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The IBA held its annual general meeting on 10th November which saw two new full board member appointments with Corrina Steeb from Prancing Pony Brewery and Clare Clouting from Gage Roads Brewing Co elected by the membership for a 3-year term.

The board also nominated two casual directors to the board which are one-year appointments. The board has asked Peter Philip from Wayward Brewing Co to serve a final one-year term as Chairman and Johnny Latta from Nomad Brewing Co to continue to head up the Trade Marketing Group.

“The IBA has greatly benefited from having Peter serve as our chair through what has been an incredibly challenging year and the board unanimously felt that continuity while the industry recovers would be the best thing for the association and the entire indie beer industry”, said David Kitchen from Ballistic Brewing Co. and IBA Treasurer.

“I’d like to thank Peter for agreeing to serve out another year on the board to lead the industry into this year of recovery”, added David.

“The last year has been a massive challenge for the association and every indie brewery out there”, said Philip, “now we need to shift our focus from survival to recovery and growth – there is a lot to do so I’m looking forward to helping to lead the organisation through the big list of priorities we have for the indie beer industry.”

“With our GM, Kylie Lethbridge, now in place and a cohesive and driven team I really feel that the association is up to the challenges that 2020 has presented us.”

“I am also very pleased to see the election as a full board member of Corinna Steeb who brings a tremendous amount of business and governance experience and Claire Clouting who has deep experience in beer quality, manufacturing and production. The reappointment of Johnny Latta follows on from the great work that Johnny has been undertaking for members in the Trade Marketing project team that the board felt was important to continue.”

“On a personal note I am most looking forward to finally being able to travel around the country and have a beer with my fellow members!”

The IBA has a full agenda for the next year focusing not only on our banner annual events like BrewCon which will be held next in August 2020 on the Sunshine Coast and our broader advocacy agenda of addressing the key issues facing independent brewers.

Priorities for the next year include ensuring a fair excise beer tax rate for indie brewers through the increase of the small brewer rebate to $350,000; supporting regional growth through additional Government investment; ensuring open market access for indie brewers through the review of tap contracts; and obtaining a commitment to fund the development of a long term strategy for ensuring that the indie beer industry can achieve its goal of reaching 15% of the Australian beer market by 2025.