WEEK     JOB: BREWMASTER

LOCATION: TORONTO, ONTARIO

EMPLOYER: STEAM WHISTLE BREWING

WAGE: $25,000 TO $100,000 YEAR*

INDUSTRY IQ:

• Beer is the third most popular beverage worldwide after tea and water.

• Approximately 1.85 million gallons of beer are consumed at Munich’s Oktoberfest.

• Becoming a brewmaster requires no formal education, only a love of beer and years of industry experience (five to fifteen on average); however, there is a certificate course from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London that is internationally recognized.

• The Czech Republic consumes the most beer per capita worldwide, followed by Ireland and Germany.

WHAT I LEARNED: Making good beer demands true dedication.

Steam Whistle Brewing makes one type of beer, a pilsner. Marek, Steam Whistle’s brewmaster, grew up in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where the first pilsner was brewed in 1842. In Pilsen they take their beer making very seriously. Marek went to a technical brewing high school for four years, graduating as a brewer. Then he went to university (Prague’s Institute of Chemical Technology), where he completed his master’s in brewing in five years. That’s nine years of studying how to make good beer!

* Salary varies widely, depending on qualifications and size of the brewery.