Quality Assurance in the brewing world is extremely important to ensure a brewery’s product is contamination free and tastes great. At Equity, we want to provide our customers with the highest quality, best tasting, and most consistent beer we can make! This is why, along with our team member Natalie, we’re setting up a small lab in our brewery to provide accessible quality control services. Learn a little bit more about Natalie and our lab below!
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Natalie Sullivan is originally from Fort Walton Beach, FL, but she moved to Norman last August. She has an impressive background in STEM having received her BS and MS in Microbiology from the University of South Florida in Tampa, and she currently works at the OU Health Sciences Center as a microbiologist when she’s not working at Equity. In January Natalie received her BJCP Recognized Beer Judge Certificate, so she certainly knows her way around beer! Here is our conversation with Natalie about her experience as a brewer and our new lab at Equity:
What made you interested in brewing?
I've always been a fan of craft beer and I kind of fell into the industry. I had heard about one of the local breweries in Fort Walton, Props Brewery, was expanding and wanting to start doing quality control and some yeast work. I reached out to them and was brought on! I worked for them for a year developing their quality program/lab, brewing, cellaring, and packaging. I was then brought onto the brew team at 3rd Planet Brewing in Niceville, FL. My time spent with them consisted of brewing, cellaring, packaging, and began developing their quality work as they just moved into a new brewery and were rapidly expanding.
Why is it important for breweries to use labs and test for quality?
I think having any sort of quality assurance and quality control in a brewery is always important; no matter how large or small. It helps with understanding the brewing process, maintaining consistency with each brew, adpoting safe practices, and making sure that everyone has good beer to enjoy.
What is your goal for the lab at Equity?
My goal at Equity is to be able to develop a quality program and lab from the ground up. As Equity grows, the lab will grow with it. And hopefully, we can make the lab availble to other breweries in the Norman and OKC area.
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At Equity, we’re passionate about building things that will benefit not only us but our entire community. With Natalie at the helm of our new lab, we know we will be able to achieve this goal! Thank you Natalie for joining our team and helping create delicious beer for our patrons to enjoy.
