Matt Akin has more than 20 years of brewing experience in San Diego. After graduating from UCSD, he started out cleaning kegs at AleSmith Brewing Company. While working his way up the chain at AleSmith, in 2005 he completed his certificate in Brewing Science and Engineering from the American Brewers Guild. In 2012, he co-founded Benchmark Brewing Company where he was responsible for everything inside the can and then a little bit more. After closing Benchmark, he took a position as head brewer at Duck Foot Brewing, where he currently leads a small team in the brewing of a wide variety of delicious beers. Matt enjoys his role as a beer judge at major competitions including GABF and World Beer Cup. Matt is always looking to learn more about the craft and he happily shares his knowledge of good beer with any who are willing to listen.