BEER is much more than just a beverage for the group who gathered at the University of Ballarat yesterday. The room was silent as the 17 brewery industry professionals concentrated intensely on the task at hand - taste testing for the Australian International Beer Awards. The judges tasted 50 beers in the space of eight hours and will continue their work in Ballarat for the next four days before heading to Melbourne to spend three days tasting draught beers. English Beer Academy director Dr George Philliskirk who is also known as the "beer doctor" was in Ballarat for the competition.He said the judges were highly skilled at distinguishing different ingredients and it took six months' training to be a taster. For Dr Philliskirk beer has been both a career and a passion. "There are 40,000 beers in the world - So I'm gradually working my way through them," he said."They keep creating new ones. Brewers are like chefs, they like to experiment with the raw materials."Australian Institute of Beer Awards chairman and chief judge Peter Manders said the competition aimed to improve the quality of the products.It is the second largest competition of its kind in the world, with 1136 different types of beers entered this year, some from as far away as Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Puerto Rico.