A new brewing course planned at the Central Campus in Cromwell will continue the polytechnic’s track record of delivering courses that are one-of-a-kind in New Zealand, Central Campus marketing manager Melanie Kees says.
The proposed craft brewing course would begin when Central Campus’ new purpose-built facility was completed, hopefully within two to three years, Ms Keys said.
A physical brewery would be created for the course at the new facility, which would be built on the grounds of the Central Campus Bannockburn Rd site, she said.
It was thought there were no other brewing courses in New Zealand and the Cromwell one would be the first of its type in the country, Ms Kees said.
The Central Campus already offered several courses which were the only ones of their sort in New Zealand: stonemasonry, sports turf management and bike mechanics.
All were developed after consultation with industry sectors, for example, the bike mechanic course was developed to address a labour shortage in Central Otago, where cycling was "huge" both in the business and recreational sector, Ms Kees said.
It was possible other new courses could also be developed later on, she said.
"Never say never. There’s always something brewing here — literally."