Modist Education Director Paige Latham will again be hosting her Beer Smarts class at the brewery beginning on March 6th. The six-week course will cover water, grains, hops, fermentation, evaluating beer, food and beer pairing, and the popular optional 7th session which is a beer dinner with chef Ian Gray from The Curious Goat and The Smoking Cow. Tickets for the optional four course dinner will cost $50 and the seats are limited.
I had the opportunity to sit in on one of these sessions and I was very impressed. Paige is very knowledgeable and is the perfect person to teach such a class. She’s the woman behind the blog Alcohol by Volume and is the beer expert at Heavy Table. She also worked at The Four Firkins in St. Louis Park where she became a Cicerone Certified Beer Server.
Tickets for the six sessions are on sale for $60 and you can find them here. See the schedule below:
Session 1: Beer History and Water (3/6/17)
- Intro to course
- History of brewing
- Properties of water
- Ratio of grain to water / “gravity”
- Beers famous for water reasons
Session 2: Grains and malting (3/13/17)
- Focus on malted grain / barley
- German Purity Law
- Other sources of sugar (candied sugar, lactose)
- What happens when water meets grain
- Beers famous for grain reasons
- Mini brewery tour!
Session 3: Hops (3/20/17)
- Hops – what they are, how they’re grown, and where they’re grown
- From the filter to the boil kettle
- Hop additions and other additives
Session 4: Fermentation (3/27/17)
- Historical significance of yeast as magic / God / luck
- Classification of yeast
- An overview of fermentation
- Significant yeast strains through history and by style
- Other methods of fermentation
- The bright tank (forced carbonation vs natural)
Session 5: Evaluating Beer (4/10/17)
- Packaging beer
- Beer service (cleanliness/glassware)
- Beer expiration
- Critical evaluation and tasting
- How to improve your palate
- Good beer gone bad: off flavor training
Session 6: Food and Beer Pairing (4/24/17)
- Why pair beer with food?
- Pairing with beer vs wine
- Basic taste elements
- Congruent vs complementary food and beer pairing
- Pairing tips and tricks
