Stephen Spencer. - CONTRIBUTED
STEPHEN SPENCER has the distinction of being called Master Brewer at "The World's Coolest Beer Company" - Red Stripe. He joined the company in 1990 as a Brewhouse Foreman and has progressed through various supervisory and management roles to his current role of plant operations manager, a position he has held for the last two years.
Stephen, in his current role, is not only totally responsible for overseeing the Brewing and Packaging processes but also the Technical and Training aspects of the plant.
EDUCATION
Stephen attended Glenmuir High School in Clarendon where he discovered a passion for the sciences.
He continued to nurture this passion at the University of the West Indies in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where he was awarded the Department of Chemistry Award for most outstanding pupil during his first year. This led to his decision to pursue a degree in Special Chemistry. He now holds a Bachelor of Sciences (Hons.) in Special Chemistry.
In 1996, Stephen completed a course in Brewing Technology at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. The following year he won the Institute of Brewing Scholarship Award and successfully completed a training and research programme at the Brewing Research Institute in Redhill, England. His research topic was on the Red Stripe Yeast and high gravity brewing for which he did his first publication.
BREWING ACCOLADES
Stephen is the brewer responsible for the successful creation of the Red Stripe Light product. He has been very instrumental in guiding numerous successful development initiatives on all the products especially as the company undertakes an aggressive launch into the export arena.
WHAT IT TAKES
Stephen believes that it takes dedication, creativity, passion for the science and people to be really successful as a Master Brewer. It requires not only understanding the brand and its marketing but the ability to translate this into a truly great product.
