Articles & Interviews featuring Oregon BrewLab
Chemist Brewers: Insights from Chemists and Biologists in the Brewing Industry
Many brewers and craft beer drinkers have dreams of working at or owning a brewery. Chemists and Biologists are a very natural fit in the brewing industry given their training, background and interests in exploring the world around them. This book supports that natural curiosity through a series of interviews with these individuals who work in the brewing industry at all levels of employment from the lab manager to working as brewery staff to starting a brewery.
1.29.2024
The People Behind Beer Quality
Quality matters at any size brewery, especially if you can’t see it. And the team behind beer quality is what matters most since data doesn’t analyze itself. But quality isn’t just about microbes; in its ideal form, it’s a mindset.
9.29.2023
The 2 Ways Low-Alcohol Beer Is Manufactured
Ethanol, the type of alcohol found in beer, typically has a boiling point of 173 degrees Fahrenheit (via Encyclopedia Britannica), much lower than that of water at 212 F. But, with vacuum distillation, beer chemist and owner of Oregon BrewLab, Dana Garves, reports that brewers can get the alcohol to evaporate off at even lower temperatures.
5.29.2022
The Best Nonalcoholic Beer
Nonalcoholic beer is having a moment. With big-name brands and craft-beer brewers joining the game, which should you stock up on?
4.6.2023
How have non-alcoholic beers gotten so good?
Ninety-nine percent of a beer is alcohol or water. Maintaining that one percent of flavorful compounds is the challenge.
7.1.2022
Interview with Dana Garves of Oregon Brewlab
We talk about her journey from water chemistry to working in a brewery lab, to running her own lab. Curious how that differs? Listen on to learn more. We also discuss control charting, traditional micro vs. qPCR, homebrew projects, sending yeast into space and much more. Dana shares her advice for brewers looking to start their own lab and what she wishes other brewers knew about quality control.
2.18.2022
Non-alcoholic beers are finally good (and they're not just for Dry January)
Craft beer's emphasis on strong flavors has reinvented non-alcoholic beer, bringing better choices than ever to people who want new options.
1.21.2022
Bad Ass Women in Beer
Hello! Welcome to another episode! This one is special because in honor of "Women's History Month" we hang out with some of my favorite bad ass women in the beer industry. We have included Dana Garves, Owner of "Oregon Brew Lab," and we cover SO MUCH from stories, career tips & some mental health! it is all separate interviews, IT'S A GOOD TIME!
3.16.2021
With the majors knocking, independent analytical labs face the temptation to sell
The giant analytical lab company Eurofins Scientific purchased 136 smaller labs in the 3 years ending in 2019, spending $3.4 billion along the way. Overall, from 2014 to 2019, Eurofins tripled its full-time staff to 43,320 employees and tripled its revenue to $5.4 billion per year. is the largest of a handful of firms that have led a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the analytical services industry. Other buyers include Pace Analytical, ALS, LabCorp, Intertek, and SGS. TestAmerica had been snapping up smaller lab businesses until Eurofins bought it in 2018.
8.28.2020
Northwest Brewing News Issue Feature: Mugshots
After building her skills of quality assurance and quality control, sensory evaluation, and chemical analysis at Ninkasi Brewing, Dana Garves has formed BrewLab, a Eugene-based lab that offers quick and affordable 12-point analysis of fermented beverages. Catch up with Dana and see what’s in store for BrewLab in the coming years! (Jun/Jul 2018, pg 8)
6.30.2018
Splinter News: Craft Beer’s Moral High Ground Doesn't Apply to Its Workers
Craft brewers could be a cornerstone of this artisanal food and drink movement, given their specialized skills, the longevity of their industry, the popularity of their product, and their association with progressive customers. So why, unlike many of their mass-market counterparts, do they remain almost entirely without union representation?
5.17.2018
Experimental Brewing: Episode 32 - The IBU Is A Lie
In the lab, we finally get to the results of our Great IBU Experiment brought to you by NikoBrew.com, the AHA, Oregon Brew Lab and the IGORs! First you’ll hear from Dana Garves of Oregon Brew Lab describing her journey into Beer Science and how she opened OBL. She’ll describe the testing she performed for us and even offer more testing suggestions.
1.18.2017
Capacity Taps: Four Tips for Maintaining Quality When Contract Brewing
Dana Garves, founder of Oregon BrewLab, explains some of the key tools to ensure impeccable quality standards when working with a contract brewer.
11.23.2016
The New School Beer: Oregon BrewLab/Labrewatory/Coldfire Brewing Collaboration “Against the Currant”
After supplying Oregon brewers with quality control and beer analysis for over a year, Oregon BrewLab’s Dana Garves is going Against the Currant and offering brewers the chance to analyze her first commercial beer, a Belgian-style Tripel made with currants. This extremely limited release is only available in Eugene at ColdFire Brewing starting November 3rd, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the Eugene Science Factory.
