To address the issue of beer education, awareness and quality, a coordinated approach involving three parties – those who brew, serve and consume the beer – is needed, argues Brett Laniosh of Beer Consultancy Services.

The rise of craft beer has worked wonders to spread the message that with an infinite number of styles and profiles beer should be the drink of choice. The door to a world of flavours is opening to a wide spectrum of drinkers both young and old. That world resonates with an increasing number of drinkers who are passing on the message to their friends who now want to begin the journey of discovery. In order to help them plan their route, beer academia including sommeliers and writers are sharing their skills and knowledge.

So everything in the garden is rosy? Well not quite. The rise of specialist beer led venues especially in the craft keg sector has mainly been restricted to city bars. In suburbia and rural Britain the picture is not as sunny and we are seeing a beery divide that separates beer enthusiasts from the rest of the drinking population. 

The world of sours, tap takeovers and diacetyl off flavours is still completely alien to the casual drinker used to drinking safe industrial beer. Knowledge and understanding about beer at both the consumer level and for many bar staff is varied and it is not just the vocabulary that can be confusing.

Poorly kept pints are resulting in beer being left on the bar and drinkers moving on to another pub, invariably blaming the beer (and brewery!) rather than poor cellar practice. In addition, it is not uncommon for drinkers to encounter warm, green or vinegary beer that has been poorly poured into a tarnished or wrong type of glass.  Throwing away beer does not make good market economics and is not going to reduce the rate of pub closures. 

Cellars are interesting places where it often becomes clear why there are problems. Hygiene issues I have come across include taps sitting in a sink of stale cleaner, stagnant water in sumps, poor line cleaning regimes and the presence of a glass washer throwing out heat and fighting with the cooling equipment. No wonder the licensee wondered why the electricity bills were so high. Cellar management training is important for cellar managers, but also any member of staff serving beer. Understanding practices such as tapping, venting and conditioning are vital. 

To address the issue of beer education, awareness and quality, a coordinated approach involving three parties – those who brew, serve and consume the beer – is needed.

Staff awareness and training programmes should be informative and entertaining. They can be organised by licensees, pub companies or breweries. They can be delivered in the pub itself or in a separate facility such as a brewery visitor centre. I’ve worked with pubs, pubcos and breweries delivering training in pubs, in brewery visitor centres and even a theatre bar.

It is cost effective to deliver to a group of licensees from different pubs over a day, but shorter more personalised sessions delivered in the actual pub can work as well. The cost of the training may be off-putting for small breweries, but the longer term financial benefits will soon cover the initial outlay. Sponsorship arrangements can also off-set any cost. 

Ultimately it is in everyone’s interest to promote beer education and training programmes. For the brewery, being associated with quality rather than cheap prices is going to result in a much better customer relationship and the likelihood of repeat orders. Improved beer quality and awareness in the pub will result in more sales and less wastage. This will lead to happier customers who are more likely to buy beer from a pub and brewery that they trust. 

Implementing a successful training programme

Encourage bar staff as well as licensees to attend. From the customer’s perspective the person serving them is probably perceived as the licensee or owner and investing in bar staff makes sense.

Draw up an agenda that includes the key areas including setting up, stillaging and looking after beer and cellarmanship.

The importance of engaging with customers cannot be over emphasised. You don’t need to be a beer expert to ask questions such as “What do you think of the beer”, “Why do you like that beer” and “Would you like to taste the beer” but this will send the message that your pub cares about beer and quality.

Do not assume prior knowledge and be aware that your brewery may be a complex and confusing place. Ask some obvious questions such as “what is beer and what goes into it” and you may be surprised at the answers given.

Include a fun quiz with clues throughout the day and a beery prize at the end.

You may include a brewery tour on the day, but remember that for many the steel tanks and array of pipe work will mean nothing, so focus on the basics. This must include the four key ingredients of beer – water, malt, yeast and hops. 

You can of course use the opportunity to promote your brewery by showing your beer range including seasonal offers, bar runners, glassware and the like, but do not overdo the “sell”.

Don’t be tempted to overload your screen presentation with lots of text – A picture/image or graphic paints a thousand words.

Lunch is the ideal time to include beer and food matching as well as showing how to pour ale, stout and keg beer.

Use visual aids and encourage interaction. Get attendees to taste malt, smell hops and tap a cask filled with water. If you cannot include a cellar visit have a hands on display of taps, spiles, shives, keystone, autotilt stillage, vertical extactors (spears and cask widges). If you are able to set up a mock cask/keg dispense system with flowjets, pumps and cleaning vessel you can demonstrate line cleaning.

Don’t make the day too long and take into account travel time. 

It is important to make the day entertaining as well as educational, injecting humour as well as including funny stories and anecdotes.

Conclude the day with questions and answers and an evaluation. Give every attendee a certificate and a summary of the key messages from the day:
Consumer confidence leads to customers that are more likely to buy, which leads to increased sales and therefore increased profits.

As my background is consumer based, my training also includes a section on beer styles and choice as well as what makes an award winning pub and how you can help customers to make a choice and educate them about beer. 

Brett Laniosh is a lifelong educator, former director of CAMRA and now works with breweries, licensees and pub companies to promote awareness of beer and provides training and education programmes through the Beer Consultancy beerconsultancy.co.uk. He invites any brewery interested in doing the same to contact him.