Tag Archives: Joel Kelly

The chemistry of beer at Vancouver’s (Canada) Sept. 30, 2014 Café Scientifique

Vancouver’s next Café Scientifique is being held in the back room of the The Railway Club (2nd floor of 579 Dunsmuir St. [at Seymour St.], Vancouver, Canada), on Sept. 30,  2014. Here’s the meeting description (from the Sept. 23, 2014 announcement),

Our next café will happen on Tuesday September 30th, 7:30pm at The Railway Club. Our speaker for the evening will be Dr. Joel Kelly. The title of his talk and abstract for his talk is:

The Chemistry of Beer

Why does Guinness pair perfectly with a hearty stew? Why are the soft waters of the Czech Republic better for brewing lagers, while the hard waters of Burton, England ideal for brewing India Pale Ales? What do hops and marijuana share in common? The answer to all of these questions is CHEMISTRY! I will present a story in four parts (malt, yeast, hops and water) on the chemistry of beer. We will sample a variety of beers across the spectrum to highlight the wonderful variety of molecules that beer can provide.

Please note: The Railway Club have kindly agreed to have a sampler of 4 4 oz beers available for $7.50 inc. tax which will complement this talk. You are advised to arrive early so you have enough time to get your beer before 7:30 pm.

I was able to find more information about Joel Kelly who until recently was a postdoctoral research in Mark MacLachlan’s laboratory at the University of British Columbia. (MacLachlan was interviewed here prior to his Café Scientifique presentation in a March 25, 2011 posting.)

Currently a chemist at BC Research according to his LinkedIn profile, Kelly gave an interview about beer and his interests for a podcast (approximately 5 mins.) which can be found in this Nov. 7, 2013 posting on the MacLachlan Group blog.