Beer Tastings

Programme of event Cornwall Food Festival

Two recent beer tastings reminded me just how much interest there is from the general public when you give them a little bit of guidance, knowledge and above all make the event entertaining.

A recent beer tasting at Cornwall Food Festival in Truro began slowly but quickly started to flow as people took notice of what was happening. Having done a number of tastings I've learned that first and foremost don't talk too much, people get bored and switch off, they are there to taste beer but some interaction between the audience and myself makes it more interesting. Having a beer and food match element helps to achieve this as its easy for people to take part and there is no right or wrong.

At Food Festivals I think its really important to select food from other suppliers at the event. I selected delicious caramel chocolate from Kernow Chocolate, rich mature creamy Cheddar cheese from Davidstow, the famous Cornish Blue cheese and finally some succulent Cornish sausages from Tamblyns of Saltash. The point is that as well as show casing some great beers, its also an opportunity to promote the excellent produce from fellow exhibitors. Ideally we want people to be impressed with both the beer and the food match, enough to buy both so everyone wins.

On with the tasting. I always start with Proper Job or an equivalent big IPA, the flavours are easy to recognise and describe. This is followed by a robust malt driven beer, normally HSD. These are two very opposite beers but they demonstrate the two main sources of flavour in beer (hops and malt) admirably. I don't go too deep into how a beer is brewed, its more about how it tastes and a little bit of history or reason for being about the beer. Add a few comical quips and interaction with the audience and this normally makes for a fast paced and interesting tasting. We tasted eight different beers ending with the quirky Belgium style Kriek beer, Tamar Creek. A wholly distinctive and challenging sour cherry beer, but matched with a rich Pate the tartness is rebuffed by the oily meat for a truly wonderful balanced taste experience.

A second tasting took place at the Rashleigh Arms in Charlestown for Cornwall CAMRA, again based on beer and food. A similar format to the previous tasting I added a beer related quiz to get people talking at the start of the event. We had around 60 people, many of them new to a CAMRA meeting so well done to the our friends at CAMRA who promoted the event to attract new people and were rewarded with an excellent turnout.

CAMRA members are quite knowledgeable about beer and love to discuss their favourite brews, but we struck a happy balance tasting the St Austell range of beers together and matching them with some excellent food choices supplied by the pub. A great evening was had and we enjoyed a few guest beers as well including Westmalle Dubbel and Flensburger Pilsner.

All told at both tastings it is likely we had over 100 people combined for these events. I'm convinced the format of focusing on beer and food rather than the technical brewing process is more engaging and entertaining for members of the public. As a Beer Sommelier my role is to be an ambassador for beer and I think I was successful in both talks here.