App State Wants To Open The Tap

Officials at Appalachian State University are planning to sell beer brewed in the chemistry department. Faculty and students began a class on fermentation last spring. But current rules prohibit selling the fruits of their labor.

Brett Taubman is an assistant professor of chemistry at ASU and a home brewer:

"Fermentation also stretches far beyond just beer or wine, you know into alternative fuels, pharmaceuticals, different chemicals, so I think the beer and the wine are attractive to students and are a way to bring them into a discipline that they may not otherwise be interested in."

Taubman says it'll take at least three-to-six months to get approval to sell the beer. He says the micro-brewing business is booming in North Carolina with at least fifty breweries located across the state.