Niagara College's Teaching Brewery is celebrating a decade of learning.
When the brewery first opened at the Niagara-On-The-Lake campus there was nothing else like it in Canada where students could get hands on experience in the brewing industry.
Dean of the Canadian Food and Wine Institute at Niagara College Craig Youdale notes the beers produced by students have won numerous awards.
"Sometimes we have this preconceived view where - Oh, you know it's student beer, they're just learning and just trying to get things going. We'll give them a break. But quite the opposite. The quality of the beer that the students produce on a daily basis is really exceptional. It's won awards provincially, nationally, across the US, and even globally."
Since the Teaching Brewery began, 19 classes have graduated from the Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program including more than 360 students.
This year the program has 74 students.
Youdale also ties the Teaching Brewery into the strong brewing culture in Niagara. "It's pretty amazing after 10 years how beer has exploded as a business and craft beer has become really part of our culture here. We still remain the sort of key school in Canada for training beer." He tells CKTB's Tim Denis. "Niagara really has that agricultural connection, it has a connection to tourism - we do have millions of people who come through our region. I think the whole combination creates a really amazing atmosphere for something like craft and I think local Niagara has a really great history and connection to producing thing local because of the agricultural connection."