C hristina Killourhy M.S. ’15 had her sights set on a career in the fisheries and wildlife field until a part-time job in a homebrew shop changed the course of her life.
After receiving her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, Killourhy earned her master’s degree from ESF in fish and wildlife biology management. But she didn’t love the seasonal jobs that were available to her, especially when they were funded by grants that eventually ran out. Working for a friend 10 hours a week in a homebrew shop, however, exposed her to a subject she found fascinating: the beer-making process.
“I read every book about it that I could get my hands on,” she said.
She moved from the homebrew shop to the sampling room at Flying Bison Brewing Company, the oldest production brewery in Buffalo. She worked with customers until the job “morphed into something else” and she took on different roles until she recently was promoted to the role of brewer.
“I’ve always had a strong science background,” she said. “In the past I used it for sampling a lot of wildlife, fish and birds. But with that science, you can go in a lot of directions. Brewing beer is an art but it’s also a science and if you don’t have the science down, you can’t make good beer.”
At Flying Bison, which is owned by Matt Brewing Co. of Utica, New York, Killourhy starts most days infusing hot water with grains and extracting the sugars. She works with a partner to monitor the mash and boil and check the flavor. Flying Bison is small enough that her responsibilities go beyond those of a brewer. She kegs and bottles beer and spends a lot of time cleaning equipment so impurities don’t contaminate a batch of brew.
The variety is part of what she likes about the job. “At a larger brewery, you could be that water chemist who does nothing but test water quality all day. That’s not what interests me. I want a more dynamic environment.
“This is not exactly what I went to school for but I’m using the skills I learned at both universities,” Killourhy said. “Life takes you on all these different paths and if you find something that makes you happy — why not pursue it?”
