Meet the Avery Rascal — Lauren Darlington
We all have a little Rascal in us. Our monthly feature about who makes Avery, Avery.
This month’s Rascal is Lauren Darlington, Lab Manager at Avery Brewing Co.
What do you do at Avery?
I am the nerd herder for the quality assurance lab here at Avery, which means that I get to work alongside some brilliant people while making sure that they have whatever they need to get the job done - our job being ensuring the highest quality of these incredible beers every step of the way. In a nutshell, our lab is responsible for monitoring current fermentation on a daily basis, ensuring microbiological stability and yeast purity of the beer every time that it moves to the next step in production, as well as performing various analyses to ensure that each brand is tasting and looking the way that it should. Our team is made up of fermentation science, biology and chemistry backgrounds, and we have a ton of fun in the pursuit of great beer.
How long have you worked at Avery and how did your path lead here?
I’m coming up on 2.5 years at Avery. Before I came to Avery, I was working at a private lab that made custom gas chromatographs, which was an awesome way to apply my chemistry degree but I just wasn’t loving it. Life is way too short to feel “stuck” in a job that you don’t enjoy. So after having “brewing” in the back of my mind for a few months but thinking I wasn’t even close to being qualified, I happened to check Avery’s website and found “Packaging QA/QC Technician”. I figured what the hell and went for it, and I’m so glad that I did. The then-Quality Director gave me a chance where I started out mostly working on the floor with the packaging crew to ensure in-package quality. I then moved into the lab full time within a few months when a spot opened up, and now here I am today! A few years ago I would have never imagined this is where I would be, but I am so glad I took that chance and feel so lucky to have a career that I love.
Why is a QA lab important for any brewery?
Quality and consistency. I think any brewery wants to deliver a high quality product that will impress the consumer and have them coming back for more. That can be done by making sure that the beer you put out there is exactly as you intended it to be, free of any imperfections that may jeopardize the integrity of said beer.
Right behind quality should be consistency, because a person who falls in love with one of your brands should be able to have that same feeling every time they drink your product.
A quality lab can help guarantee both of those elements with a few basic practices- making sure the yeast is clean and healthy for a successful fermentation, plating the beer on different media types to check for beer spoilers, and helping to enforce superior sanitation practices brewery-wide.
As lucky as we are to have a dedicated quality team and lab, we wouldn’t be able to do our job without the support of every other department. Having a production team that knows how each brand should look, smell and taste is extremely important so that any problems are hopefully caught in-process and rectified as soon as possible.
What do you geek out about in your free time?
Forensics! But not just forensics- other related topics like criminology, serial killers, and body farms. If you check out some of the books on my shelf you’ll find titles like “Dead Men Do Tell Tales”, “STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” and “The Stranger Beside Me”, a book about Ted Bundy. Where did such an interest come from, you ask? Well, I have two older sisters and at a very young age we were all fascinated with serial killers and true crime, and we would always watch scary movies and pay close attention to high profile cases in the news. My oldest sister went on to study psychology and can tell you all about the human psyche, while my other sister works as a death investigator for a medical examiner. I had always dreamt of being a forensic pathologist as I was growing up- you know, the MD who performs the autopsies and determines cause of death. I didn’t quite make it there but I did study forensics and criminal justice as my minors in college, and I have enthusiastically shadowed/assisted a few autopsies during internships. After going to a few death scenes with my sister I started thinking that it was probably for the best that I didn’t end up in that field because some of the things I saw still get under my skin to this day. So I’m perfectly happy just hearing stories through her and binge watching the latest true crime documentary.
What makes you excited to wake up and come to work every day?
I love the fact that every day I come to work is an opportunity to learn something new. When I accepted the packaging technician position at Avery I had NO idea how much science is involved across the entire production process, and even after a few years I feel like I have barely scratched the surface. I work with some incredible minds here, all of whom are willing to share knowledge and teach, which promotes such an incredible and supportive work environment.
For example, one of the things we do as a lab group is get together every week and discuss a scientific article related to the brewing industry. The topics can range from mash chemistry, to yeast management, or sensory analysis (to name a few). This gives us a chance to talk about our in-house processes and any potential improvements that we could benefit from, as well as allows us to learn about the process details of production areas outside of the lab.
What’s your favorite Avery beer?
Ellie’s Brown Ale is my tried and true, she’s always been real good to me. When I moved here with my now-husband in 2010 from Texas, we had NO idea what a “craft” beer was. Suddenly being thrown into a world of porters and saisons when all you ever knew was “lite” or “bock” was real darn intimidating! But once we started getting our feet wet at some of the local bars with flights and pints galore, Ellie’s Brown was one of the first craft beers that I can remember trying and actually liking, and I have yet to find a brown ale out there that can beat it.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work for fun?
Aside from the occasional board game night with friends or a stress-relieving outside run, I really just love hanging out with my family. I have an amazing husband and a spirited little girl, and my perfect day is just hanging out with them working on a house project, or finding a cold beer on a warm patio somewhere. We have so much fun no matter where we are or what we are doing, and getting out and enjoying Colorado together can make any ordinary day an adventure.
