ABOUT THIS TEACHER

Passion, skill and the utmost appreciation for good beer were the key ingredients in Brewmaster Florian Kuplent’s journey to becoming co-founder and head brewer of Urban Chestnut Brewing Co (UCBC).

Florian’s story began in one of the world’s most revered beer cities, Munich, Germany.

Surrounded by artisan brewers and great beer throughout his young life in Bavaria, it was no surprise Florian developed a passion for beer. And in 1994, Florian’s dream to become a brewer started to take shape when he was able to convince the local brewmaster at Brauerei Erharting to take him on as its first ‘brewer’s apprentice’ in decades.

This early, small brewery experience provided Florian with his first hands-on involvement with the very complex aspects of malting, yeast control and brewing. Hence, it was during this time that the brewery’s highly skilled Bavarian brewers, who had little in the way of modern brewing luxuries, instilled a fundamental, artisan-based passion of brewing tradition in Florian—something he carries with him to this day.

While learning the craftsmanship of beer and meticulously brewing time-honored recipes at Erharting, Florian also bolstered his technical skill as a brewer by enrolling as a student at the Bavarian College of Food and Beverage Science, and later at the prestigious brewing University of Munich-Weihenstephan, where he earned a Master’s degree in malting and brewing science.

Florian was able to experience the world of American craft beer for the first time when he spent a year working as head brewer for the small New England Brewing Co. in Norwalk, CT.

Following this stint in the United States, and prior to heading to London where he helped Meantime Brewing Co. launch its first brewery, Florian continued to expand his brewing experience with posts at other well-known European breweries, including Brauerei Beck’s (Bremen, Germany), Brouwerij Moortgat (Breendonk, Belgium), and KHS Filtertechnik, (Dortmund, Germany), and Mash (London, England).

While it certainly was something Florian considered during his studies and during his time in Europe, it was mostly the experience at Meantime—being involved in all facets of setting up, launching and operating a small brewery—that proved to Florian he was ready to launch his own brewery. However, before pursuing this dream he chose to follow a unique opportunity to work for the world’s largest brewer.

So for the next several years, Florian worked at Anheuser-Busch, Inc., learning many of the aspects of the brewing business that A-B is most respected for across the industry: batch consistency, quality assurance and yeast propagation and control.

During this time at A-B, Florian was also given free rein to experiment with new ingredients and different recipes at the brewery’s experimental microbrewery, which was where he created a series of award-winning craft-style beers under the well-known Michelob brand.

Outside of his paying jobs, Florian has kept himself immersed in the general brewing community; as an active member in many brewing associations and clubs, as a regular beer festival/competition judge (St. Louis, national, global), and as an occasional contributor to industry publications.

Ultimately for Florian, Urban Chestnut Brewing Co is the realization of a life dedicated to beer and to the brewing community, and it is in founding UCBC that Florian endeavors to create and brew Urban Chestnut beers with the vision and promise that others will enjoy and share in his passion.