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Meet the beer diva

21 Jun 2016

With her roots all over the world, Kirrily Waldhorn is changing the reputation of beer.

Born in Perth, Kirrily Waldhorn definitely has a fascinating story. “I lived in Perth until I was three months old, before we headed to America. Dad was in the army so I grew up in a multitude of locations,” she explains. “I think at one point I had been to 11 schools in 10 years. Home is where my pillow is.”

Kirrily married an English man, living in London for eight years.

“When I was living in London, I was working in marketing, predominantly managing direct marketing and loyalty campaigns for clients.”

Already a beer lover, it was the move back to Australia and starting a new job with food and beverage company Lion Co (formerly Lion Nathan) where her interest in beer really started to flourish. The style of marketing Kirrily was working in was fairly new in Australia and Lion Co were just about to launch a customer loyalty program. She didn’t need any convincing to jump on board.

“I spent seven years at Lion Co and met some incredible people along the way, including my mentor, Bill Taylor, who was Lion’s Chief Brewer at the time,” she says. “He set me up with a development program to increase my knowledge of beer, once he knew that was where my heart was.”

Noticing there was an unmet desire from beer drinkers and beer servers to know more about the beverage, Kirrily set up Beer Diva.

“I always had a passion for not only the beverage, but the wonderful history that surrounds beer, along with the bringing together of the science and the art to create a fantastic brew.”

Not being the stereotypical beer drinker, Kirrily felt beer needed a bit of an image shift.

“One beer, one person at a time and eight years later, I am still on my education crusade!”

Kirrily has big dreams for Beer Diva and is aiming to change the way beer drinkers are viewed by the public.

“There are still some extremely negative perceptions of what beer is and the role it plays in our everyday lives. I feel like the story is wrong and I want to help re-write the story, demonstrating that, in moderation of course, beer can be every bit as elegant and sophisticated as wine. It has as much complexity of flavour and as an industry supports not only those producing beer, but those serving and selling beer and probably most importantly, those who are farming and growing beer’s main raw ingredients, such as barley and hops.”

Her favourite moment came when presenting a beer masterclass, something Beer Diva is famous for.

“Suddenly, one of the men in the room shouts out, asking if I like footy. ‘Well, I live in Melbourne so I have no choice,’ I told him. His face lit up and then, as bold as brass, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him,” Kirrily laughs.

“As I mentioned, I am already married but apparently, if you like beer and footy, you are the perfect woman!”