10.31.2016
Brewer's Association: A Modern Brewpub’s Quality Control Program
Many brewpubs are eager to implement quality control, but are hesitant for a number of reasons. The main concern is that quality control (QC) is too expensive for a brewpub budget. This is a common misconception; in the technological age, scientific equipment is available at affordable prices. Some believe QC is an overwhelming program to establish, despite manageable execution. My aim is to demonstrate that quality control a) is affordable, b) allows brewers to brew better, more consistent beer, and c) ultimately saves money.
10.25.2016
Chemical & Engineering News: March 21, 2016 Volume 94, Number 12, p. 24
Major labels such as Budweiser have always had staff scientists doing quality assurance and control (QA/QC), but in-house labs at small to medium-sized operations are becoming more and more common. Dana Garves established and ran the QA/QC lab at Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewing Co. Four years into the job, she opened the lab to home-brews made by Ninkasi staffers. “Pretty soon, people were bringing favors for other companies,” she says. In 2014, she struck out on her own to form BrewLab, an independent brewing analytical services provider.
3.21.2016
Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives: Dana Garves oral history interview, February 19, 2016
Dana Garves is a brewing chemist who owns and operates BrewLab, a company that provides chemical analyses for breweries, cideries, meaderies, and home brewers. In this interview, Garves talks about her early interest in studying Chemistry, her experiences attending the University of Oregon, her interest in STEM education for girls, her work at Ninkasi, and her decision to start her own company. Garves also talks at length about the Ninkasi Space Launch, a year long project that she was involved with as a chemist.
2.19.2016
American Mead Maker. Issue 16.1, Page 24-25, Winter 2016
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, better known as yeast, is vital to life; without it there would be no fermentation. Yeast is the lifeblood of mead, beer, wine, and cider influencing our culture, society, and economy. Add yeast to any sugary liquid and given the proper environment, will produce bubbly carbon dioxide and sweet sweet ethanol.
1.31.2016
Northwest Brewing News: BrewLab Offers Analysis for Anyone
After building her skills of quality assurance and quality control, sensory evaluation, and chemical analysis at Ninkasi Brewing, Dana Garves has formed BrewLab, a Eugene-based lab that offers quick and affordable 12-point analysis of fermented beverages. (Jun/Jul 2015, pg 26)
6.30.2015
Last Call with Dana Garves
Dana Garves believes the future of craft beer lies in quality control. (Jun #101, last page. Subscription required for viewing.)
6.1.2015
American Craft Beer Radio - June 20, 2015
Gary and Katie are in studio this week, joined in person by Paul Vismara and Bryan Jansing, authors of Italy Beer Country, along with Andrea Frizzi, chef and owner of Il Posto. On the phone, they talk with Justin Hiatt of Brix Taphouse and Brewery and Dana Garves of Oregon BrewLab.
5.20.2015
Portland Kettleworks Launches Labrewatory
Along with the brew system, Portland Kettleworks has reached a deal with Oregon BrewLab to run diagnostics on the beer brewed. Along with customer feedback, a full analyzed report on the beer will be made available.
5.11.2015
Opportunities for women grow within Lane County’s craft beer industry
The Oregon Brewers Association ranks Oregon as No. 1 in the country in terms of craft breweries per capita, with one brewery for every 100,000 residents who are 21 and older. There were 16 craft breweries in Lane County at the end of last year, according to the Oregon Brewers Guild, with women in leadership roles in several of them.
5.3.2015
BrewLab to Assist Craft Brewers in its Quality Assurance & Quality Control
Sensing a need for QA/QC in the brewing industry Dana Garves founded BrewLab. With a background in chemistry and a professional craft brewing history of building the QA/QC Lab at one of the nations fastest growing breweries, Ninkasi Brewing, Garves began operations at BrewLab in Eugene, OR this past October.
4.24.2015
Chemist Opens BrewLab for Beer Analysis
BrewLab uses state of the art technology to provide high accuracy results at a low cost. Brewers everywhere are rejoicing for an ABV analysis that only costs $20, requires only 4oz of sample, and gives access to digital results within 48 hours. Analyses include: ABV, ABW, IBU, Color (SRM and tristimulus), pH, real and apparent extract, RDF, ADF, Calories/12oz, and original and final gravities.
3.16.2015
The Science of Brewing Beer
Beer is big in the northwest. And lots of people are making it… commercially and at home. A new business, BrewLab is geared toward helping home-brewers with improving the beer they make in their kitchens and garages.
2.6.2015
Grist & Mash: Dana Garves -- Oregon BrewLab
Grist & Mash is a small project dedicated to historical documentation of Eugene Craft Beer. Sit down with Dana Garves of Oregon BrewLab to hear about her experiences with Eugene breweries, her thoughts on buy-outs, and where she plans to take BrewLab next. Running time: 46 minutes.
4.21.2018
Feminism and Beer Science
Craft beer, quality testing and being a woman in the beer world. State of the Suds issue.
6.29.2017
Career Ladder: Dana Garves
Learn how chemists got to where they are now. Garves saw an opportunity in beer analysis. In 2014, the going rate for an alcohol percent (alcohol by volume, or ABV) test at contract labs was around $200, and results took between five days and two weeks to arrive. “That’s too long,” she says. “That beer is already in pint glasses.” She calculated she could do it much faster and for just $20.
2.27.2018