long beer festival and donate the proceeds to charity, the core of the project proved robust to withstand the test in spite of the challenges, which is already proof that these projects are possible. I should also draw your attention to the label design, which was absolutely masterfully done by our student marketing team. It is appropriately retro, accompanying the product style, but it is also giving a subtle social commentary on the time of disorder and turmoil that we live in now. This is also in line with the craft movement. As rock 'n' roll movement lost its steam, the counter culture moved to micro brewing and street food scene, where we saw an unprecedented spike in creativity and action in the last decade", Domagoj Nikolić explained.

"We believe that we are building a good value for our community and would be grateful for your support in spreading the word far and wide, as well as promoting our project by purchasing vouchers that the holder will be able to exchange for the special edition beer at the DBC. The brew will be ready for collection in the second half of November. You will absolutely love the product and your friends could get a nice holiday gift with something uniquely related to RIT Croatia!", said Nikolina Lešić, HTM junior year student and breweRIT project sales coordinator.

For all details about purchasing vouchers to support this student project, please contact Nikolina Lešić, brewRIT project sales coordinator at nikolina@lesic.me

More info on this project can be found at breweRIT social media:

https://www.facebook.com/brewerit//brewerit_project

https://www.instagram.com/brewerit_project/?igshid=cg6jrj3qjnac