The Brewers Diploma

sunnyjim

Hey guys.

I'm guessing that there's probably a few people here who know about the Diploma in Brewing, Awarded by Institute of Brewers and Distillers. Anyone here done it? If ya have, what did you think of it?

oblivious

Where is it base there are a few recognized brewing schools between the US, England ad Germany

BeerNut

Looks like the Institute run it themselves, at their base in London. See here. It doesn't seem to be accredited by any educational establishment, which I would be highly suspicious of. By the looks of it you can take the exam without having sat any of the courses.

They appear to have been kicked out of the City & Guilds programme too:

Relationships with City & Guilds are currently being reviewed, given the unacceptability of their response to GOLA (Global On-Line Accreditation)

OP, people I know tend to have either done the BrewLab course at the University of Sunderland or, for something more serious, the Masters in Brewing and Distilling at Heriot Watt in Edinburgh.

oblivious

If you are gong to spend your time and money it would be wise to do it with someone that's accredited are recognized around the world

rubadub

oblivious wrote: »

If you are gong to spend your time and money it would be wise to do it with someone that's accredited are recognized around the world

Exactly, I remember some crowd in the UK set up a "fake" cambridge or oxford college. It was all legit as they renamed it something slightly different. Then all these poor US guys paid a fortune to go to what they thought was the "real" oxford/cambridge.

If I was you I would email the HR dept. in some main brewery you are interested in and ask what qualifications they recognise or recommend. And what would be "top of the list". Some could well prefer a fresh student to train themselves. e.g. I did engineering, some did the Agricultrual & Food engineering degree and went into brewing.

Many engineers ended up in computing/IT and accounting. It seems accounting firms may have their own training courses, and prefer a fresh person with good math skills, and specifically do NOT want a trained accountant who would have a different idea of how to do things.

sunnyjim

If I was you I would email the HR dept. in some main brewery you are interested in and ask what qualifications they recognise or recommend. And what would be "top of the list". Some could well prefer a fresh student to train themselves. e.g. I did engineering, some did the Agricultrual & Food engineering degree and went into brewing.

I'm working in a pretty big brewery at the moment! Quite a few in there have done the cert and diploma courses, as it gives a better understanding of the whole process to people. Most of the people I know who are doing/done it are the analytical chemists, lab analysts etc! I figure if it's good enough for a large multinational then it's good enough for me I really just wanna see what people outside my workplace do with it, just to see do they use it elsewhere.

BeerNut

sunnyjim wrote: »

I figure if it's good enough for a large multinational then it's good enough for me

Yes, I noticed on their website that a lot of their clients are macrobrewers, which makes the course seem more like occupational training than a real academic qualification.

I'm sure if you ask the Institute they'll tell you which companies send people to them and what kind of use their graduates have made out of it.

sunnyjim

I will indeed.

Many thanks lads. In the process of getting a few 5 Gallon containers from local chippers to start my homebrews, you'll be seeing me around the 'how to' thread!

noby

I know of (at least) one microbrewer who is currently doing this course, and through him I have given it a cursory glance. The fact that the macrobrewers are keen on it, and it is held in their breweries does at least give the little guy a different perspective, and a few contacts.

sunnyjim

On looking around the place for a while, I've found that it's listed as desirable for some brewing companies. Others mention that the candidate must be willing to study to complete some course or other in brewery science.

BeerNut

Which would suggest to me you'd be mad to pay for it yourself.

sunnyjim

Yeah, and at 5 grand to do it all, I don't think I'll be embarking on it out of my own pocket!