One of the biggest beer competitions in the UK has announced it has a new chair leading the judging panel as the 10th year of the annual programme gets underway.
The Scottish Beer Awards, the wide-ranging competition which showcases the best of Scotland’s brewing industry, has announced that Professor Dawn Maskell, Director of the International Centre of Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University will take up the chair role.
She replaces Hilary Jones, the former technical director of Scottish & Newcastle who has been in the position since the start of the awards in 2015.
Professor Maskell is well known to the international brewing industry. In addition to leading a world leading centre for Brewing and Distilling.
Professor Maskell leads a team at Heriot-Watt University who teach students in brewing from Scotland and around the world. She has also been involved in the Scottish Beer Awards since 2016 on both the business and taste judging panels.
Professor Maskell commented: “It is a real honour to chair the judging of the Scottish Beer Awards. The competition is vitally important for Scottish brewers to celebrate their many achievements across the year and learn from others across the sector.
“I hope to bring a reassuring and critical eye to the judging process and work with the organisers to ensure that brewers across Scotland get involved in these important awards.”
Hilary Jones, who remains involved in the Scottish Beer Awards as a judge, welcomed Professor Maskell to the panel and commented: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my work as Chair in these important awards and I am delighted that Dawn has agreed to take up the role in the award’s 10th year.
“I have every confidence that working with all the other judges, she will maintain our rigorous and fair approach to judging as well as bringing her own highly valued insights.”
The 2025 Scottish Beer Awards will be presented in October and this year form part of Beer Matters, a one-day industry trade show and conference for brewing industry professionals.
For the first time, the two events will take place on the same day with the awards announced as part of a special after party for conference delegates. The line up, which will be revealed in the coming weeks, is expected to include a range of speakers who are joining the event from UK, Europe and the USA.
