Annabel Smith is a beer enthusiast with her own beer training company Beerbelle. She has worked in the beer industry for almost 30 years as a licensee, educator, beer inspector, beer Sommelier, public speaker and author.

A leading expert on cask beer and advocate of cellar management.

David Hemstock was an award winning brewer and now craft distiller. 

He has always been passionate about the art of making hand crafted drinks and the creativity of recipe development. 

David, the former Head Distiller at Derbyshire Distillery has recently founded with his partner Amy a craft distillery Dancing Anchor Spirits that aims to synthesise their love of craft and dance music into a fresh vibrant new drinks brand.

Kieran Aylward our expert cidermaker has more than a decade’s experience in making cider, in styles ranging from premium Methode Traditionnelle, traditional still scrumpy and the sometimes ignominious fruit ciders.

Kieran is a qualified brewer, bringing method to his cidermaking. He brews with New Devon Brewing where he experiments with techniques borrowed from the cider world. He also acts as a consultant cidermaker, for example for The Lost Kitchen, in Devon, where he has helped develop a keg cider from decades neglected family orchards for their new restaurant concept.

Kieran is also a consultant with Vitikit LTD, where helps new and existing cidermakers, large and small, navigate the complicated world of cidermaking and cider processing equipment.

Edward Theakston has the pub business and beer running through his very veins. The clue is in the name.

Over the last 20 years he has worked with large and small pub groups on everything from beer selection to creating and delivering quality improvement programmes in their pub estates.  He has consulted for Cask Marque as well as running his own award winning pub The White Bear in North Yorkshire for the last 20 years.   

"I have been involved in beer all my life.  I have done everything from sweeping yards, been on the drays, installed and maintained both keg & cask tech services installations, and brewed beer and love it!" 

Mike Norton has a passion for fruit liquors and as a result he has set up Hogg Norton Fruit Liquors to produce award winning fruit liquors on the edge of the Peak District.

Fruit liquors are a great british tradition and have been made for centuries making use of local fruits and traditions.  Mike is keen that the tradition of quality fruit liquors made from natural ingredients continue to flourish and are appreciated by a whole new generation of drinkers.

Kieron Atkinson is MD of the English Wine Project and is passionate about the establishment of english vineyards and the production of quality english wine.  He completed a wine production course at Plimpton College and then became technical advisor for the UK branch of the Rothchilds.  In June 2011 Kieron took over the historic vineyard at Renishaw Hall and now produces award winning still and sparkling wine from the 2 acre vineyard.

Kieron is a consultant wine maker for a number of UK vineyards producing quality red, roses and sparkling wines he is also expert on the production of and bottling of wine.  He is a massive advocate of English wine production.

Simon Haslam has over 30 years of trade experience within the licensed hospitality industry , working for two major "Blue Chip" companies (M&B and Bourne Leisure)

During his extensive career he had fulfilled various roles including stock taking ,pub management and multi-site  operations.His vast knowledge of the industry allows him to a a unique empathetic understanding of the learners needs and can real life examples to his training.

Dr Danny Allwood

Danny is a organic chemist lecturing at Sheffield Hallam University but he has a secret life….
In his spare time he likes to brew beer  Anybody who follows his Twitter feed will see he is fascinated by the flavour compounds in beer and through his scientific background he will inspire you to make those connections between the molecules produced in the brewing & fabulous tasting beer.

Jamie Baxter graduated with a degree in Biology and after a few years as a beach bum has worked in the food and drink industry for most of his life. After selling his breakfast cereal company Jamie went to work with Tyrell's Crisps' founder Will Chase to build a potato vodka distillery instead which together with Sipsmith Gin and Sacred Spirits were amongst the first smaller scale distilleries to be built in the UK for over a century. Within 6 months Chase Vodka was named best Vodka and won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits awards. When Jamie left some four years later he realised that there was no-one in UK with the same experience of setting up craft distilleries and so became a consultant to help people get started. Jamie has now built 19 distilleries - over 5% of all the distilleries currently operating in UK.

Julia Barnett has main brewing attributes not least that she a Master Brewer qualification with the IBD who also did Micriobiology & Genetics degree so she knows all about yeast.  She has worked in a number of breweries in the UK and developed a love for cask conditioned ale after working at Tetley Walker in Warrington.  She went on to set up her own brewery Quartz Brewing 15 years ago.  Julia still develops the recipes for Quartz but leaves much of the day to day brewing in her head brewers capable hands.  She also likes sharing her considerable brewing knowledge with others on our Practical Commercial Brewing Course.

Pete Hounsell started life as a Chemical Engineer but shirking corporate life in pursuit of a more satisfying existence and a higher love he set up Amber Ales in 2006. Pete is know for developing classic beers with a twist such as his Chocolate Orange Stout which won ‘Champion Speciality Beer of Britain in 2010. Peter has won over 25 awards for his beers over the years. He is particularly fascinated with the origins and development of the IPA. Pete brings an impressive breadth of experience both as a home brewer and now as owner of his own microbrewery Amber Ales based in Derbyshire.

Marvyn White a brewer at the world renown Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell and is ideally placed to straddle the two very different worlds of homebrewing and commercial brewing.

