W hile flipping through the Boulder Valley School District`s Lifelong Learning course catalogue a few years ago, Jeff Mendel noted that there were cooking classes, a wine-tasting class and even a cheese-making class among the non-credit course offerings for adult continuing education, but nothing about beer.

“I thought ‘Here we are in Boulder, a beer mecca, how come nobody is teaching anything about craft beer?” he says.

So Mendel, a former director of the Brewers Association Institute for Brewing Studies and a founding partner of Tabernash Brewing Company in Denver, which later merged with Left Hand Brewing Company, worked with Lifelong Learning to develop a beer appreciation class that would give students an intimate look at the craft-beer industry from brew house to glass.

The class “isn`t just about gaining an appreciation of the beer itself, but of the brewer and the craft-brewing industry as a whole,” Mendel says. “I`m trying to provide an up-close look beyond the beer and into the people in the business of craft brewing.”

Each course — which is offered three times a year — is usually divided into three evening sessions where students meet with a brewer or brewery owner to sample and discuss a specific beer style, brewing technique, or related subject. The next class starts Thursday evening with a session on stouts with Brian Hutchinson, head brewer at Mountain Sun, followed by a beer and food-pairing session at the Walnut Brewery on March 3, and a session on barrel-aged beers at Avery Brewing Company on March 10.

A two-session course is planned for the spring/summer term, with an installment on brewing organic at Asher Brewing Company and one on what Mendel calls the “wonderful world of Weiss beer” at Left Hand Brewing Company.

“We could go to Golden and get a tour of the Coors plant or the Anheuser-Busch plant in Fort Collins, but you don`t get a chance to see the people behind the beer,” Mendel says of the class structure. “I think meeting and interacting with the brewers and brewery owners gives the consumer a whole different feel about the business. They can put personality and a philosophy with the beer.”

A small class size and a structured yet informal, question-and-answer style format lets students interact in a meaningful way with the presenters.

After a brief introduction of the subject matter, Mendel turns over the discussion to the brewer or brewery owner, who then talks about the history of a beer style and what flavors, aroma characteristic, and brewing techniques are specific to that style. This segues into a tasting of eight to 10 beers to see how different breweries have interpreted the style.

Mendel says his students range widely in age and in prior beer experience, and that this diversity of backgrounds, along with an intimate, informal setting and a shared interest in beer, helps foster a spirited learning environment.

“As you taste a little bit of beer, the discussion becomes more lively and we start to get more questions,” Mendel says. “Students really enjoy the interaction with the brewers and the brewery owners. It`s a unique experience to literally share a beer with someone who is producing something that you see on the shelf every day.”

Contact Tom Wilmes at boulderbeerguy@gmail.com.