Talking Brewing and Beer Brands...

Last week we were delighted to hold our annual Brewing and Beer Brands Forum and Dinner at Brewers' Hall. This key event in our calendar is an opportunity for people from all areas of the brewing industry to come together and share ideas and experiences about making and selling beer.

The evening began with a presentation by Liveryman Prof Katherine Smart, President of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), who talked about the IBD's new approach to brewing education and how it is evolving to keep up with changing demands of a dynamic industry.

The audience was then treated to a presentation of the results of "The Gender Pint Gap", a study by Dea Latis into female attitudes and behaviours towards beer in Great Britain. This groundbreaking piece of research was funded by the Brewers' Research and Education Fund - a grant giving fund administered by the Brewers' Company.

Th evening then took a technical turn, with a presentation on bitterness contributions to Fullers beers by Zoe Edwards, a Graduate Trainee at Fuller, Smith & Turner. Her study examined how the bitterness of beer is impacted by different hopping techniques and reminded everyone present that there is a lot more to brewing than meets the eye!

Finally, the presentations concluded with Liveryman Andy Hepworth, of Hepworth & Co Brewers discussing the company's recent development of a new brewery complex, the challenges along the way and the ultimate benefits of the project.

In keeping with the theme of the evening, following the presentations, the Master, Paul Wells, was very pleased to award the Brewers' Company Prizes for the best student on the IBD's General Certificate in Packaging 2017 and the best student on the ICBD's MSc course in Brewing in 2017 to Krzysztof Lapinski of Meantime Brewing Company and Peter Burger.