Marv is a massively enthusiastic homebrewer and having spent several years working in a leading homebrew shop developing all grain kits and recipes for sale he was also the first person in the UK to start brewing on the Grainfather one pot brewing system.  His inside knowledge of how the Grainfather system works is unparrelelled and his practical experience on brewing experimental beers on a small and commercial scale makes him ideally qualified to tutor on a range of all grain brewing courses.

Dick is an IBD Master Brewer, with over 30 years in the brewing industry, as production manager, project brewer and technical consultant, mainly in the UK, but also in Europe and India.  Working mainly for large brewing companies, he has developed a wide range of practical brewing and engineering knowledge which is equally applicable to the major and micro brewing worlds, particularly in process development and project implementation.  He has carried out extensive training, mainly operational training for new processes and equipment, but also theory based for the Institute of Brewing & Distilling.  He is has written training material for the IBD for General Certificate of Brewing Course (GCB) as well as submitting exams questions for consideration on the GCB exam.

Chris Whirledge is a Chartered Surveyor and Associate of the Institute of Arbitration, with 20 years of experience in the licensed leisure property market. In that time he has dealt with Managed Houses, Tenanted trade and Late Night Venue Bar operations, and worked for Greene King, Luminar Leisure, Spirit Group and Marston’s. He has specifically dealt with Lease Renewals, Arbitrations, Rent Reviews, Acquisitions, Disposals, and general Estate Management of licensed and retail property. At Marston’s he headed up the tenanted pub company acquisitions team to secure the targets set by the board, and was part of the working party involved in a number of group acquisitions and subsequent integrations.  

In 2007 he set up Pub Innsite, a niche consultancy and agency regulated by RICS, and acts on behalf of clients mainly on the operational side to acquire and dispose of pubs on a freehold and leasehold basis and has also made a name for himself acting against pub company landlord’s on behalf of tenants with regard to professional work, and felt first-hand the highs and lows that operators have experienced.

“Publican Sam is the nom de plume of UK pub industry veteran, Philip Sambell. As a publican with over 35 years experience from pot-boy to Chief Operating Officer of a 1,200 strong, £500 million estate of tenanted public houses, Philip has a wealth of practical know-how which he shares with a wide audience including a select portfolio of private clients.

In his career Philip has been extensively involved in all aspects of running successful pub businesses, from front of house to catering and administration to marketing. Philip has the benefit of being both a manager and an entrepreneur in a variety of trading styles within the UK hospitality industry including pubs, cafés, restaurants and nightclubs.

Philip publishes the essential and definitive online guide to running a pub in the UK, How To Run A Pub and is a sought after consultant to both those about to enter (and those already engaged) in the pub trade.”

It's rare for a brewer to have done it all but Mike Hitchen could make a genuine claim to say he has been there and done it when it comes to beer brewing.  Starting his brewing life in London he worked his way up over 12 years from delivery driver to brewer working in all aspects of the brewing business.  Mike went on to set up his own medium sized microbrewery in Stockport called the 3 Rivers Brewery which eventually expanded to a 20 barrel plant and began exporting his beer to the US.

Having set up his own microbrewery Mike has always been keen to pass his expertise on to the next generation of brewers.  Mike is a regular contributor and lecturer on brewing courses in Liverpool and up in Sunderland at Brewlab where his experience has been invaluable in new breweries setting up.

Mike also runs a consultancy specialising in providing bespoke microbrewery equipment and installation services.

Tim O'Rouke has over 40 years experience of the brewing industry. Tim's understanding of the technical aspects of beer production are largely unrivalled.  Importantly, Tim also understands the commercial and marketing aspects of making good beer which will stand out in the crowd and help make your microbrewery a success. 

Tim owner of Brilliant Beer College is a trainer on the Institute of Brewing & Distilling Diploma providing courses aimed specifically for those working in the beer brewing industry. Tim remains absoultey passionate about beer and it's production. 

Alex Barlow is an independent brewing consultant and author of the award-winning ALL BEER Guide. A qualified Master Brewer with 30 years of trade experience, he is passionately knowledgeable about beer flavour, brewing, dispense and food pairing.  Alex is also the Head of Training at the Beer and Cider Academy.

He was involved in designing and commissioning the new Purity Brewing Brewery in Warwickshire and a new micro-brewery in Turkey.  He has set up his own 15bbl microbrewery in Sheffield and is currently the Head Brewer at Triple Point Brewery. His experience makes him uniquely qualified to lead courses that explore the commercial aspects of setting up a new micro- brewery and also introduce beer lovers to the wonderful diverse world of beer flavours with a distinct, involving and contemporary style.

Following a stint at Toyota Paul Taylor found his true vocation and now works for Murphy & Son Ltd one of the countries leading suppliers of brewing ingredients. In his capacity as Lab Manager Paul has advises some of the UK's leading micro breweries on ingredients and brewing technology.

For several years now he has been a passionate home brewer and has established the Nottingham Brewers Group.

Paul has a detailed scientific and professional understanding of brewing but still retains the enthusiasm of a true amateur. He has a relaxed and conversational tutoring style and is keen to share his substantial knowledge of the ancient art of brewing.