The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and the Worshipful Company of Distillers have teamed up to help support the leaders of tomorrow get ahead in their careers.
Faced with increased competition and economic fallout as a result of a pandemic-stricken year, the two bodies have announced they are launching a bursary fund to help spirits industry professionals take their WSET Level 2 or Level 3 award in spirits.
The bursary is intended to be an annual event, with recipients also receiving mentorship from an industry professional to help them with their career development.
Jonathan Driver, master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers said: “We are delighted to be working with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust on our bursary fund. One of our key objectives as a livery company is to support spirits education and vocational training in our industry and we want to play our part in supporting emerging talent in the spirits industry in these difficult times. I have great hopes that, with our support, some of our bursary recipients will progress to become the next leaders of the spirits industry.”
The first 10 recipients of the bursary have already been selected from a network of employers across the UK.
They include employees from diverse backgrounds in the spirits and hospitality industries – several of whom have been made redundant or furloughed.
Individuals have the choice of taking their selected course in person or online at WSET School London. They can also take the course online with The Mixing Class, a leading independent provider of WSET spirits courses.