Alumnus Thomas Flores Mixes Science and Art as a Craft Brewmaster

Curiosity and restlessness are the character traits on which Thomas Flores (B.S. ’92, biochemistry) built a successful career as a brewer of craft beer.

This past April, on the last day of CHEM 395: “Professionalism for Chemists and Biochemists,” Tom spoke to the class about his path to becoming brewmaster at Brewer’s Alley and Monocacy Brewing in Frederick, Maryland.

Although craft beer and local breweries have moved from the ultra-niche market into the mainstream in recent years, Tom suggested it is not an emerging industry so much as it is a resurgent one.

“In the time before refrigeration, brewers used to say beer should not travel farther than a horse can travel in a reasonable time,” Tom said. “So, there were lots of small, local breweries in the past.”

That wasn’t the case, however, in 1986 when Tom began making beer in his parents’ kitchen, and craft beer had yet to become a thing. He said he had no specific career path in mind then, but the ideas he learned in biochemistry classes kept resonating with his curiosity for the living processes involved in brewing. Eventually, he decided to tour Wild Goose Brewing Company, a brewery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to get a sense of the profession. He brought his resume just in case. That foresight led to the summer job that set his career in motion.

“I fell in love with it,” he told the class, describing the smell of the grain and the sound of the machinery.

He outlined the life of a brewer as hard, hot and physical—akin to working in a commercial kitchen—with a heavy dose of creativity and intellectual stimulation.

“It takes creativity to survive as a business,” he said. “As a brewer, you’re taking the same raw materials that all the other brewers have access to and trying to put them together in different proportions and adjusting the process to create something new.”

Tom said the physicality of the job and the constant need to problem-solve, while trying to control a complex biological process, suits his fidgety personality.

“There’s a degree of restlessness that is the driving force in my work,” he said. “I’m always trying to make it better.”

After college, Tom continued working at Wild Goose Brewing Company, and in 1995, he helped open Clipper City Brewing Company in Baltimore. With that experience under his belt, Tom went on to pursue his Master of Science degree in food science and technology with an emphasis in brewing science from UC Davis. He received his degree in 1997 and returned to Maryland to become the brewmaster at Brewer’s Alley. After more than 20 years in that role, Tom said he has finally come to appreciate that brewing is an art form.

“Taste is subjective, and you can’t express success with equations and formulas,” he said. “In brewing, the scientific endeavors are subordinate to the art form.”