Most people only ever dream of working in this field. But for Briony, it's been her reality for the past 20 years

When Briony Liebich tells someone what she does for work, she says that they're always "fascinated".

"They say, 'You must love your job'. And I do," she tells nine.com.au.

If you're wondering what exactly it is that Liebich does for work, basically, she gets paid to taste beer.

Liebich grew up in a winemaking family where tasting was an important part of quality testing.

"From working in a winery lab, I moved into wine research and found out about a career where you can get paid to taste things," she says.

"I discovered I was really good at it, and I love doing it."

For the past 20 years her official job title has been "sensory analyst", and although she tastes more than just beer and wine, Liebich says those have been the pillars of her career.

She began working for the Australian Wine Research Institute before looking to move outside of the research world as her interest wavered towards the fast-moving consumer goods space.

After attending some conferences, she scored a contact in the beer world and landed a job at West End Brewery, the largest brewery in Adelaide at the time.

"I found beer even more attractive than wine in the end," she recalls.

"Beer is made constantly, and it doesn't have a long shelf life like wine does, so there are constant flavour changes that get monitored."

When she began working with other expert beer tasters, Liebich came to realise a shocking fact – not everyone in the role actually enjoys drinking beer.

"You can be a good taster even if you don't like the product," she explains.

Tasting is done on a panel of "about 10 people", using statistics to get the final result.

No matter how well someone is trained in sensory sciences or how much experience they have in the field, Liebich explains that you simply can't rely on one person's skills.

"Our tastes change and develop, we have different moods, different skills, and different genetics," she says.

"Using a group of tasters provides more reliable data."

While having sensitive taste buds is surely a leg up in the field, Liebich says that tasting is something that can be learnt.

For anyone wanting to get into the industry, she suggests starting at home, experimenting with different levels of sugar and citric acid, or even just by smelling different flowers when you walk down the street.

But even though it sounds like a dream job – and Liebich assures us that it is – she says there is the occasional downside.

"When I worked at West End Brewery for 10 years, everyone thought I tasted beer all day. That's not true," she laughs.

Tasting was always the first on the to-do list. Liebich says that at 8:30 every morning, she would taste beers while her palate was still the freshest, but there's plenty more to the job.

"We don't taste all day, but we do talk about tasting, plan tastings, and analyse data from tastings," she says.

Today, Liebech works on the education side of things.

"Because I've worked in large companies, I want to help small-to-medium-sized companies that don't have a large quality team," she says.

"I help people develop their internal methods. If a taproom or a cellar door wants to find out what their consumers like, we do quick surveys or blind tastings."

She also runs tasting workshops, teaching others how to be a good panellist.

"It's helping people build confidence in tasting. When I see that moment when something clicks, and someone can name a specific smell or flavour, or it reminds them of something personal, which will encode that flavour in their memory," she says.

"If you're happy to just sit with a lineup of four different beers, smell them, and think, 'how does this feel in my mouth? Is it creamy? Is it astringent?' Then you'll be a good sensory analyst."

Produced in partnership with CareerOne.