Meet the Brewer-Black Raven Brewing

Beaux Bowman

Beaux Bowman: Brewmaster and owner at Black Raven Brewing in Redmond, Washington.

Hometown:  Jackson, Mississippi

Favorite Beer: This days, Beaux is loving Black Raven’s Hochzeit Pilsner, a summer seasonal beer. He says this beer impresses him because pale lagers are tough to make; there is nowhere to hide flaws and the proper balance, procedure and conditioning are critical. Also, the release of this beer means summer is near.

Beyond the Beer: Not long ago, Beaux bought a boat, which he named Trickster in honor of Black Raven’s beloved Trickster IPA. He says that owning a boat is teaching him a lot about maintenance, patience, and how to open a wallet. One thing you should know about Beaux is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously and is something of a trickster himself; he’s not one to shy away from a good laugh.

Brewing Pedigree: Home brewing; Mac and Jack’s Brewing; Far West Ireland Brewing; The Ram (U. Village); Lazy Boy Brewing; Black Raven Brewing.

His Story: While attending college at William Carey University in Mississippi in the 1990s, Beaux worked in a processing lab for Kodak, a job he enjoyed until it became clear that the photo processing industry didn’t offer much of a future because of the rising popularity of digital photography.

That’s when he started to think about a career change. He’d homebrewed in college, recognized that the beer industry was growing, and began to consider a career as a brewer. Beaux considered attending the fermentation science program at the UC Davis, but figured that would take too much time. Also, he’d recently finished school wasn’t excited about going back to it. He decided to try a different route: get a job doing anything at a brewery and see if he liked it. At that time [1999], there were no breweries in Mississippi, so his plan would involve relocating.

Luckily for Beaux, his brother happened to live in Washington at the time, where there were a lot of breweries. In 2000, he moved in with his brother in Redmond and began looking for a job. Before long he landed his first gig at Mac and Jack’s Brewing in Redmond. After that he worked at Far West Ireland Brewing (now closed), The Ram, Lazy Boy Brewing, and anywhere else that needed his services.

Eventually Beaux decided to open his own brewery. Black Raven Brewing fired up the brew kettle in Redmond for the first time in 2009.