Cape Town Festival of Beer: College of Beer

18 Oct 2012

This was an evening of beer-minded people coming together under the watchful eyes of the team from King Keg who hosts these College of Beer events. The College of Beer is a night of learning about various craft beers and enjoying beer pairings and great company. We were also graced with the presence of the sponsors, Carling Black Label, Cape Town Tourism and Good Hope FM who will be there at the festival.

So the evening began with a quick lesson on the differences between ale and lager and then it was on to the beer tastings. Who knew that there was a proper way to go about tasting your beer?! Well, I had no idea, so it was super interesting to learn how to find out whether the beer is unfiltered or filtered, carbonated or not and to realise that, even though it may smell fruity, it can still be the most bitter beer you have ever tasted (Don't be fooled by the fruity).

Cape Town Festival of Beer: College of Beer

Pairing food with beer

We also got to pair certain foods with beers to understand how the beer can either break through the flavour or compliment it. A huge thank you must go out to Sotano in Sea Point for the awesome food, a beautiful venue and the friendliest staff I have ever met. I will be honest, I am not much of a beer drinker myself, and I'm sure I wasn't the only lady there that felt that way, but by the end of the evening we were all artisans and connoisseurs of beer.

The event got us all hyped up about the upcoming Cape Town Festival of Beer which will see the biggest celebration of all things beer! Bring along your friends and family and have a day to remember. If it was anything like the College of Beer it will be a blast. Just a word of advice, if you plan to take the family I think it would be wise to go on Sunday to avoid the crowds.

It will be from the 23-25 November at Hamilton's Rugby Club in Greenpoint. You can book your tickets at www.webtickets.co.za or buy them at the gate - either way, you don't want to miss out!