Frothy Business
Ric Luber and Kelly Barbrey listen to Julie Johnson, editor of All About Beer Magazine.
Beer Magazine presented Columbia’s first World Beer Festival at the convention center on Lincoln Street. By all accounts, the one–day gathering was a success, a real crowd pleaser and a
regional draw. This year, All
About Beer Magazine is back with another edition of the World Beer Festival, this time on January 16, again at the convention center. For the second year, Green’s Discount beverages is the presenting sponsor.
Green’s is the leading beverage retailer in South Carolina and Georgia with stores in Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, and Atlanta, Ga.
Julie Johnson, editor of
All About Beer Magazine,
Lorri–Ann Carter tastes beers at the Flying Saucer.
was host Monday afternoon, November 16, at the Flying Saucer on Park Street for a sneak peek of what’s to come Jan. 16. The occasion was a tasting of about a half–dozen beers, each far enough removed from the others to lend breadth to the exercise. Johnson was the emcee and the critic, offering an analysis after every sip from the two–ounce glasses.
Johnson illustrated samples from each of three major beer styles: (1) lager beers, (2) ale beers, and (3) wheat ales.
Lager beers, she said, are from the German and central European tradition — clean and crisp. Four of the lagers expected at January’s festival are Pilsner, Dunkel, Bock, and Schwarzbier, the darkest of the lager styles.
Originating in Britain or Belgium, ale beers are fruitier than lagers. Pale ale is similar to India pale ale, but India pale is bigger “in every respect, with a vigorous bitter finish,” as Johnson would put it. Belgians, Johnson claims, lead the world in beer, whether French–speaking or Dutchspeaking.
Johnson wanted the tasters to be familiar with two major wheat ales: Belgian wit beer and Hefeweizen, both cloudy and milky. Belgian wit beer has aromas of spices. The taster can detect coriander and curaçao (bitter) orange peel. Hefeweizen pours with a handsome head, giving off banana and clove.
With a discussion of these major styles, the visitors to the tasting began to appreciate the volume, the variety, and the detail available at the World Beer Festival, not far removed from a wine convention, both perfectly suitable for mingling and learning.
All About Beer Magazine,
based in Durham, N.C., produces four World Beer Festivals a year. Besides Columbia in January, there are festivals in Raleigh, N.C. (April 24), Richmond, Va. ( June 12), and Durham, N.C. (October 2).
Johnson talked about the Oktoberfest in Munich as wretched excess in a wonderful way. All the beer comes from six Munichbased breweries.
Closer to home, Johnson drinks her beer at Tyler’s Tap Room in Durham. Her magazine’s staff meeting every Monday morning at the office is the height of efficiency and the most admired professionalism, but the second staff meeting of the week is Friday afternoon at Tyler’s, better known as “beer–thirty.”
At Tyler’s Tap Room, the server can recommend beer preferred by coffee drinkers, beer preferred by chocolate eaters, beer preferred by white wine drinkers, and then there’s the beer ordered by red burgundy drinkers. But that’s still subjective and debatable. The fun part is making up your mind among all the offerings.
The World Beer Festival come January 16 will be something like Tyler’s (or Five Points’ Goatfeathers or the Vista’s Flying Saucer) on a grand scale but only for two four–hour sessions on a Saturday. Access can be either with general admission tickets or VIP tickets. General admission is $40 per session ($50 at the door), and VIP tickets are $75 per session ($85 at the door). Tickets are sold online, www.allaboutbeer. com/wbf, or at a ticket outlet: Green’s on Fernandina and Assembly, Gervais & Vine on Gervais, Morganelli’s on Forest Drive, Village Idiot in Five Points, and Rosso Trattoria Italia in Trenholm Plaza.
