After a year with the business as a Technical Manager I was promoted to the head of the brewing department. I oversee all brewery operations including production, packaging, maintenance and quality control at all of our production sites as well as financial control of the operations department as whole. My primary tasks include:Translating overall company business strategy into operational objectives for the brewery. Maintain the budget for beer production and the wider supply chainManage the Head Brewer to ensure staffing, expenses and resource management are controlled and fulfill organisational objectives. Training, development and performance appraisals for senior management of the brewery. Development, implementation and evaluation of improvement initiatives designed to facilitate greater production efficiencies and quality. Participate as an active member of the I&G senior leadership team.

I was custodian of all things brewing, technical and quality orientated for Innis & Gunn. It was a broad role and came with a great level of responsibility.Innis & Gunn predominately produce out of 3 sites. Firstly our own brewery in Perth circa 20K hectolitres/yr. Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow circa 125K hectolitres/yr and finally Marston’s circa 5k hectolitres/yr. This takes a lot of management as it is 3 completely independent teams. One of which is internal and the other two major 3rd party brewing partners which need to be handled in entirely different ways. The skills that I must use on a day to day basis are: stakeholder management, process control and problem solving.I also led NPD from a technical perspective as well as continually monitoring existing products and processes to perfect our portfolio.

In this role I was responsible for delivering the Maltsmiths Brewing range: Bavarian Pilsner and American IPA. This was a collaborative project funded by Heineken to experiment with beer recipes. I was brought in specifically for this given my previous experience in the industry. I was also technical lead on various other NPD projects in both beer and cider including global brands such as Amstel, Strongbow & Desperados - working closely with innovation managers, brand managers & brewing/technical teams from the sites to deliver NPD. Working with sites was also a big part of my job. The Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh (Deuchars IPA) in order to modernise their brewing techniques and recipes. As well as integrating recently acquired Lagunitas Brewing Co into the Heineken family and British beer scene. This exposed me to brewing craft style beers (heavy dry hop etc) on a huge scale and gave me some perspective on the size of the operations over in the well established USA craft brewers. Rationale for moving away from “craft”: This is something I am often asked. The answer: I have always wanted to spend time with a macro brewer. My ambition was to glean how craft and macro differ and what learnings can be taken from efficiency, systems and consistency from macro brewing and be applied to craft. Heineken didn’t disappoint; they were a fantastic company to work for and I have a great respect for everything they do. My time there was invaluable in showing me how great businesses work. Their approach to systems and process has driven me to be equally meticulous in my approach to any role or task. Fortunately for me I was able to offer an equal level of information exchange as they were attempting to move into the craft sector but lacked the experience in their ranks. Therefore I was able to educate on our approach whilst learning what made them successful.

Manage a 50Hl Brewhouse with around 15,000Hl annual production. I helped grow this company from a small 10 barrel kit to its current size.I have redeveloped the entire beer portfolio and added many new recipes. These include progressive hop forward IPAs, barrel aged imperial stouts and wild fermented sour beers. A small team of 8 in the production environment means I have an unpresidented level of control over day to day operations and have been able to work closely with all of my Brewers and Cellarman to ensure my high standards are carried out by everyone in the brewery. My primary tasks involved:Brew PlanningRecipe DevelopmentRaw Material Sourcing and ManagementBrewhouse Operations SchedulingYeast Propagation, Handling and ManagementSensory AnalysisImproving and Adapting Brewhouse OperationsAssisting in Branding of New ProductsHSEHACCPCOSSHControlling budget for operations and productionManagement of draymen and deliveries

The Craft Beer Kitchen is a brew on premise microbrewery located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a 1Hl plant that is usable by the public under my supervision. Over 75 recipes have been developed by myself for the public to brew in a variety of styles. I have two assistant brewers, whom I have personally trained to assist in day to day operations. Currently I am responsible for looking after around 20 brews at a time, which is challenging but highly rewarding. The other side of the Craft Beer Kitchen is it's operation as a highly experimental and innovative trial plant for Stewart Brewing which ties in my role with said company as their Innovation Brewer. I also regularly release beers under the Craft Beer Kitchen name to local pubs, everything from Barleywines to Berliner Weisses. Further to my role as Brewmaster I also manage the social media and design logos and labels for the company.

Natural Selection Brewing is a project by four MSc students at the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, Heriot-Watt University and Stewart Brewing, Edinburgh. Through a vigorous interview process I was chosen to be the Head Brewer for this project. My responsibilities included; designing, branding, marketing and selling a beer in Edinburgh and the UK.My main role was in the creation of Origin a 5.5% New World Saison which went on to win a Silver Medal at the 2013 Dublin Craft Beer Cup.

The Allanwater Brewhouse is a brew-pub in the heart of Scotland making an ever changing array of cask conditioned ales. I was involved in the entire brewing process and also ran tours of the brewery and tastings. I have a passion for trying new recipes and nothing is too outrageous for the Allanwater Brewhouse. I had the honour and privilege of being trained and mentored by Brewmaster Douglas Ross throughout my time at the brewery. My responsibilities included brew planning, raw materials ordering, yeast propagation, recipe development, brewing & packaging.A short video of my time at this company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EeTNcROD1E