The August A. Busch III Brewing and Food Science Laboratory is 11,500 ft²/32,000ft² and houses the UC Davis Brewing Program's brewery with a dry storage, mill room, records room and controlled-temperature room, as well as a food processing pilot plant with two controlled refrigerated temperature rooms, a controlled temperature freezer and dry storage space, milk processing laboratory, classroom and an analytical laboratory. There is also a 12,500 ft² winery that is run by the department of Viticulture and Enology.
The brewery is an authentic, reduced-scale facility, similar in size to smaller commercial brewing operations. The brewery was donated and installed by Anheuser Busch in 2006. The California Processing Tomato Industry Pilot Plant will handle a broad spectrum of food products, including tomatoes, olives, peaches, prunes and be flexible for teaching, research, outreach and contract work. The milk processing laboratory is flexible for both teaching and research on traditional dairy food products as well as research on milk components that have potential for improving health, immune function and cognition. The entire project’s funding came through private donations.
The winery, brewery, and food science laboratory is the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified facility in their respective domains. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and has become the hallmark of sustainability in the architecture and construction world.
