Press Release – Bowen & Bowen, LTD – September 7, 2011 – Every September, Belizeans celebrate our country’s independence and our immense national pride during National Heritage month. And as the leading domestic beer of Belize, many people commemorate the occasion with a cold, refreshing Belikin beer. Now there’s one more reason to celebrate our national pride, and appropriately enough, with a Belikin. Belize Brewing Company, Ltd has named Belizean brew master Nolan R. T. Michael as its new brew master. Mr. Michael’s new title is Head Brew master/Plant Manager of Belize Brewing Co. (BBCo) and Crystal Bottling Co. (CBCo), and his appointment represents the first time a Belizean has held this esteemed position.

“We are delighted to name Nolan as our new brew master. Belikin is The Beer of Belize, and it is only fitting that our brew master be Belizean,” said Michael H. M. Bowen, CEO.

As Head Brew master, Mr. Michael is now responsible for the recipes of all Belize Brewing Company, Ltd beers. This will include not only the four proprietary beers, but additional seasonal brews. In the near future, Belize Brewing Company will be introducing many seasonal beers and as the Head Brew master, Mr. Michael will be crafting these beers.

Earlier this year, Mr. Michael took a sabbatical to attend the International Diploma in Brewing Technology Program at the Siebel Institute of Technology & the World Brewing Academy. This three-month educational program took him from Belize to Chicago, Illinois, and then on to Munich, Germany. Mr. Michael not only excelled at brewing, but he made us proud by graduating at the top of his class.

• Mr. Michael started his career with B&B in August 1998 working with BAL as Assistant Hatchery Manager.

• In May 1999 he transferred to CBCo to implement the Coca-Cola Quality System.

• After that successful implementation, he remained at CBCo as the Quality System Coordinator.

• Mr. Michael became the CBCo Plant Manager in August 2002 and has managed that company through highs and lows for the past nine years.

• With this promotion to manage BBCo and CBCo, Mr. Michael will bring alignment and parity to both companies.

This coming December, Mr. Michael will introduce the first seasonal brew — Sorrel Stout. A specialty stout given to the nuances of one brew to the next, it’s never the same beer twice. “It’s a little different each time,” Mr. Michael says, “Its intended subtle variety offers customers something new to experience with each brew.”

The Belize Brewing Company currently produces four beer varieties, including refreshing lagers and savory stouts. The Belikin brand has forged an enduring legacy linked to the very nature of Belize itself; the name “Belikin” being derived from the indigenous Maya language meaning “Road to the East.” Hand-crafted with uncompromising standards for pure ingredients, a Belikin perfectly complements the richly rewarding experiences found throughout the unspoiled country of Belize. For more information about Belikin beers please visit: www.TheBeerOfBelize.com.

The Belize Brewing Company (BBCo) and Crystal Bottling Company (CBCo) are subsidiaries of Bowen & Bowen, Ltd, Belize City, Belize. For more information, please visit: www.bowenbz.com.

New Belizean Brewmaster At Belikin

Before, we start our next story, we stress that drinking alcohol is for adults - and even they should do it only in moderation. But, that being said….there's no denying that this September, copious quantities of Belikin Beer will be consumed.

And for those who choose to imbibe the leading local brew -the taste in every bottle of beer you drink is the responsibility of the Belikin Brewmaster.

They've got a new one; we met him today, and found out what he does:..

Jules Vasquez Reporting
These are the constituent parts of each beer and stout product Belikin produces: hops, malt, sugar and yeast. They are blended and cooked up in these kettles and fermented in these tanks - and the entire process is overseen by a brewmaster - who has been foreigner for the forty years that the factory has been in operation:

Nolan Michael, Belizean Brewmaster
"Basically for that entire time it has been either for the most part German brewmasters that have operated the facility and responsible for the taste - taste of our beers."

And now for the first time in the brewery's history - there's a Belizean Brewmaster, Nolan Michael who's just returned from brewmaster training in Chicago and Germany

Nolan Michael, Belizean Brewmaster
"The brewmaster is responsible for from the initial start of the process; extraction of fermentable extracts from malt, filtering, kettle boiling, and fermentation of the product. You are basically responsible for the entire process control to ensure that you get the best quality end product - best tasting beer."

And to ensure that it tastes right, he has to sample it:

Nolan Michael, Belizean Brewmaster
"Sensory evaluation is a huge part of the process and that includes tasting of the beer. As such you have to have a very distinctive palette to discern different flavor profiles to know what that particular taste was cause by and there is definitely an art to it."

