Nolan R. T. Michael is Belize Brewing Company’s first Belizean Brewmasta (Brew Master). During our first 40 years, Belize Brewing operated with German Brew Masters, who helped establish the brands loved by our
consumers and trained our organization on how to ensure world class quality and taste. In 2011, in alignment with Michael Bowen’s vision of expanding our Belizean brand, it made all the sense in the world to make the change to a
Belizean born and raised Brew Master.
Nolan was raised in Belize City and attended St. Joseph Primary School followed by St. John’s High School and Junior College. In 1994, he was awarded a Jesuit Scholarship to attend St.
Louis University, Missouri, USA. He completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1996 and was subsequently awarded a Teaching Assistant Fellowship at St. Louis University where he completed his Master of Science Degree in Organic
Synthesis and Analytical Chemistry in 1998, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors.
Upon his return to Belize in 1998 he was immediately welcomed on board the Bowen & Bowen Team. He worked in many different Departments of
the Company, including research and development, quality assurance, production management, and project implementation before eventually being promoted to Plant Manager of Crystal Bottling Company in 2003. Shelley S. Bowen, Chief
Marketing Officer and Sir Barry’s eldest child, likes to refer to him as “a geeky engineer who knows everything.”
In 2011 based on his educational background and work experience, Nolan arranged to attend the International
Brewing Program at the Siebel Institute in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and the World Brewing Academy in Munich, Germany, where he graduated at the top of his class (of course). He says it’s an honor and privilege to be here, and everyone
who tries his beer feels the same way about him.
“Growing up my family always referred to be as the ‘mad scientist’ because I was always mixing things together to determine the outcome. Looking back, I can’t imagine a better
career path than being responsible for the quality and integrity of an iconic Belizean brand. The bonus is I actually get to make great beer for a living!”
Today we’re proud to have Nolan at the helm. Belikin, the Beer of
Belize, has never been of higher quality. Nolan’s first beer at the age of (ahem??), was a Belikin… Belikin has always been his beer… The Beer of Belize is in his veins. And today our consumers can taste Nolan’s brewing skill, as well
as the pride he feels producing his beer, every time they open a Belikin.
On the monumental date of May 29th, 1969, Eric W. M. Bowen and his son Barry M. Bowen founded Belize Brewing Company.
The pair, encouraged by their family, had a vision. The first step was to see if that
vision could attract the investors necessary to launch such an ambitious project, so they hired an international brewing consultancy firm to conduct a feasibility study. To their disappointment, the study concluded that:
Rather than give up, the father-and-son team set out to prove the experts wrong. After looking far and wide, they found an ally in neighbouring Honduras. Berty R. Hogge managed the Cerveceria Hondureña brewery; he read the feasibility
study and despite the conclusion was impressed with Barry and Eric’s passion for the idea and provided the investment capital needed to start construction.
Belize Brewing’s beginnings were inauspicious, to say the least. Used equipment was sourced from throughout the region, and all but one piece of equipment was second-hand. That single new piece of equipment, a diesel boiler,
exploded on the day Berty arrived for a site visit. There were times Barry and Eric wondered if the experts were right indeed, but they forged ahead anyway, never giving up.
The oldest piece of equipment was a German brewhouse built in 1927; an antiquated decommissioned four-vessel brewhouse which became the heart of Belize Brewing. This solid-copper brewhouse faithfully served the company for
over 30 years until it was decommissioned for the second time in 2000 and replaced by our brand-new, state-of-the-art brewery.
Born in Belize City in 1908, Eric Bowen, sold his interest in Belize Brewing to Barry upon retiring in 1977. And in 1981, the year Belize gained its independence, so did Belize Brewing. Barry bought out Cerveceria Hondureña,
and Belize Brewing became an independent, family-owned Belizean company.
Today, Belize Brewing celebrates fifty years of pursuing excellence. The company remains independent and family-owned, today run by Michael H. M. Bowen, an eighth-generation Belizean. We are proud to be “The Beer of Belize,”
and have done well for a company the experts thought had little chance of success.
None of this would be possible without the hard work of thousands of Belizeans over the years, or the avid support of the people of Belize.
So, on behalf of everyone at the Belize Brewing Company, our deepest gratitude for making this dream come true.
Let’s all raise our glasses to an amazing journey over the last half-century, and toast to the next fifty years of independence, continued passion, and great beer!