A brewer's CV and interview: what gets you hired

What a head brewer looks for first

Reliability, safety sense and real hands-on experience come first. Brewing knowledge comes second. Passion for beer comes a distant third, because every applicant claims it.

A head brewer reading your CV is asking one question: will this person turn up on time, follow procedure and not hurt themselves or ruin a batch? Everything on the page should answer that.

Building the CV

Keep it to one page if you are starting out, two at most if you have brewery experience. Put the most relevant material at the top:

• Brewery experience, including internships, with the specific tasks you did: cellar work, kegging, CIP, yeast handling.
• Brewing education: courses, exams, relevant degree modules.
• Homebrewing, described honestly: how many batches, which styles, what equipment, what you measured.
• Transferable work: lab work, food production, kitchens, maintenance, shift work.

Numbers help. "Brewed 30 all-grain batches, logging gravity and temperature for each" says far more than "passionate homebrewer".

Translating other experience

Career changers often undersell themselves. A chef understands hygiene, timing and heat. A lab technician understands sterile technique and records. A mechanical engineer understands pumps, valves and pressure. Say exactly how your previous work maps to the brewery, as our guide to going from homebrewer to pro explains.

Starting roles are usually in the cellar or on packaging. Show you know that and want it. See cellar and packaging jobs for what those roles involve.

Tailor every application. A brewpub that brews five styles a month wants someone flexible and good with customers. A production brewery wants someone who follows procedure exactly on a long shift. Read their beer list, visit if you can and adjust the first lines of your CV to match. A generic CV sent to twenty breweries usually gets fewer replies than five careful ones.

Finally, check the basics: a working phone number, a professional email address and no spelling mistakes. Brewing is a precise trade and a careless CV suggests a careless brewer.

The questions you will be asked

Brewery interviews are practical. Expect questions like these:

• How would you clean a fermenter? A good answer runs through a rinse, a hot caustic wash, a rinse, an acid wash, a final rinse and sanitising before use, with safety gear throughout.
• What does a diacetyl rest do and when would you use one?
• What happens if fermentation runs too warm?
• Why does dissolved oxygen matter at packaging?
• Tell me about a batch that went wrong and what you learned.

This is where many candidates struggle. They can talk about favourite beers for an hour but freeze when asked why a lager ferments cold. The questions are not hard if you have learned the process properly. They are impossible to bluff.

The floor test and the tasting

Many brewers will walk you round the brewery or ask you to work a trial shift. Wear proper boots, ask before touching anything and watch how the team works. Offer to help with the cleaning. It is noticed.

Some interviews include a tasting, sometimes with spiked samples. You are not expected to have a judge's palate. You are expected to describe what you taste plainly and honestly. Saying you are not sure is fine.

Questions to ask them

An interview runs both ways. Good questions also show you understand the work:

• What does the first month look like for someone in this role?
• How is training done? Who would I learn from?
• What are the shift patterns?
• How do you handle quality checks before beer is released?
• Where have people in this role moved on to?

Listen to how they answer. A brewery that has thought about training and quality will answer these quickly. If nobody can explain how beer is checked before it leaves, that tells you something about where you would be working.

Bring a short written record if you have one: a brewing log from your homebrew batches, notes from an internship or a course certificate. Brewers like seeing how someone records things.

After the interview

Send a short thank you message the same day. If you do not get the job, ask what would have made the difference. Brewers often remember candidates who handled a rejection well and call them when the next role opens.

Common questions

Should I put homebrewing on my brewing CV?

Yes, if you describe it honestly with numbers: batches, styles, equipment and what you measured. It shows interest and basic process knowledge.

What should I wear to a brewery interview?

Clean, practical clothes and closed non-slip shoes, because you may be shown round a wet production floor.

What is the most common mistake in brewery interviews?

Talking about loving beer instead of showing an understanding of hygiene, safety and the brewing process.