Stephen Beal

Steve Beal of San Francisco is a globally recognized distilled spirits consultant who works in the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Australia and Asia as well as North America. Prior to that he was the senior brand educator for the whisky portfolio of Diageo North America where his work for a prominent Bourbon brand as Senior Master of Whisk(e)y earned him a place in the Whisky Magazine Hall of Fame. He was inducted along with Bill Samuels, Jr., of Makers Mark and Al Young of Four Roses in 2015. He has served for over 20 years as an international spirits judge and at every San Francisco World Spirits Competition since its beginning. He has been a broadcast presenter, spirits journalist and examiner for the Master Mixologist Masters Program with the United States Bartenders Guild, a program which he helped found and which earned him the lifetime achievement award from the United States Bartender’s Guild and a USBG Master Mixologist pin. In 2010, the Scotch Whisky industry inducted him as a life member of the Keepers of the Quaich. He is also a trained chef and has lectured at prominent culinary schools. He has degrees from the University of Arizona and Oxford. He is an ordained Episcopal priest and volunteers at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. See more at srwhiskyaster.com.