John Brauer was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1961 and graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Plant Sciences from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1984. After completing a Master's degree in Marine Science from the University of Cape Town in 1987 and a two-year national service in the South African Defence Force, he started working in the brewing industry.
The career of John Brauer has always been closely tied to the South African Breweries (SAB) for almost 10 years: First in the R&D department running mainly quality control procedures in support of SAB Hop Farms, then as a Project Scientist in charge of a pilot plant (Sandton) and later as Project Brewer at the SAB brewery in Port Elizabeth from 1995 to 1997. John is the 1994 winner of the coveted J. S. Ford award for the highest marks obtained in the Associateship Examinations of the Institute of Brewing (IOB).
Opportunity then beckoned in Eastern Europe and a tenure as the Technical Training Manager Eastern Europe followed for SAB International in Budapest in 1997. Besides implementing technical training standards for production and brewing department quality assurance staff, general technology consulting was one of his responsibilities at Dreher Breweries where he spent almost 3 years.
Returning to South Africa in 2000, he worked as an independent consultant on water and effluent for the beverage industry at large. He joined Brewing Research International (Nutfield, UK) 4 years later and worked on various research projects, from brewing technical consulting to product development. These included work on potentially gluten-free grains and malts for making alternative beer types, as well as undertaking company projects for smaller as well as larger brewing groups. An interesting diversion from the world of beer was the carrying out of due-diligence audits for a wine packaging company in the UK.
Since 1st of October 2007, John Brauer has been heading up EBC as Executive Officer. Taking the organisation through the merger with the Brewers of Europe whilst maintaining EBC's value and range of services to the industry and trade organisations is his prime concern. He lives on the outskirts of Brussels with his wife Birgit, a paediatrician, and their two young sons.
• 47 years, not (yet) married, 1 daughter
• born and raised in Bavaria
Career
• as of 01.08.2011 Chief Operating Officer (COO) BHI
• until 2010: Director Brewery Operations, InBev Germany: 5 plants, 13 Mhls
• until 2008: 13 years of Supply Brauerei Beck & Co, Bremen
several positions:
- Plant Manager of largest German brewery: 7 Mhls, 50 % export
- Brewing, Filling and Packaging manager
- Head of Quality Department: responsibility for quality of global Beck‘s production
- Research & Development Manager: R&D, NPD and Beck‘s license production
Education and Training
• PhD (Dr.rer.nat), Institute of Brewing Technologie Weihenstephan, Prof. Dr. Narziß.
• Studies (Dipl.-Ing.), Brewing & Beverage Technology, TU München-Weihenstephan.
• assignments in several breweries in Bavaria, Austria and Scotland.
After the EBC Council and Supervisory Board were disbanded in 2007 prior to the integration with the Brewers of Europe and relocation from Zoeterwoude (The Netherlands) to Brussels (Belgium), EBC is now governed by the EBC Executive Committee.
As of 26 October 2011, the committee is headed by Dr. Stefan Lustig, the EBC President (successor to Christian von der Heide).
The day-to-day running and administration of EBC is being looked after by John Brauer the EBC Executive Officer.
Integration of EBC with the Brewers of Europe
EBC is run as an autonomous and fully equitable part of the Brewers of Europe, based at Rue Caroly 23-25 in B – 1050 Brussels. Both organisations have systematically worked towards integrating the two organisations on a number of levels, supportive of each other's activities and membership base.
Symposia / Workshops are in principle held every year; in the non-congress years, two events are organised. The Council of EBC decides on the subject. Up-to-date know-how of a well-defined subject is collected and discussed.
An EBC Symposium is an event where it is expected that younger scientists/managers/technologists participate. The number of participants shall not exceed 50. All papers presented are published in the series of EBC Monographs.
A Workshop is an event with participation 'by invitation' only. The number of participants is restricted to approx. 20: top-level scientists in the topic of the Workshop.
