FOR THOSE WHO LOVE TO LEARN Educational opportunities for the distilling industry. Written by M att Strickland
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earning that you should never community is growing at a rapid clip, Learning is not stop learning is perhaps one of the which means more brands vying for attained by chance; it hardest lessons in life. It’s one of those must be sought for with the same shelf space. It’s a competitive inescapable truths like taxes and how environment. Certainly, there are ardor and diligence. the swiftly moving lane you merge into dozens of ways a company and its -ABIGAIL ADAMS during rush hour will always slow to the employees can better respond to all speed of frozen molasses. this industry growth while continuing In school they told me Distillers can benefit immensely from to expand as a brand and company. Practice makes perfect. continuing education, though many However, one of the best techniques And then they told me folks are seemingly content to stick to maintain that fighting edge is to Nobody's perfect, their heads in the sand and imagine that constantly look for ways to strengthen so then I stopped this form of professional development their employees’ knowledge base. practicing. isn’t necessary. That’s ok. The students Within the past decade a slew of -STEVEN WRIGHT who actively search out knowledge in organizations have cropped up that this field will most often traipse on by, leaving these offer continuing education for the distilling industry. proverbial ostriches in their insulating dust. Some have existed for decades or more while others Continuing education is paramount to becoming are relatively new. Below in alphabetical order is a list a better distiller, business owner, brand developer, of education providers, their services, notable courses, product designer, and salesperson. The craft distilling contact info, and when available, general pricing.* *Author’s note: This is by no means an exhaustive list in that there are several regional colleges and distilleries that now offer short courses on distilling operations and business. The organizations listed in this article are perhaps the most well-known, but this is not a judgement on the newer courses offered by these other groups.
The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) The Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) has been in operation in some form or another since 1886, making it one of the oldest institutions on this list. For more than a century, it was essentially a brewer’s only-
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For more information on IBD membership and courses contact: Institute of Brewing and Distilling 44A Curlew Street, Butler's Wharf, London, SE1 2ND +44 (0) 207499 8144 www.ibd.org.uk
type guild, but that all changed in 2005 when the organization invited distillers to join and began offering training to the practitioners of the alchemical arts. Based in London, the IBD
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