Jeff Potter (Executive Director of the IBD Asia Pacific Section) with support from past section chair David Meads hosted a stand at BrewNZ 2023, organised by the New Zealand Brewers Guild (3-4 August). Asia Pacific section board member Chris Willcock joined Jeff at Brewcon 2023, organized by the Independent Brewers Association (21-23 August).
The IBD Asia Pacific Section was represented at two events in New Zealand and Australia in August 2023.
BrewNZ 2023 – 3-4 August, Majestic Function Centre – Christchurch
The IBD AP stand was manned by Jeff Potter with support from David Meads, and attracted plenty of interested brewers and exhibitors learning about training, coursers, and qualifications as well as IBD membership benefits. Opportunities to take part in the upcoming IBD Hobart convention were also discussed.
Jeff also ran a 30-minute workshop session during the lunchbreak covering the details of the online qualifications and new courses available including a demo of the Moodle platform and student experience. Around a dozen brewers attended and there was a good discussion and Q&A at the session.
At BrewNZ there were 143 delegates and 18 exhibitors.
BrewCon 2023 – 21-23 August, Gold Coast Convention Centre
With over 125 exhibitors present there was plenty of ground for the 500+ delegates to cover at BrewCon. The IBD AP stand (manned Jeff Potter with support from AP board members Chris Willcock, Tully Hadley and Donovan Sparks) attracted a steady stream of interested brewers and exhibitors to hear about training courses, and qualifications as well as membership benefits.
The convention had a packed program of 42 presentations and panel sessions in three parallel sessions over 2 days. Asia Pacific section board member Chris Willcock joined a panel of industry experts to discuss the subject of “Training for a better future” – while all the panelists had a different backgrounds and approaches to training, there was general agreement that IBD qualifications had a key place in a brewers training journey.
Thirteen brewers and cidermakers from four different continents across the globe have been awarded the highest recognition for their outstanding beers and ciders at the world’s most historic international beer and cider competition – The International Brewing & Cider Awards.
New Head of Education and Professional Development at the IBD, Kathryn Thomson outlines how she will design and deliver a CPD programme for the IBD, as the transition to Chartership continues.
The Institute of Brewing & Distilling marked its 138th anniversary on the 17th of March 2024. As we celebrate this milestone, we can reflect on the journey that has brought us to where we are today.