FHSU University Relations and Marketing
By Randy Gonzales
HAYS, Kan. — David Levering, the education director at Sternberg Museum of Natural History, wants to share his passion for science — and throw in some craft and specialty beers, too.
“Sternberg Outbound: Denver” is the result. Levering will lead a trip to Denver for adults to explore both science and beer from Friday, Oct. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 11. Levering has tried to lead a trip to Denver twice before, but could not generate enough participants.
“We’ve got a pretty well set audience for kids’ programs,” Levering said. “The goal was to try to do some things that might appeal to older audiences — at least, different audiences.”
The first day of the trip will include a tour of the Sternberg Museum research collections, followed by lunch at Gellas Diner & Lb. Brewing Co. A tour plus meeting with the brewers of Defiance Brewery, also in Hays, will be after lunch, before the group travels to Denver.
“There are certain things in science that I find very interesting,” said Levering, who has been home brewing for two years. “I am not a microbiologist, but I find the process of beer-making to be scientifically interesting. When I find something like that, it’s something I dive into with a fair amount of intensity.”
The first day in Denver, the group will visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
“We’ll be getting their really cool behind-the-scenes VIP tour of their fossil research collection,” said Levering.
After lunch, the group will visit a couple of breweries — River North Brewery and Epic Brewing Denver — before having dinner and visiting De Steeg Brewing, where group members will get to talk with brewmaster Craig Rothgery, who is formally trained as a mechanical engineer.
“We’re going to focus our conversation with him on the machinery that goes into a modern brewery.”
On the last day of the trip, the group will travel to Boulder to visit Boulder Fermentation Supply homebrew shop.
Levering said a minimum of eight people need to sign up to make the trip possible. The cost — including lodging and transportation but not meals or drinks — is $240 for Sternberg Museum members and $260 for non-members. Levering said there is no hard deadline, but people should sign up by the end of the month. Signup forms are available online at sternberg.fhsu.edu/denveroutbound/.
“I am very excited about the idea of doing the trip,” Levering said. “I think that it could be a really cool experience to give people a different taste of science.”