Student Life Blog Posts

Iron Brew is one of those UC Davis traditions that sounds almost too good to be real. Every winter, students in FST 102B Practical Malting and Brewing spend weeks formulating recipes, brewing batches on nanobreweries in the RMI pilot brewery, and competing for the chance to have their beer produced commercially. 

Past winners, including Off the Clock, Caledonian Nights, Mighty Gale Ale, and Brew La-La have gone from campus fermentors to taps at The Gunrock, Sudwerk Brewing Co., and now Dunloe Brewing . 

On Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, 83 students, faculty and staff from UC Davis gathered at the RMI Sensory building for the first Student Symposium on Food Justice. This gathering sought to unite students who are dedicated to a food system that nourishes both people and the planet and support our collective efforts to advance justice in our food system.

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On May 11, 2026, certified sommelier, debut author, and change agent in the world of wine and beverage, Cha McCoy came to UC Davis with a mission to reframe how we think about wine, food, and who gets a seat at the table.

At the end of January, the Robert Mondavi Institute hosted Coffee Unfiltered: Thinking Outside the Cup, where coffee industry experts spoke to the coffee-curious about coffee’s origins, history and perception over the decades, and offered their predictions for the future. While pondering what could be next for coffee, what was clear above all was the deep connection coffee enthusiasts have with this beloved beverage, not only as a drink, but as a culture.

This February, the Robert Mondavi Institute's Sips and Bites series welcomed two professors from UC Davis's Department of Viticulture and Enology. 

Dr. Andrew Waterhouse is a professor emeritus, holder of an honorary doctorate from the University of Bordeaux, and an ISI Highly Cited Researcher. Dr. Liang Chen is a newly appointed assistant professor whose résumé includes work at E. & J. Gallo Winery and the analysis of wines that traveled to the International Space Station.

When we think about what connects us as humans, food inevitably rises to the top. But at UC Davis, a Terra Madre Americas panel revealed something deeper. Food isn't just what brings us together; it's a foundation for healthy communities and meaningful social transformation.

Moderated by Colin Dixon, director of the UC Davis Student Farm, the discussion brought together scholars and practitioners to explore food's role in building resilient communities. 

At Terra Madre Americas in September 2025, two UC Davis Health cooking demonstrations featuring chefs and registered dietitians proved that eating well during cancer recovery or for prevention doesn't mean sacrificing flavor. 

From Tuscan white bean soup to fiesta-spiced chicken with pluot salsa, these recipes show how nutritious meals can be both delicious and healing.

When three members of the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Executive Leadership Board sat down with students in October 2025, they talked about building careers, setting boundaries, and why your 20-year plan might be holding you back.

What happens to your favorite wine or beer when the climate that shaped it starts to change?

That question was at the heart of Sips of Change, a dynamic panel at Terra Madre Americas, where UC Davis scientists and an Argentine winemaker came together to talk adaptation, tradition, and what fermented beverages might look like in the decades ahead.

On a crisp autumn morning in Davis, the scent of malt and hops drifted through the Anheuser-Busch InBev Pilot Brewery. Among the gleaming stainless steel, for the first time, all three UC Davis brewing professors stood side by side in the new brewery to celebrate a program that has shaped the modern beer world. 

When winemakers press grapes, they're after the juice. But what happens to the skins, seeds, and stems that make up nearly 30% of the harvest?

At Terra Madre Americas in Sacramento in September 2025, two UC Davis researchers revealed how this "waste" is becoming the wine industry's next frontier of innovation.

The Sensory Theater fell quiet as Ned Spang, Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute, welcomed a familiar face back to campus. Dr. Hoby Wedler, a UC Davis alumnus who has been blind since birth, returned not just as a chemist, entrepreneur, and sensory expert but as the guide for the first public tasting built entirely around UC Davis student-made wines.

Every Thursday evening during the quarter at UC Davis, undergrads, graduate students, faculty, and researchers come together with wine glasses in hand for VITIS, the wine tasting club run through the Davis Enology and Viticulture Organization (DEVO). Here, they taste wines while learning directly from the people making them.

When Michael Mondavi steps into a room, he brings decades of wine expertise and the living history of Napa Valley with him. On October 7, 2025, the "quiet icon" of California winemaking shared his history, and hard-won lessons about surviving the industry's ups and downs, with students, alumni, and faculty at the Robert Mondavi Institute's Sensory Theater.