Matt Strickland is the Master Distiller for Iron City Distilling just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has assumed numerous roles in the industry and has established several distilleries in the U.S. and Canada. His primary production focus is whiskey though he has also produced a number of award winning rums, gins, vodkas, and liqueurs.
Matt is an active teacher in the distilled spirits industry sitting on the faculty of The Distilled Spirits Epicenter and The Siebel Institute. He also sits on the Board of Examiners for Distilling at The Institute of Brewing & Distilling. He is an active writer, producing numerous technical scripts for industry publications such as Distiller Magazine, Artisan Spirit, and Brewer Distiller International and regularly contributes to Whisky Magazine. He has written two books for distillers, Cask Management for Distillers (White Mule Press, 2020) and Batch Distillation: Science and Practice (White Mule Press, 2021).

Nicole Shriner manages the fermented beverage analysis lab at Michigan State through which she completes analyses and facilitates research with industry members from raw materials to final fermented beverage product. Nicole collaborates with members of the College of Natural Science and MSU extension on research related to hops, cereal grain and grapes for fermented beverage production.