Speakers

Rob Orton is the Production Manager at St. Austell Brewery, Cornwall, UK. Born and raised locally in St. Austell, Rob joined St. Austell Brewery back in 2004 Summer temp, working on the dray delivering to St. Austell’s 180+ houses. In 2005, he moved into the art of brewing as hasn’t looked back since.

Working through cask racking, the fermentation room and brewhouse to brewing team leader in 2011, aged just 24. As the brewery expanded rapidly, Rob became brewing and bottling manager in 2015, all whilst famously never actually applying for a job at the brewery!

Now overseeing everything from raw materials in to finished beer out of the brewery gate, Rob has worked under the tutorship and guidance of two of the finest master brewers around, the late Roger Ryman and now Georgina Young. Rob was promoted to Production Manager in 2020 and, under George’s leadership, helped lead the brewery through the pandemic, seeing a huge uplift in bottled beer production.

In his time at the brewery, Rob has studied the Diploma in Brewing through the IBD and seen the brewery grow from 20,000hl to 220,000hl per year, now operating 24/5 shift patterns. To facilitate this growth, he has overseen installations of a brand new brewhouse, bottling, cask and keg filling lines, tank farm, yeast handling system, crossflow membrane filtration and a 20hl pilot plant, all whilst maintaining operation of traditional square fermenters for cask ale production.

Independent, family-owned St Austell Brewery has been brewing beer in Cornwall, England since 1851. Fast forward 170 years and, while traditional brewing techniques remain, innovation, passion and craftsmanship continue to evolve.

Most famous for its flagship pale ale, Tribute, St Austell Brewery’s range of award-winning beers – also including Proper Job IPA and korev lager – are available in pubs and supermarkets nationwide and in Europe.

The business owns and operates over 180 pubs, inns, and hotels across the West Country and two breweries in St Austell and Bath.

With a network of six depots across the West Country the company is the leading wholesale distributor of beers, wines, spirits, ciders, minerals, and soft drinks in the region.