Judges

Bill Taylor is one of Australia’s most accomplished brewers as well as playing an integral part as an industry advisor to the AIBA. Educated in Science and Business in his hometown of Brisbane, Bill's passion for brewing evolved into a career that has seen him brew, judge and speak on beer around the world. Bill has also contributed articles to daily press and magazines and released his first book ‘Beer and Food - A Celebration of Flavours’ in 2002 . After starting his career at Castlemaine in Brisbane, Bill is now Chief Brewer for the Lion Group . In 2004 Bill was made a Freeman and Brewer of the City of London .He is a Fellow and past President of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling

Dave Bonighton Dave has been passionate about brewing craft beer since he and his business partner launched Mountain Goat Beer in Melbourne in 1997. The brewery has won a number of trophies and awards at the AIBA and other competitions around the world. He's been a judge at the AIBA the last 7 years running, and looks forward to brewing his next beer.

 

After many wasted years in the corporate wilderness Neal Cameron came to brewing when starting up William Bull Brewery for De Bortoli Wines in 2005.  After building a sizable operation with Red Angus Pilsener and contract brewing for some of Australia’s best craft breweries he moved to Sydney to start The Australian Brewery in Sydney’s north west.  After only six months brewing, medals and trophies are already being awarded and additional capacity added.  In addition to running the brewery, Neal is a regular beer & cider judge, writes for Beer & Brewer magazine (specialist subject cider) and is on the executive committees of the NSW Brewers Guild and Cider Australia.

 

Dave has been passionate about brewing craft beer since he and his business partner launched Mountain Goat Beer in Melbourne in 1997. The brewery has won a number of trophies and awards at the AIBA and other competitions around the world. He's been a judge at the AIBA the last 7 years running, and looks forward to brewing his next beer.

 

Chief beer judge at the Adelaide Beer Show since 2011 and judging at the AIBA since 2002, Simon brings to the competition solid judging experience as well as technical expertise. Simon has a degree in Chemistry and Microbiology, a certificate in Business management as well as a diploma in brewing. He currently works as a technical manager with beer systems and trade quality assessments.

 

Jayne studied a Bachelor of Science in Viticulture and Winemaking and worked in wineries in Margaret River and the US, before landing a role as a Brewer at Little Creatures in WA in 2004. She was involved in developing Pipsqueak Cider before moving to Melbourne in 2007. She worked casually at Matilda Bay Garage, Dandenong before accepting the role as Head Brewer at Mountain Goat Brewery, Richmond in 2008. She is now the brewing half of Two Birds Brewing, alongside long-time friend and business partner, Danielle Allen. They released their first beer, a Golden Ale, in November 2011. Jayne has completed a Diploma in Brewing through the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in the UK and has judged at the AIBA, BrewNZ and the Perth Royal Beer Show.

 

John's qualifications include a Bachelor of Science (University of Melbourne), Grad. Dip Manufacturing Management (Phillip Institute) and a Diploma of Brewing (Institute of Brewing & Distilling) and John is currently a Brewing Development Manager with Lion, and is based in Brisbane. He has a group technical function which includes support of brewing operations at the Castlemaine Perkins and Swan breweries in Australia. He has 16 years’ experience with Lion in a number of roles including Brewer, Packaging Quality Manager, Technical Manager, Brewing Process Improvement Leader and Technical Services Director. John took a career break from Lion and worked for two years in craft breweries in northern England from 2005 – 2007. Prior to joining Lion, John worked for eight years for Fosters in a number of different brewing roles in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom.

 

Ian gained an appreciation for craft beer while studying in Seattle.  After moving to Australia, he spent several years home brewing the kind of beer he had enjoyed in the Pacific Northwest before committing to the trade. Ian began working at Holgate Brewhouse in 2008 while completing a degree in brewing at the University of Ballarat.  During his time there he has seen the brewery grow to the extent that they have recently quadrupled their production capacity.

 

Bruce Peachey began working in the brewing industry in 1977. He started his career with Toohey’s Ltd & over the next 20 years, he held many positions across all facets of production, including Brewing Manager & Technical Manager. Upon leaving Toohey’s in 2000, Bruce consulted on several expansion projects in China, before joining Bluetongue Brewery in 2001. Bruce designed & built this brewery & managed operations until 2007, when he returned to Sydney & set up his own consulting company. Bruce has developed many beers & built several breweries in this capacity, as well as lending technical & managerial support to breweries, mainly in the craft area.

 

Tina has a BSc & Grad Dip in Education and commenced with CUB as a Quality Assurance Chemist in 1989. Tina is currently the CUB Sensory Manager focusing on improving all sensory aspects of beer and cider education and information transfer and has held this role for two years. Her initial introduction into sensory was to develop and implement the National Beer Sensory Programme across all sites approximately 15 years ago. She then moved into the Education and Learning environment focusing on beer education for a wide range of audiences, from introductory to brewing science. Tina then became part of the HR Learning and Development team where she continued working on beer education as well as wine education and HR leadership programmes.

 

Jeff has been brewing with Lion for almost 22 years. In that time he has held roles as: New Product Development manager and Head Brewer -Tooheys and National as well as Quality Assurance Director. He currently is the Brewing Development Director for Lion. He manages new product development for the brewing division as well as major brewing capability projects to introduce new technology, licensed products and world’s best practise into the breweries. Jeff is a qualified beer taster and regular judge at the AIBA.

 

Download the full 2013 Judging Panel below.