Let’s meet the Brewers Association’s first quality instructor

In support of its mission to promote quality in brewing, the Brewers Association sent word that it hired its first-ever quality instructor. And this person you will all no doubt meet soon enough is: Mary Pellettieri.

“Mary has an unparalleled understanding of how quality management is intertwined at all levels of brewery operations,” said Paul Gatza, director, Brewers Association. “She literally wrote the book on what it takes to manage a quality at a brewery, and her appointment underscores the BA’s commitment to advancing quality standards.”

What’s the quality instructor do?

Pellettieri will work with the BA Quality Subcommittee to develop content for and deliver presentations that address brewing quality practices, systems and parameters.

The BA Technical Committee formed the Quality Subcommittee in the fall of 2014 to conceptualize and facilitate the continual pursuit of beer quality for craft brewers. The technical committee selected a diverse group of brewing professionals to take on the task of supporting and advocating for quality. The purpose of the group is to provide a framework for quality to craft brewers and to provide guidance to achieve the vision of a membership that consistently produces beer of the highest quality.

What is Pellettieri’s background?

Pellettieri began her decades-long career in the brewing and beverage industry as a chemist and microbiologist at the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy in Chicago, where she also taught sensory management. She later managed the quality program for Chicago’s young, independent Goose Island Beer Co.

Her impressive background and experience made her a desirable judge at prestigious beer competitions around the country and later as quality manager for the historic MillerCoors Milwaukee brewery. Pellettieri speaks regularly at national events on topics ranging from quality to sensory analysis and brewing science and authored Quality Management: Essential Planning for Breweries, a guidebook published by Brewers Publications, that provides key concepts and tools for developing a quality management program for breweries of all types and sizes.

“The Brewers Association’s membership has a reputation for producing the highest quality beer. We want to ensure that reputation is upheld,” said Pellettieri. “I’m thrilled to be able to work alongside these brewers and further enhance craft brewing quality.”