Charles Bamforth


Charles William Bamforth, FRSB, FIBD, known as Charlie Bamforth, is an English scientist who specialises in malting and brewing. He is a former President of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and was also Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at University of California, Davis between 1999 and 2018.

Life

Career

Born in Great Britain in 1952, Charles William Bamforth grew up in Lancashire. Following schooling at Upholland Grammar School, he graduated from the University of Hull with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 1973 and went on to receive a PhD from the same institution in 1977. The following year, he joined Brewing Research International, but in 1983, he went to work at Bass Brewers, where he was Research Manager and Quality Assurance Manager. In 1991, Bamforth became director of research at Brewing Research International. Two years later, he received a Doctor of Science degree from Hull University. In 1999, he took up the post Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at UC Davis. Bamforth retired from UC Davis in 2018 and was appointed Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Since January 2019, he has been Senior Quality Advisor at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
Between 2014 and 2016, he was President of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling. He is also a Fellow of the IBD, as well as a Fellow of the Society of Biology and Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists for 18 years.

Research

According to his university profile, Bamforth's research interests are malting and brewing, specifically "wholesomeness of beer, including studies on the psychophysics of beer perception, on polyphenols and on the residues from non-starchy polysaccharide digestion that constitute soluble fiber and potential prebiotics in beer. Research in the laboratory also embraces the enzymology of the brewing process, foam stability, preventing oxidation in wort and beer and alternative paradigms for beer production."

Honours and awards

In 2018, Bamforth received the Recognition Award from the Brewers Association, the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's Horace Brown Medal, and the Award of Honor by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. He has also received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2015; the Award of Distinction from the American Society of Brewing Chemists ; and the Cambridge Prize from the Institute of Brewing.