About Hibernian Brewing School
The Hibernian Brewing School was founded in 2015 to give new and experienced Brewers the skills and competencies to improve their knowledge and techniques.
At the Hibernian Brewing School, we want to educate people in the areas of beer, spirits, wine and other interesting craft beverages.
Ger Galvin
Programme Director / Lead Tutor
Ger took a BSc in University College Cork (Ireland) and went on to complete an MEng in Brewing & Distilling at the Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. He then joined the Guinness graduate Management programme in 1992 at St James Gate brewery in Dublin. Between 1992 and 2007, Ger moved from trainee brewer to various middle and senior management positions within Guinness and worked in 5 different breweries with many different global and craft beer brands (ie. Guinness, Harp, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Smithwicks, McArdles, Kilkenny, Furstenburg, St James’s Gate Craft Beers etc). Since 2007 Ger has provided project management and technical/engineering support to a large range of breweries and distilleries. Ger is a certified assessor and verifier and is the lead assessor for all the Hibernian Brewing programmes.
Dr Dan Donnelly
Tutor
Dan took a BSc in Biochemistry and a PHD in Biotechnology. He has over 25 years international brewing experience mainly in research & development with Guinness. He has been to the forefront of many patent developments and is expert in Hops, Yeast and Packaging innovations. He is an approved IBD (Institute of Brewing and Distilling) trainer and is a tutor at the Hibernian Brewing School for our IBD training course.
Nigel Oakes – Tutor
Nigel took a BSc in Biological Sciences at UCD and has over 30 years front line brewing experience with Guinness and more recently in the craft beer sector. Nigel has worked in a number of different breweries and in a wide range of production and technical roles from raw materials through brewing, fermentation, beer processing, filtration, packaging and keg handling. Experienced in brewing a variety of beer styles, he has worked closely with US brew masters, developing an appreciation of their approach to quality and with craft brewers developing a deep appreciation of the exciting challenges in this sector. In addition Nigel has worked on many brewery design projects from concept stage right through to design, commissioning and full scale operations.
