11.512 Schulich Fall Rev_Layout 1 - The Schulich School of ...

SCHULICHSCHOOL OFENGINEERINGRAVINDERMINHASFATHERENTREPRENEURMANJITMINHASBEER MAKINGPROCESSUNIVERSITYOF REGINACRAFT &BUSINESSSKILLSMOUNTAINCRESTBREWERIESMARKETEXPANSIONSPhoto courtesy Ravinder MinhasMOUNTAIN CRESTBREWERIESRAVINDER ANDMANJIT MINHASTheir passion for engineeringcame first. The beercame afterwards. Ravinderand Manjit Minhas are abrother-and-sister team ofengineers who followed intheir father’s footstepsand became entrepreneurs.They founded Mountain CrestBreweries in 1999 whilethey were still undergraduatestudents – Ravinder at theSchulich School of Engineeringand Manjit at the Universityof Regina – and their companyis now the fourth largestbrewing company in Canadaand the ninth largest inNorth America. The Minhasesrecently expanded theirproduct line into Ontario andthe United States and they’reeyeing British Columbia andeastern Canada as potentialfuture markets.“We strongly believethat our education helps us inthe daily process of learningabout our craft and business,whether it’s related to engineering,human resources oreven accounting,” explainsRavinder. “The process ofmaking beer can be thoughtof as a series of chemicalengineering tasks thatincludes separation processesand biochemical reactions.Although chemical engineerswork in our breweries, manysmaller breweries andmicrobreweries employ seniorbeer makers known asbrewmasters. While they’renot trained as engineers,brewmasters use much of thesame equipment and many ofthe same skills that chemicalengineers employ every day.”“Don’t think that becauseyou have an engineeringbackground you have to gointo a traditional engineeringrelatedbusiness,” saysManjit. “You should think ofyour education as a tool anda gateway to the huge rangeof possible careers and opportunities,especially the onesyou have a passion for.”SCHULICH 19 ENGINEER