Franconia Beer Message Board
Biersommelier |
| Posted by FredW on 2014-08-11 13:01:33 |
| I am not familiar with the European Bier Sommelier program but I have seen the US version at work and I think it is a good thing -- at least for some places. When you have a choice of 50-100 beers (not uncommon for a decent Belgian cafe, let alone a multi-tap pub anywhere) and the customer says "I liked that one, can you suggest another" -- or "I didn't like that one" what should the waiter/bartend do? The easily way is something like "that was a hoppy beer so they must like/dislke hoppy beers" but it is more complicated than that. I like hoppy beers in general but I don't like all hoppy beers. So a good server might ask me what in particular I liked/disliked and and with furth questions narrow down the possibles. Yes, you can gain that knowlege with experience, but a formal program gives employers some confidence that the person actually knows something about the topic. I used to get similar snide comments when I was involved in homebrew judging -- the program is fairly rigerous and not at all easy. Part of that is training to identify various components of the flavor (both those that are supposed to be there and those that are not) and how to describe them. It is easy to say "I know what I like, why do I need this" but the point is I (as the server) don't know what you like. |