BREWER

JOB DESCRIPTION

If you are a beer- lover and are interested in the science behind the brew, this is the career for you!

It’s a Brewer’s job to know all the ins and outs of the beer making process. They work all over the plant with the various teams to ensure that all aspects of beer production are flowing smoothly and ultimately creating the perfect pint. It’s both an art and a passion.

Renown for their close-knit teams and family-like working environments breweries are a comfortable place to build your career. Advancement opportunities are always available for hard workers with a willingness to learn on the job and hone their skills.

THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Brewing beer is truly a labour of love; you’ll be on your feet continuously moving, lifting, reaching, climbing and crouching. This is a position where you’ll need to be able to lift up to 100lbs and be able to use larger tools like paddles to stir during the brewing process. Having good mobility is required to move hoses, remove heavy coverings/ lids, climb ladders, move buckets, etc.

Conditions of the plant can be cold, hot, wet and noisy when the machines are running. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will need to be worn to keep you safe on the job including hair nets, masks, goggles, gloves, and steal toe boots/shoes to name a few.

Brewers often work on shifts based on the production schedules, sometimes 8 or 12 hours shifts. A typical work week is about 40 hours and it’s not uncommon to have shifts scheduled on evenings or weekends. During busy seasons, you’ll have the opportunity to work and earn overtime!

Breweries are renowned for their close-knit teams, inclusivity and family- like working environment. Working dynamically as a team is an essential part of meeting the demanding production schedule and might just be the working atmosphere you’ve been searching for!

FACT: Ontario has the most microbreweries with 270 licensed establishments as of 2019

BREWER SALARY:

Low Range

$33k annually
$17 per hour

Average

$39k annually
$20 per hour

High Range

$58k+ annually
$30 per hour

*Annual salary calculated by 37.5 hr work week, and by a 52 weeks per year

As with most industries, your salary or hourly wage is based on your education and experience. Being a hard worker and a productive and dependable team member also go a long way in securing a higher wage and seniority.

Beer making has seasonal ebbs and flows, which means that there’s good potential for additional earnings and overtime pay in high-demand seasons. Some employers may even offer premium pay for less ideal shifts or cool perks like a weekly 6 pack and corporate swag to bring home!

It’s common for professionals in the brewing industry to learn all their skills on the job, however, there’s been an increased desire for Brewers to have a formal post-secondary education in a science field, which may come with additional compensation. If you want to step into the industry above entry level, a formal education program will help you do that. Employers in this industry pay an hourly wage rather than a salary for most of the team, but a couple of members of the core “head brewer team” may receive an annual salary.

Benefits packages for this industry are average and depend on your employment status within the organization. Typical benefits include health and wellness packages, some RRSP contributions and possibly compensation for educational programs.

BREWER JOB DUTIES:

Here are some of the responsibilities and typical tasks that you’ll undertake as a brewer:

Manage the production of brews as specified by your organization, with great attention to detail.
Maintain and monitor the quality and timing of products throughout the stages of production, such as monitoring the temperature or fermentation, or ensuring the product is ready for packaging.
Operate various pieces of equipment – blending, columns, aging barrels, the pot, etc.
Scheduling, ordering supplies and ingredients, and maintaining product inventory
Complying and implementing all relevant food safety standards, participating in the maintenance of documentation, and helping with audits. This includes ensuring that all HACCP and SSOP procedures are followed.
Cleaning and sanitation of plant and CIP equipment, observing all Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) and safety protocols
Record keeping and documentation of brewing information and other quality control procedures.
Train manufacturing staff on quality standards, CFIA requirements and other 3rd party certification standards. This could also involve making your own training tools and procedures.
Perform quality control procedures, like collecting samples for analysis.
Utilize mechanical and electrical aptitude to troubleshoot and resolve problems.
Assist Head Brewer in the development of new products with new recipe formulations, flavour development, etc.
Fine-tune your beer-tasting skills, growing into a key sensory taster for your organization. (Yes, this is a real job requirement!)
You’re also going to need to help train frontline staff on the brewing process and educate them on product sensory analysis

FACT: Canadians are passionate about their beer! As of 2019, we had an average of 27 breweries per million people; whereas the US only had 22 per million people.

BECOMING A BREWER

Competitiveness & Availability

Beer is one of those products that is ALWAYS in demand! With an abundance of small and microbreweries popping up, you’ll find that it’s relatively easy to find a position working at a brewery close to home (which is a huge plus).

One of the coolest parts of being a brewer (other than being a professional beer taster) is that the foundations of beer making are universal; you could travel anywhere in the world and still be able to find a position to suit your skillset!

Hands-on learning has been the bread & butter of the beer industry for ages. You’re following a legendary secret recipe with production techniques that have been perfected over decades, so, while a food engineering degree is highly attractive, there’s still a lot of merit in those who have worked their way up the corporate ladder from the bottom.

Senior leadership positions are harder to obtain and highly competitive as there are a limited number of positions, all requiring education and experience.

Advancement Opportunities

From micro to mega giants, breweries come in all shapes and sizes and advancement opportunities depend on the size of the organization. Small and Micro-sized businesses often only have only one Head/ Master Brewer with 1-2 higher-level assistants. Most Master Brewers are truly passionate about what they do ( it’s an art!), so you’ll find less staff turnover and fewer opportunities for advancement.

Even with a science degree, it takes years of experience to fine-tune your brewing skills by working alongside one of the industry’s many “Beer Guru’s”. This means that although a smaller organization may only need 1 head brewer, with hard work and a dedication to learning, you can be the reliable back-up and go-to person, who specializes in certain beers and carries a good load of the operational responsibility. You may even get to design a few of your own flavour profiles!

With larger organizations, it’s common to have a small team of master brewers, and a large group of professional brewers that perform the production work. In this setting, you’ll become the best at particular roles in the beer-making process but may not have full exposure to the whole process. It’s highly competitive to advance into the master brewer position, so any formal education will help.

There’s a lot of science involved in brewing the perfect beer, join the Senior Brewing Manager at Sam Adam’s , as he takes you through the stages of brewing.

Education

To become a Brewer or a Brewer’s Assistant, it’s helpful if you have a post-secondary education in microbiology, chemistry, food science, food engineering or a similar area. At a minimum, employers require the completion of your high school diploma or equivalency.

If you have a passion for beer making and you make your own home-brews, that also helps and is considered “experience” for most employers.

Throughout Canada, many Colleges offer a 1-2 year certificate or diploma in “Brewmaster & Brewery Operations Management”, introducing you to the skills, science, safety and business side of things. While you can (and do) learn on the job, programs like these can bring you up to speed faster and expose you to the full gamut of possibilities – fast-tracking your career.

Any education in food safety, food science, processing/ manufacturing or production are also highly attractive to employers. You may want to consider some short courses in food safety and other industry-related topics, such as:

Introduction to Microbiology
Introduction to Food Science & Food Process Operator
Introduction to Preventive Control Plans (PCP)
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)
Quality Assurance/ Quality Control
Sanitation & equipment operation
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
Workplace health & Safety
Mathematics
Oral Communications
Job Task Planning & Organizational Skills

If you’re just starting out, you may want to consider an educational program to kickstart your career, and in this profession, science is important, so any related education will help.

To move into the position of a Master Brewer, you will need a formal degree or higher, in a science-related field.