Case studies: Technical brewer: David

David graduated in brewing and distilling and as a result of gaining his degree, he also obtained associate membership of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD). His role as a technical brewer involves unsocial hours as brewing is a seven-days-a-week process.

David became interested in the brewing industry after helping his father who was a very keen amateur brewer! Although as a boy he hated the taste of the beer that his father brewed, he was fascinated by the process. As he grew older, he began to enjoy the taste and became increasingly interested in the complexities of the brewing process. David was good at science at school and studied science A-levels, including biology. He was aware that he wanted to study a scientific subject at university but also wanted it to have a practical orientation.

Although originally deciding to study food science, David decided to return to brewing and applied for a four-year degree course in brewing and distilling at Heriot-Watt University. David enjoyed most of what he studied and felt that the emphasis placed on business management was a very important aspect of the course. The course included a one-year placement, which David spent at a large multinational brewery in London. He enjoyed the experience and gained an enormous amount from it but it made him realise that his heart lay in working for a smaller brewer, where he would be able to get involved in every aspect of the brewing process.

David graduated with a BSc Hons in Brewing and Distilling and, after travelling for a few months, he began to apply for jobs. As a result of gaining his degree, David also obtained associate membership of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) 

David found the search for a job was more difficult than he had anticipated, partly because he was looking for a job with a small brewery and such breweries tend not to recruit frequently or in large numbers. He had a number of rejections at application form stage and several unsuccessful interviews before he obtained a job as a production supervisor with a small independent real ale brewer in the Midlands. This meant leaving Scotland and setting up home in a new city, but David felt that this was worthwhile in order to obtain a job that he really wanted.

David has now been with the company for four years and very much enjoys his job. He is responsible for helping to supervise the brewing process. This involves making sure beer quality targets are met, managing the production process, sampling for laboratory analysis and ensuring health and safety targets are maintained. He is a member of the management team and has had responsibility for a number of projects, including a review of the marketing of the products produced by the brewery and a project to increase the numbers of their special occasion and limited edition beers.

The role involves unsocial hours as brewing is a seven-days-a-week process but David does not mind this aspect of the job as he has time off at other times. He is part of the on-call rota but, again, he does not mind and just considers it to be part of the job.

David’s advice to anybody wanting to join the industry is to gain some work experience prior to making any decisions as it is a demanding job that you really need to experience in order to decide if it is for you.