The idea for his career—who would have guessed—was born from a beer mood. “After a night out with friends just before my high school graduation, I had an appointment at the career information center the next day. Jokingly, I asked: Are there any jobs with beer? And the advisor actually pulled out an information folder on the Brewing and Beverage Technology degree at TU Munich,” Dahmen recalls. “It sounded interesting, so I decided on it pretty quickly.”

From Beer Buzz to Calling

He was just as quickly convinced a few years later, when a former university colleague asked if he’d be interested in joining Technical Support for Velcorin^® and Nagardo^® at LANXESS.

“What I particularly enjoy about my job is the combination of application technology and consulting, as well as the wide range of products we’re licensed for.”

Whether fruit juice, soda, or wine—Dahmen knows his stuff. But privately, his heart beats mainly for a cold blonde brew. Five years ago, a dream came true for him: “We moved into a house with a garden and finally had enough space for me to get my own small brewing system,” he says. Since then, he’s been crafting nearly 200 liters of beer each year, from wheat beer in summer to dark beer in winter.

Brewing Beyond Booze

Mashing, lautering, boiling, cooling, and fermentation—for Dahmen, good beer requires above all one thing: patience. Depending on the style, it takes about six to twelve weeks before the first glass can be tasted. Right now, a brand-new creation is aging in the basement’s cold room: the first alcohol-free beer from his home kettles. Dahmen spent quite some time perfecting the recipe.

“As is common among many small and medium-sized breweries, it’s best to use a special yeast that only ferments certain sugars,” the expert explains. “But without alcohol, the beer lacks its natural protection, making it much more susceptible to germs. Once the keg is tapped, alcohol-free beer keeps for only 2 to 3 days.”

Fortunately, there’s Nagardo^®, which was recently approved in the EU for non-alcoholic beer. With the remaining liters that friends and family have left over, Dahmen now wants to test how this natural preservative performs in his beer. “That way, I can later share even more valuable practical suggestions with our customers,” he says. Of course, he shares this knowledge with his team at LANXESS – as well as a small sample.

Demand is high, so the brew kettles in the garden shed will be busy throughout the coming summer months. Dahmen is especially looking forward to one variety: “At the end of August, the hops in our garden are ripe. We hope the harvest will be enough for around 40 liters of fine aromatic pilsner again this year. Brewing with your own raw materials is something truly special.”