I have been tasked by my store to teach an intro to craft beer class. My question for y'all is, what aspect of beer (other than drinking it) do you find most interesting? As I put together the outline, I feel like I am focusing too much on brewing science and history as those are areas of study that I enjoy. The class is an hour and a half long and I think my notes are already longer than that and I just got to the section about malt. I know there should be a balance of science, history, tasting, styles, and actually drinking but feel my interests are biased towards how calcium, bicarbonate, and magnesium affect the PH of an aqufier based ... water... supp... ly... snore. Any help from those experienced in teaching such a class would be great. Even better, any of you new to craft beer that want to learn more, what areas are you interested in?
geez they did not ask much did they....I love the history, but one has to have a beer in hand, its like a wine class you get right into it by drinking it, its a beverage first. you teach the modern styles but saying this hefe is a standard for the style IMHO. etc. randy's book tasting beer would be a good guide, yea I taught some classes...
If it is an intro class I'd leave out all the technical brewing mumbo jumbo. Talk about basic brewing process (the diff between macro process and micro), basic ingredients, styles, glassware, serving temps etc. Then show an example of each style you sell that you think showcases it best.
yea stay far far away from ANY Tech talk. turns them off so fast its not funny. Hopefully this is not used as a sells ploy. I really hate those come on things.
Sounds like this is a craft beer 101 class. Go with Hanzo's suggestion but if it turns out that some of the attendees are know-it-all types, go straight to the tech stuff and put them to sleep.
I read Randy's book a few years back and always go back as a good reference. As I sat making notes I realized I was using history and brewing science as a guide to get to certain beer styles. Thinking highlighting six beers and using those as tools, as stated above, to talk about the diff between ales and lagers, England vs. Germany etc is much more audience friendly way. Oh and by the way, I'd like to offer you a limited edition signed copy of my new book, "Brewing Science for the Modern (Wo)Man"! Purchase now to receive a complimentary hydrometer while supplies last!
Sounds like your giving a brewing class rather than an intro to craft beer. I'd start with why the Macros became so popular and how people are starting to want more variety and flavor in their beers. Talk about the breweries and styles of beer and where they originated. The story of Cigar City's origins are pretty cool. The story of IPAs and RIS always sounded cool to me. Then maybe move on to good examples of styles. Even better if you have samples. But the most important thing when teaching about craft beer is to make sure to give out samples of craft beer.
Yeah I would go with just about what hanzo and dennis3951 said - keep it basic and add a run through of some popular craft beers from around the world.
is it on lulu.com I buy many of them. i get it. the hard part is how much time you have. I always wrote my classes with the time in mind first. What was the point of the lesson second. what did I want them to remember 3rd. etc every one teaches differently. a voluntary class in a Total wine store really has to be short and sweet. even then the folks like me are not going to care.
Talk about the difference between an ale and a lager (please!) and the different styles and whether they are ales or lagers. Maybe give them examples of a few of the best offerings of each style and show them the bottles so they can identify them the next time they shop for beer. Personally I would be bored if you talked about brewing, science, or history. Keep in mind that if this is done in your store you are talking to customers of yours so you want them to be interested in craft beer and not find it intimidating. If you talk over their heads or bore them they will associate it with the beer.
Keep it basic and organized in order to move it along; understand what beginners are going to be curious about in terms of the process and explain that stuff right away to draw them in; focus on what is common to all beers as well as what separates the basic styles; and most importantly, bring tangible examples for them to touch, smell, and perhaps even taste (different grains, hops, etc.).
There are a lot of good suggestions in the post replies. Permit me to expound upon the ‘concept’ that I think a number of folks are espousing: a significant part of your discussion should be about beer appreciation. Since you have limited time (1.5 hours) I think your idea of concentrating on 6 beers is consistent with the timeframe you have available to you. I would suggest that you spend something like 20 minutes on the basics of making beer: basic ingredients and brewing process. I think that you 6 beer styles that would be appropriate for discussion would be: · Stout/Porter: perhaps utilize the ubiquities Guinness dry stout as the ‘example’ beer · Pale Ale/IPA: perhaps use Anchor Liberty Ale as the ‘example’ beer since it is one of the first US style IPAs of the ‘modern’ craft beer beers · Pilsners: perhaps use the ‘original’ of Pilsner Urquell as the example beer · Hefeweizen: maybe Sierra Nevada Kellerweis as the example beer · Belgian Abbey Ale: maybe Leffe (blonde or brown) as the example beer · English Bitter Ale Cheers!
It wouldnt hurt to showcase American and German selections. Like SNPA, Victory Prima Pils, Find some good strong, yet not over the top IPA, Ommegang Abbey Ale. Then show them some of the German Lagers as well. Celebrator, Augustiner Edelstoff or Weihenstephaner original, then maybe Aventinus and Weihenstephaner Hefe. Warsteiner Dunkel is a solid example of a dunkel as well. Dont focus on just American stuff, then theyre missing half the battle.
I would definetely try to point out the difference between craft and macro, especially in the brewing process! And a must-cover would be a brief history of craft beer... That's at least what I would want to hear, otherwise JackHorzempa is pretty much saying what is needed! Cheers
Before I could even get any decent beer (mid to late 80's) I was given Michael Jackson's New World Guide to Beer. The thing that struck me about it was the way that styles had grown up in different locations and the reasons they did. Maybe taking that type of geographical/historical perspective for your class would spark some interest. Basically you can tell people how they can explore the world by drinking different styles of beer. By showing say the Bavarian (Hefe's & Marzans), English (Pale Ales & Stouts), Chezc (Pilsners), and Belgian (Sours & Trippels) roots of the major styles, you could then tie them into the explosion of exploration and expansion of those styles here in the US. Make it a bit of world wide travel without leaving the beer store.
