UMass Amherst Alums Brewing Up Some Happiness

When Dan Vollmer ’10, ’11MS visits friends and family, he often brings along beverage options from Boston Beer Company or interesting competitors and asks people what they think.

“My friends probably hate this by now,” he says. “But it becomes an interesting thing to talk about. Everybody’s got food and drink opinions.”

Having grown up with a family friend who worked for Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri, Vollmer was already interested in food science when he applied to college. A tour of Boston Beer’s brewery in Jamaica Plain in his first year at UMass Amherst set him on a path to a career in the beer industry.

Now, as the senior manager of product strategy and research at Boston Beer, Vollmer is using his food science degrees to map out strategies for potential products to add to the company’s popular offerings while mentoring others along the way.

“Being a food scientist gives me a lot of clarity,” he says. “Food science allows people to conduct good science and marry that with the art of making food and drinks. That’s a special process for a lot of people.”  

The Department of Food Science at UMass Amherst is the oldest academic program of its kind and the number three ranked food science and technology program in the nation. It was founded in 1918 and born out of the desire to better preserve food and accelerate food production during World War I. Today, the program focuses on improving food quality and nutrition, advancing food safety, and creating a more sustainable food supply.

The department’s faculty and students look for solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including eliminating bacteria during food processing, creating nutrient-rich foods without using more land for agricultural purposes, and improving and protecting the food supply in places where climate change has increased either drought or flooding.

But there is also an emphasis on product development. Students work in teams to formulate new frozen treats as part of the Food Science-Herrell’s Ice Cream & Bakery Ice Cream Product Development Competition. This capstone project, among others, provides seniors with the opportunity to apply food science principles like microbiology, chemistry, market analysis, and nutrition to the development of a new product.

Vollmer, who serves as a member of the department’s advisory board, an adjunct lecturer, and a mentor to graduate students, says current UMass food science students bring a creative edge to their work that is just as important as the science. 

“These students are hungry to experiment in a way that is exciting,” he says. “They see other options on the table that the food science degree can enable.” 

In his mentoring work, Vollmer brings his undergraduate and graduate experience together to give UMass students a wider perspective. 

“I think your undergraduate experience fills your toolbox with tools and graduate school teaches you how to use those tools,” he says. “When I tell my career story, I like to talk about becoming a problem solver – learning which tools are for which problems.” 

Broad creative thinking certainly comes in handy when working at a company that prizes constant innovation, like Boston Beer. 

Rachael Picard ’17 is a product developer at the company who says she uses the laboratory experience she gained at UMass Amherst every day in her current position. 

“We usually start out with a concept or idea that we then develop, working with different ingredients to create a well-liked recipe,” she says. “We might go through 50 iterations of a product before getting to the final flavor profile that we launch.”  

Picard works closely with sensory scientists like Elizabeth Cole ’20. During her time in the UMass food science program, Cole worked in Professor Alissa Nolden’s lab as an undergraduate researcher. She then went on to complete a master’s degree at Virginia Tech, where her thesis focused on the sensory characteristics of hard cider. 

As a sensory scientist at Boston Beer Company, Cole runs tastings with internal and external consumers to evaluate the potential products developed by Picard and others in her group.  

“We are interested in learning what makes consumers like or dislike a specific product,” she says.  

“It’s a fun challenge to try to think like a consumer, creating products that will eventually be in their hands,” says Picard. 

Vollmer, Picard, and Cole all point to the ability to conduct research with faculty in the Department of Food Science as great preparation for what they are doing now. 

“I feel like the program invests a lot in their students,” says Picard. “The professors put so much time and effort into making sure we would be successful in our careers. And they’re always open to reconnecting and staying in touch.” 

In some ways, a company like Boston Beer, which is always looking for the next big product, mirrors the experimental and entrepreneurial spirit of those involved in food science at UMass. 

“The culture here is fantastic,” says Cole. “It’s an environment where we are encouraged to learn more and ask questions. You can dip your toe into other parts of the company and shadow people in other departments. You can learn so much from your co-workers.” 

As UMass food science graduates continue to contribute to the food and beverage industry in a number of ways, Vollmer hopes all UMass alumni will take pride in their work. 

“There’s so many alumni in the Boston area,” he says. “I want them to come to our place and feel good about the fact that UMass graduates are making the beer or beyond-beer products they celebrate with on a Friday night.”