Roland Schmidt, (Dipl.-Ing, Univ.) was unanimously appointed as an honorary member of MEBAK® by the general assembly at the 94th MEBAK Conference held in November 2019 in Darmstadt, Germany.
Schmidt was born in Heilbronn, Germany. He attended high school at the Hölderlin-Gymnasium in Nürtingen and graduated in 1976. From 1976 to 1978 he served in the Bundeswehr (German army) as a reserve officer. He subsequently studied at the TU Munich-Weihenstephan from 1978 to 1984 and graduated with the academic title of Dipl.-Ing., Univ. in Brewing Science and Beverage Technology. He completed his diploma thesis at the Chair for Brewing Technology I under Prof. Narziss on the topic “Nitrogen Heterocyclic Compounds in the Brewing Process”. From 1984 to 2019, he was head of quality control at Hopfenveredlung St. Johann GmbH in Wolnzach, Germany (“NATECO2”).
During this time, he was responsible for the introduction of a number of innovative analytical techniques. For example, high-pressure liquid chromatography for the separation of the bitter substances in hops was developed for applications beyond routine use. Methods of a greater level of sophistication were developed under his leadership for the differentiation of much more than just the primary bitter substances and the separation of hop polyphenols. Under his aegis, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy also found its way into NATECO2 with the differentiation of the aroma substances in hops. His efforts also concentrated on developing analytical methods for the detection of pesticides in hops using high-pressure liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy. Schmidt was not only responsible for the quality assurance at the hop extraction plant in Wolnzach, but he was also actively involved in the introduction of methods for the extraction of compounds and other natural constituents in hops using supercritical carbon dioxide, which at the time proved to be very challenging. In this particular case, his task was to develop analytical methods for monitoring the extraction of these natural products.
In this role, he became a member of the Hop Analysis Working Group (abbreviated in German “AHA”) in 1984 and was inducted as a full member of MEBAK in 2006.
Schmidt has made very valuable contributions to MEBAK with his vast knowledge on the topic of hops.
He has worked on, among others, the MEBAK volumes Raw Materials (Rohstoffe in German) as well as on the recently created online version of MEBAK.
He appears as an author or co-author on numerous publications in the field of hop research. He is also co-author of the book Hops – Their Cultivation, Composition and Usage published by Fachverlag Hans Carl.
In November of 2019, he entered well-earned retirement but introduced Andreas Gahr (also of “NATECO2”) to MEBAK in 2019. This allowed the seamless transition of competence in the field of “hop analysis” in MEBAK.
As a gesture of appreciation and thanks, the MEBAK Board of Directors presented Dipl.-Ing. Roland Schmidt with an honorary MEBAK tankard.
