There comes a time in every parent’s life when they realize they have to sacrifice their dreams to help their children achieve theirs. If you’re lucky, your dreams overlap.
I never imagined such luck was in store for me, and then I learned about an amazing new gig. It’s kind of my dream job.
Now all I have to do is force my son to dream it too.
In the past, I’ve written about the 1 in 100 Million video series from Kronos. The series showcases “the personal stories of the people who do the many important and too-often unrecognized jobs we all rely on.” I’ve covered truck drivers, pinball machine designers, zookeepers, all with an eye towards considering which of those occupations might suit my sons.
But screw my sons! Today I’m focusing on the job I want! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for them to get involved too, but that is going to take another 15-20 years. Because this month’s featured job? Quality Assurance Brewing Technician.
This is the person that makes sure the beer tastes good. THIS IS THE PERSON THAT MAKES SURE THE BEER TASTES GOOD.
The subject of this month’s #workforcestories video profile is Briana Francisco (ooh, that’s fun to say!) who works as a Quality Assurance Brewing Technician at Deschutes Brewing, which, again: YES PLEASE. They make beer I like to drink!
Briana’s path to this job sounds like my life except I don’t get paid for it: she began drinking craft beer in college (check) and was disgusted by the junk her friends drank (check) so she went on a mission to find good beer (check; I go on this mission at every corner bodega), which lead her to learn about craft breweries.
Obviously, she doesn’t just sit around drinking beer all day, but as a part of Deschutes’ sensory panel made up of 10-20 people who taste every part of the process, she does kind of sit around drinking beer all day. But she also analyzes ABV (alcohol by volume), Specific Gravity, Plato, pH, color, and IBUs (international bitterness units) to name a few. Uh-oh. That sounds sciency.
Yup, turns out Briana’s road to the gig included a degree in biology, and a minor in chemistry. And there’s the rub. I don’t do science good. Chemistry is the only course I’ve ever taken where I felt like it was being taught in a foreign language, and I’ve taken classes that were actually taught in a foreign language! I just can’t do that stuff. Unfortunately, according to Briana, just loving beer won’t qualify you for the gig, you need to love for science too. How lame!
The good news is, Detective Munch already loves science. His science teacher raves about his enthusiasm when he’s in her class, we got him a little chemistry kit and he loved doing all the experiments (and continually begs me to do more with him), and he even wants a microscope for his birthday! (Or maybe a telescope? I can’t remember; he always thinks one of them does what the other one does so we both end up confused. Whatever.) He loves science and I love beer! Together, we’re the perfect team.
I’m not one to force my children onto paths they don’t want to follow, but I am one to want to drink free beer. Now all I have to do to have access to all the free beer I want is spend the next fifteen years getting my five-year-old to love it as much as I do!
This won’t backfire at all.
