Qualifications

Master Distiller

The Pinnacle of Professional Distilling Qualifications

As we transition to becoming the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers (CIBD) on 1st January 2025 with a new website, you will not be able to book any qualifications or short courses between 1st January and 5th January 2025. If you have already booked a qualification or a short course with us, you will continue to have access to the learning material on Moodle

If you are making a corporate booking, our corporate booking system will stay active during this time. Please email Corporatebookings@ibd.org.uk if you want to make an enquiry or a booking for your team. 

Click here for more on the transition.

Overview

While the IBD’s Master level qualification is all about demonstrating your expertise and competence, by embarking on this programme you will take control over your own learning and development. Your sponsoring mentor will help you to construct your study plan, built around the IBD syllabus, to be examined in five parts.

  • Module 1 - Raw Materials and Wort Production
  • Module 2 - Fermentation and Distillation
  • Module 3 - Maturation and Packaging of Spirit
  • Module 4 - Resource Management and Regulatory Compliance
  • Module 5 - Practical Project

Pre-requisites

You must be an IBD member and have achieved the IBD Diploma in Distilling or an exempt qualification from an approved university.

It is a requirement that all candidates for the Master level qualification are sponsored by their employing organisation, with a senior person nominated as the candidate’s sponsor. The role of the sponsor is to support the candidate with resources and opportunities to carry out the full qualification programme, including the project - Module 5.

For a breakdown of what candidates will be examined on, please find the syllabus here.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

Next Exam

Module 1

17 June 2025

Module 2

18 June 2025

Module 3

19 June 2025 

Module 4

20 June 2025

Registration Closing Date

11 March 2025

Module 5 - Project Proposal Due

1 Nov 2024

Module 5 - Final Project Proposal Due

3 Jan 2025

Registration Closing Date

(Module 5)

3 Jan 2025

Price

Per module

£470

Membership Offer

To register for the Master level qualifications you must be an IBD member.

£146

What will I achieve?

The IBD Master Distiller qualification is the world's highest level of recognition in the technical management of the distilling production process, through a combination of knowledge and experience. It demonstrates your ability to learn from what has happened in the past, together with interpretive skills to deeply understand processes and continuously improve them. The IBD Master Distiller qualification is the culmination of many years of learning and putting science into action.

After achieving the award you may use the 'M.Dist' post-nominal.

How will I be supported?

While the IBD’s Master level qualification is all about demonstrating your expertise and competence, by embarking on this programme you will take control over your own learning and development. Your sponsoring mentor will help you to construct your study plan, built around the IBD syllabus, to be examined in five parts.

What's next?

The IBD believes in lifelong learning. For those who attain our highest level of qualification, we offer a number of professional development opportunities that enable you to give back to the community while enhancing your skills in new areas. You may find yourself helping to train the next generation of brewers and distillers, sitting on our examinations board or contributing to the continuous cycle of learning material improvement. 

There are many roles and opportunities for our Master Distillers within our community of global experts. What will yours be?

Why choose the IBD?

The IBD provides the most widely recognised professional beverage qualifications in the world. We’ve been around since 1886 and have built a reputation for trust in the industry due to the quality of our learning material, support for learners and rigour of our exams.

Since we began professional qualifications in the 1950s, we have qualified over 100,000 brewers and distillers across the globe.