About Hendo
Hi – I’m Hendo.
Learning, coaching and training about all things brewing high quality and consistent beer is my jam.
I am one part professional brewer, one part beer geek, one part prolific beer creator , one part beer judge all mixed with a generous dash of irreverent personality.
An avid home brewer for many years, I decided to take the leap and get in to professional brewing by studying at Edith Cowan University in Perth, WA back in 2004 and then later at the University of Ballarat (now Federation University).
My brewing career started as assistant brewer at Prickly Moses in 2009 then quickly progressed to becoming Head Brewer at Southern Bay Brewing Co in 2012.
In 2013, I started my own brewing company called BrewCult. Operating as a gypsy brewer, BrewCult won the People’s Choice Beer at GABS Festival 2015 with “Milk and Two Sugars” Imperial Coffee Milk Stout and backing it up by winning the Champion Gypsy Brewer trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards in 2016.
In 2017, BrewCult ceased operations in what The Craft Pint dubbed, “the most high profile casualty of 2017.”
Operating a craft brewery is fun – but tough.
Learning from past failures has only made me more determined to learn and grow professionally, to share my story and prevent others from making the same mistakes.
Having worked in craft breweries of all sizes from nano-breweries to multi-million litre operations such as Stone & Wood Brewing Co in Byron Bay, NSW where I was a shift brewer, I have channelled all of this experience and now run the Rockstar Brewer Academy to help brewers create sustainable craft brewing businesses through consistent and high quality beer production.
Qualifications? Yeah, I’ve got them. These include:
- Graduate Certificate in Brewing (Federation University)
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
- Forklift Certified
- Intermediate Boiler Attendant
- Cicerone Certified Beer Server
- Amercian Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) Member
- Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) Member
To help my local brewing industry, I’m also a part-time Teacher at TAFE Queensland.
I invite you to get in touch. Click the button below to contact me.