Wine’s Best Friends

Brewers – well, we spotted a few – were probably eating out their hearts during the series of presentations under the heading “Wine’s Best Friends.” It may be hard to believe, but there are people out there who can wax lyrically over salt (salt, indeed!), or chilli pepper for half an hour. And it was not all hot air.

Hearing chocolatiers, spice merchants, olive oil producers and coffee roasters talk most entertainingly and instructively about their products and why they go so well with wine and spirits drove home a point: brewers need to become more talkative. Verbosity should be their new middle name.

Granted, brewers do host the odd beer dinner. But who does them on a regular basis or has made them part of their business strategy? Only micro brewers in the U.S. and Australia come to mind. And Samuel Adams. But they hardly qualify as a micro brewery any longer. Still, if you were to ask Jim Koch how he brought about the success of his business, he would certainly mention his brewers tirelessly touring the country hosting beer talks.

By the way, there is a European association of beer sommeliers. They run two week courses. For further information, visit www.biersommelier.de.