While visiting the Marche ThongLor Oktoberfest, a table of gentlemen were drinking some local beer, but then asked “Is there a beer class?” If you do not know the difference between a hoppy and bitter IPA; a sweet and strong Märzen; and a fruity-smoothy sour; how are you supposed to learn? Most classes about beer are teaching about how to brew, but what about a tasting class for the regular customer?
To be clear – everyone defines beer their own way, and each person should drink and enjoy what they like. But is there room to be able to spread the knowledge of different styles of beer? To explain why beers taste different?
Book, Jay, and Tom shared their table with me for the evening. While I was excited about the various Oktoberfest style beers, the three gentleman did not get the differences. They continued to drink a cheaper beer from the supermarket, but they did seem genuinely curious about what the difference was.
While I had experienced many different beer classes, and I think have even held my own back in the USA, I did not know of any sort of class here in Bangkok…
– Editor, Clif
Is there a beer class?
There is no beer class that we are aware of, though Beer x Story does yearly classes about historical aspects of beer and brewing.
Most events are events like markets where breweries will offer tastes of their own products, but not necessarily the larger beer market and community.
– Right now, many brewery events in Bangkok seem to be focused on the brewer behind the beer, and how cool the staff of a brewery is. That’s fine, but that’s not a great way to explain the differences in the beers they brew to people that are unaware of the varied styles available.
What would a beer class look like?
Picture from Heading Back To (Beer) School; September 25, 2024, by Will Ziebell on CraftyPint.com
To dream about what a teaching event might be would be to offer a flight of at least 4 types of beers: Lager, Wheat, Stout, and IPA; in that order. Extra credit for getting to try some imperial styles.
Beer Class 101
For the beer-curious, and wanting to know the most between simple styles of beer.
Class time: 5pm, for 1 hour, and then further tasting as the students see fit at the bar.
Pours: 125ml, like getting a good flight of beers. None of that little barely taste anything sips from small plastic cups.
If I were the teacher, there would be salty snacks to cleanse the palate between tastes. The first thing would be to go over the main ingredients of beer: Water, Yeast, Hops, and Malt. Additional info on wheat being added for Weisse beers.
– talk about most beer are the balance of hops and malt.
part 1: Lager. Everyone should know what a lager is, so its a good example of balance of hops and malt, and generally transparent.
Part 2: Wheat. Show a coudy wheat. Talk about the banana and clove aroma from German style.
Part 3: Stout: dark, full bodied.
Part 4: IPA. big hop profile, and get it dank and bitter. Talk about burning the palate with too much IPA.
The Conslusion: now that the students have had some beer, and explained the differences, it would be a perfect time to put their education to good use, and go find beers that they like.
