For more than 20 years John Holl has been covering the beer industry as a reporter and editor. He is the co-owner and editor of All About Beer. On-air he hosts the Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast, the BYO Nano Podcast, and co-hosts Steal This Beer. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Food & Wine, and on NPR. He is the author of several books including The American Craft Beer Cookbook. In 2019, John was enthroned by the Knights of The Brewer's Fork of Belgium, descendants of the ancient brewer's guild.
Christopher Nong is a professional brewer whose career proves there’s more than one way into the beer industry. He started as a student brewer at the University of Limpopo brewery while completing a BSc in Molecular Biology, learning fermentation both in lectures and in practice. He went on to rise from trainee to shift lead brewer at Darling Brewery, sharpened his quality and microbiology skills at SAB AB InBev, and now leads shifts at Jack Black Brewing Company. Along the way, he gained valuable insight into different career paths and know-how of people across a wide range of brewing roles.
Raphael Hilarion, a French-Cameroonian of mixed heritage, grew up in West Africa. Curious and epicurean, he searched various European capitals for flavors that reminded him of his origins. In 2018, he came up with the idea of a brewery showcasing African grains and spices. Founded in Senegal in 2021, Maison Kalao creates beers made from millet, sorghum, and fonio, with the ambition of offering recognized products that embody an authentic African identity.
Tumi holds a BScEng in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in bioprocess engineering. She is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of Indigenous biosciences. Through a human-centered and systems-focused approach, she seeks to leverage her expertise in bioprocess engineering and social innovation to collaboratively develop scalable solutions that benefit marginalized stakeholders in the bioeconomy. Her passion particularly emphasizes Afrikan women, who are the guardians of Indigenous knowledge systems in the areas of Indigenous therapeutics, nutraceutics, and cosmeceutics.
Andrew Dell is a passionate craft beer drinker, homebrewer and aspiring BJCP judge. Founder of Mother City Beer Project Homebrew Club, and the All Ladies Homebrew Competition. Andrew is co-competitions director and part organiser at Fools and Fans Beer Festival, and has worked part time serving beer and chewing the fat at a few different brewery tap rooms in Cape Town. He is self-employed as a maintenance contractor when he is not getting distracted by beer stuff.
Trevor is widely regarded as one of the worst brewers to ever emerge from the craft beer boom of the last decade. However, he is also a kidney specialist who knows long words from the science. He also runs Fools & Fans, a small but fabulous annual beer festival in the country. Trevor is a much-loved figure in the industry, and has extensive experience in the topic he is presenting: hangovers.
After completing a degree in Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Stellenbosch, JC started working in the wine industry, including a long stint as head winemaker at Dornier Wines. He then had an epiphany and moved into beer , becoming Devil's Peak Brewing Company's first employee in 2012. He has remained with the company - now called Signal Hill Products - and is now head of brewing and innovation. When he's not brewing or filtering beer, he can be found fishing, mountain biking or horse-grooming.
Joerg Kress started as a brewer and maltster at Eichbaum Brewery in Mannheim after finishing school, then earned an engineering degree in Brewing and Beverage Technology from the University of Weihenstephan. He joined BASF in 2005, managing products that stabilize beer and wine. Joerg has provided global technical support to customers/multinationals and now oversees commercial operations for beer and wine in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, continuing to offer valuable expertise on beer and wine stability.
Moritz has completed studies of Brewing and Beverage Technologies at the University of Weihenstephan. Then worked in Technology and Quality department at Kulmbacher Brewery in Germany. Since 2013 he is in position of Sales and Technology at Bühler Germany. As a technical Sales he develops customized solutions for malting plants and for raw material handling in breweries. Promising African market is his focus.
Douglas Merlo is a mixologist, beer sommelier, beer styles expert, and international judge with over 15 years of experience. He is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers and the Brazilian Beer Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Technical Director of the Brazilian International Beer Competition (CBC Brasil) and the Brazilian International Beer Awards (BBA).
Mark Wilkes is a senior consultant at Rotech (Swindon) Ltd, a UK-based world leader in electronic keg cleaning and filling technology operating in over 80 countries and over a 1000 brewers. He provides technical consultancy, trace analysis and industry support, helping breweries optimise hygiene, efficiency, compliance and performance across keg washing and racking operations.
Lucy Beard is co-owner of craft distillery Hope Distillery, in Salt River, Cape Town. Set up with her husband, Leigh Lisk, in 2014, Hope was one of Cape Town’s first craft distilleries and produces a large range of gins, a vodka, a rhum agricole and an agave spirit (aka tequila) for a range of brands. Before turning their hands to distilling, both Lucy and Leigh worked in the corporate legal world. Some say the law drove them to drink, but what really brought on the change of career was a desire to come home and do something together. Lucy’s real passion is recipe development, particularly for gins and she loves playing with flavours and different botanicals.
Craig is a Master Brewer, consultant and industry strategist with deep expertise in brewing science, yeast management, recipe development, and quality optimisation. He is passionate about elevating South African beer culture through innovation, practical training, and sustainable brewing solutions.
Rob Heyns, co-founded League of Beers in 2012, then joined forces with Yuppiechef, delivering over 2M beers to fans across SA. In 2017, he broke SA's crowdfunding record by launching Sugarbird, then expanded a range of drinks innovations to top retailers. In 2019 he co-founded Tiny Keg to make canning accessible to all brewers and wine makers. Recently, he re-launched League of Beers as part of The Beverage Club and joined Southern Skies to reinvigorate and reimagine beer and spirits clubs.
Roxie joined the beer industry in 2020 (Returning fresh off British soils) as the Taproom Manager at Darling Brew. While she's not directly involved in the making of the good stuff, she is highly intrigued by beer industry trends, analysing consumer habits and creating a lasting memory within the customer beer experience. Roxie is a fond drinker of a good stout and fruity sours. She joins the BeerEx team in 2026 as MC of the Expo Floor Theatre.