Coopers Brewery has bolstered the number of qualified brewers among its ranks with seven more employees earning international qualifications.
The staff members, who work across varying areas of operations at Coopers, have all graduated from the United Kingdom-based Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
This brings the number of qualified brewers at Coopers to 13, making it arguably the most technically qualified brewery in Australia per litre of beer produced.
We place great importance on ongoing professional development at Coopers,” Managing Director and Chief Brewer of Coopers Brewery, Dr Tim Cooper said.
We encourage all our people to continue to develop and broaden their skills and knowledge, so we remain at the leading edge of our industry. The art of brewing has become far more technical and involved over the years, particularly as the beer industry evolves with the introduction of advanced manufacturing processes and the entrance of new products and styles into the market.
The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) is the largest global professional body representing brewers, distillers, maltsters and cider makers. It has almost 4000 members in 102 countries. The IBD Diploma qualifications are internationally recognised for their technical rigour. The course covers brewing science in depth, from malting and fermentation to maturation and packaging, incorporating relevant aspects of biochemistry, microbiology, engineering and other disciplines.
The seven Diploma recipients at Coopers are:
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Paul Askew (quality control technician)
- Tim Blight (services engineer)
- Gurpreet Brar (laboratory technician)
- Mark Elverd (maintenance manager)
- Lucas Holman (brewhouse operator)
- Daniel Osborne (maltings operator)
- Bettina Pickering (control systems engineer)
To successfully combine advanced study of this nature alongside day-to-day work commitments demonstrates the high calibre of this cohort,” Dr Cooper said.
While Tim, Lucas and Daniel are directly involved in our brewing cadetship program, Paul, Gurpreet, Mark and Bettina are longer standing members of the operations team and undertook this study to broaden their understanding of the beer industry. This is a wonderful result for all these highly motivated team members and we’re very proud of their achievements.”
The new Diploma brewers completed their qualifications during Dr Cooper’s term as President of the IBD, and so his signature will be on their certificates which he will proudly present them. A further two Coopers employees are currently mid-way through the Diploma course.