Beer 101

I'm not much of a beer drinker. I must say I did use to drink it more often when I lived in Victoria. We spent more time on patios in the summer (mainly because they're only 10 minutes away... and what else would you do there on a sunny summer evening?). It pairs so well with pub food. Not to mention, my roommate would also keep the fridge well stocked with beer for the visiting boyfriend. That lead to us popping one open at home now and then too with dinner. The last few years, I haven't been much of a beer drinker. When we do end up on a patio during the summer, we've all shifted to the white wines if we wanted a drink.

What I know about beer is so little. I just know stick with the honey lagers because they tend to be sweeter and less bitter... or a pale ale. What are the differences between a lager and an ale, I had no idea. So, a few friends and I signed up for "Beer 101" at Firefly, the liquor store on Cambie St. I was warned to make sure I eat before I showed up.

We each had a placemat infront of us with 8 different glasses. On the side, there were some bread, cheese, and grapes to help clean your palate. Along with everything was a booklet explaining all the basics of things, describing each beer we were going to try, and spots for you to jot down notes. These were all what the instructor classified as "classic beers", which none of Canadian or American beers fit. These beers were all from Germany or Belgium... or English.

The classroom.

Karen read further ahead on how to drink beer, and started swirling her beer glasses when we were doing the tasting. The rest of us were laughing, reminding her it's not wine... and she pointed out to us, "What! That's what it says! Read your instructions. You're suppose to SWIRL!".

Karen describing what she's tasting in total sophistication.

I'm still a bit confused after the explanation of "head". I've seen people pour beer ever so carefully to reduce the amount of head you get. At the same time, the instructor was explaining the different shapes of beer glasses for different beers to accomodate different amounts of head. So, if you want to reduce head, why would the shape of a glass be to accomodate head? She, too, explained that too much head isn't good because flavours and such get lost in the head. I'm still confused... or maybe I was only half listening because we were being silly in class...

Kind of like the time when the instructor was explaining and sharing a cask ale. We sampled the beer. Made our likes and dislikes remarks. And then, I don't know how many of us then asked "What's a cask ale?". Surprisingly, only KDer was listening. And she explained that it's simliar to a keg but it's gone through a secondary fermenting stage. And all that I did pick up was that it has hardly any head, and it's less carbonated. A lot of people don't prefer it because it tastes kind of flat. To me, it tastes better than the soy sauce one...

The second beer we had was dark in colour. A "double bock". And right away, you didn't even have to stick your nose up to it, you could get a waft of soy sauce smell. My friends and I were the only Asians in the class (minor detail)... the rest of the class chugged it. I made the comment, "Smells like soy sauce." Then the rest of my friends took a waft and agreed. It even tasted like soy sauce. I think with the exception of the boys not wanting to waste beer, the rest of us couldn't finish that one.

I was the only one who collected them all. Everyone else had empty glasses.

My favorite out of all of them was the Hef. Our 3rd one. It smelled like bananas. To me, it went down smooth. KDer and Jen thought it tasted like banana bread. No sorry, banana walnut bread. Maybe my taste buds aren't as sharp... I couldn't quite get all those notes. Hah.

The 4th one created a debate on whether it was more or less bitter than the 1st beer. Of course, everyone but KDer thinks the 1st one is more bitter. KDer just likes to be different.

The 5th smelled and tasted like lychee.

The rest, I cannot remember.

Chug chug chug...

Ray takes in a big waft before drinking.



At the end of the class, we each got a fancy beer glass to take home. Wooo! Love nice freebies. And a 10% discount if you choose to buy anything from their store. You certainly don't have to. Although it was a beer class, I ended up picking up a wine that people were raving about. Class dismissed!