Is Brewing an Art or a Science?

This is a question I think I've danced around nicely in the subtitle of this blog. Is brewing an art or a science? This is a common question and one without a good answer (I may muse about it for a while, but I promise I won't come up with a real answer, either). I recently watched a preview for Tim Webb's Beer Amongst the Belgians, which is a series about which I am very excited. In it, Tim Webb interviews Jean Van Roy, head brewer of the Cantillon brewery. Cantillon makes some profoundly amazing beers (all lambic/geuze), so I hold the greatest respect for Van Roy. In the interview, he states that brewing is 100% art. He sleeps with his beer, brews by feeling. He thinks of himself as an artist, and I, having had several of his products, am inclined to agree. But that quote makes me wonder what he would think of my own approach to brewing. I tend to think about it in a scientific way, though I'd like to think I'm not cold and mathematical about it. There is a world of difference between Cantillon and the large, industrial brewing operations that dominate the American market. They are the other extreme. Their mission is to replicate their product time after time as efficiently as possible; their brewers are engineers, their breweries are factories. My own approach is far more artistic by comparison. Do the brewers in these massive operations feel any kind of emotional connection with their beer? I doubt it. Now watch the interview with Jean Van Roy, and tell me he isn't emotionally attached to his work. It almost brings a tear to my eye. I think I fall in between. I believe there is a happy middle ground between the pure art and the pure science. The science of brewing is very useful. Understanding the chemistry of the beer and the biology of the yeast can help hone processes and design a very tasty brew. It's particularly handy for troubleshooting: if something goes wrong, a scientific approach is necessary to find and correct an error. But having said that, there are some aspects where pure science won't do and the brewer must be an artist (or, more appropriately I suppose, a craftsman). There is a conceptual difference in selecting hops for, say, a hefeweizen because their subtle floral aromas complement the dusty malt, and selecting based sheerly on cohumulone and alpha acid content. While the chemical makeup shouldn't be ignored, the abstract role in the overall beer is more important. I could say the same for most other aspects of the brewing process. So I guess my ultimate thought is that the brewer should play artist first and develop a beer as an idea, or to use an appropriate metaphor, paint a picture of it. Then the scientist should kick in to make hone the process to bring that beer into reality. These are just my own thoughts, and I'm sure everyone is going to approach this in his/her own way.

Thanks for humoring me.
Cheers,
--joe