And he's expanding that art to a new line of seasonal brews - including a sorrel stout planned for December:

Nolan Michael, Belizean Brewmaster
"Well quite some time we were looking to launch a new flavor and coming into Christmas time we are looking for a new product that gives the Belizean people a completely distinctive Christmas feeling - you know in Belize everybody always say 'let me catch the Christmas spirit' and we want to be a part of that. We want to be a part of helping the Belizean people to catch the Christmas spirit and after a broad testing and tasting analysis we finally found what we think will be a flavor."

And while that may be the world's first sorrel stout, he says it's just part of a whole new line:

Nolan Michael, Belizean Brewmaster
"More localized flavors are coming out from us - more seasonal beers."

Channel 7

Belikin Beer brews anew brewmaster

Belikin is the king of beer in Belize. And to keep the local brand in its top form, the company sent one of its employees to Europe to become skilled in a treasured art. Nolan Michael is Belikin’s new brewmaster. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

For many the satisfaction of an ice cold local beer begins and ends inside this dark brown bottle or, alternatively, inside the shorter, green one. Both are products of Belize’s flagship brewery, a company that has been in existence since 1969. Though it has been forty-two years since it became the drink of choice for most Belizeans very little is known about what goes into the process of fermenting this libation.

Nolan Michael, Brew Master, Belize Brewing Co. Ltd.

“We’re sitting in a state of the art brewery installed probably about ten years ago and is still one of the most modern breweries in this part of the world. As such it allows us very complete control of the entire process. Any single little alteration of the process can result in a different flavor being developed in your beer.”

The many stainless steel boilers collected across this sprawling facility here in Ladyville are indeed a quantum leap in the business of beer making. Thirty-six year old Nolan Michael is among the youngest brew masters to sit at the helm of the operation, the first Belizean to ever do so in the history of the company.

Nolan Michael

“For the entire previous years, those forty plus years for the most part we have had German brew masters. They have been the pioneers, one of the leading pioneers in this industry, in the brewing industry. What we are endeavoring to take place right now we want, Belikin is already associated completely with, [it’s] a completely Belizean product. It’s one of those few products out there that people recognize as a completely Belizean product. People feel proud whenever they consume a Belikin Beer, they know it was produced here.”

Despite production locally, the Beer of Belize, is made of ingredients such as hops and yeast which are imported from as far away as Bavaria, in southeastern Germany. The primary component nevertheless is shipped in from Canada.

Nolan Michael

“That malt is received here at our system. It’s stored in our storage silos, automatic storage silos. From there it’s sent to, whenever we need to produce a particular style of beer according to a specific recipe, it’s sent to our mill, our variomill. Again [it’s a] completely automated process where it’s milled and from there that milled malt is sent into our mash tun which is extraction fraction of fermentable extracts from that actual malt. That process uses water, heated water to extract those fermentable extracts namely carbohydrates and proteins.”

From there the sugary liquid, known as wort, is combined with yeast and hops in the next stage of the process.

Nolan Michael

“The wort, what we call wort is actually transferred to a whirlpool where any un-dissolved solids are separated from the liquid. That liquid is then chilled and passed via, again, through an automatic transfer system to our fermenters where along that route we inject, we aerate that wort and add yeast. Subsequent to that the beer spends at least twenty days or so in our fermenters where yeast is basically converting that wort into beer. That process is, to say the least, one of the most important parts of actually ending up with beer.”

As mentioned earlier much of what happens in and around the brewery is overseen through an advanced network of computers manned from the brew house control room. It’s German engineering at its finest but it’s no substitute for personnel on the ground.

Nolan Michael

“We endeavor to deliver the freshest quality product and the best tasting product to all our customers consistently. This is the biggest difference, we can be extremely consistent with this new brewery but for the most part it still involves quite a bit of monitoring that requires human input. There is sensory evaluations that need to take place. There is a different analytical test that needs to take place. All of this combined together results in the final end product, in us delivering the best quality end product to our customers.”

…and the end results which come rolling down the production line at the bottling plant will be expanded in the upcoming months to add another unique twist to taste flavor of Belize.

Nolan Michael

“You’ll be seeing new flavors coming out from us that are, I would say, based on traditional, local Belizean flavors. It’s a new and exciting time for us and we hope that the Belizean people will join us and enjoy all of our products that we will be launching.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

Channel 5