Beer Matters

Becoming a Smarter Beer Drinker

BY JAMIE DOOM

THERE IS AN OLD ADAGE that anything worth doing is worth doing well, and I have come to learn that this “anything” includes beer, especially drinking beer. Whether you intend on pursuing a more rigorous beer certification program or you would rather casually follow the self-taught path, the most underrated part of becoming more knowledgeable of beer is that it will require you to drink beer at every step. And for many of us, what embodies higher education more than drinking booze and studying?

The Cicerone Program

Much like wine has the Sommelier program; beer has the Cicerone program. There are four levels to the Cicerone Certification Program (cicerone.org). The Certified Beer Server (Level 1) can be taken online and many breweries around the Sandhills require their beer-tenders to have this training (currently over 125,000 people have achieved this entry level certification). Level 2 or “Cicerone” is much more rigorous and will require travel to testing centers around the Southeast (currently just over 4,000 people are certified Cicerones). Level 3 is the Advanced Cicerone and will probably require you getting on a plane and spending a couple hundred hours of study. Level 4 is Master Cicerone, and there are only 19 Master Cicerones in the entire world. One of them, Joe Vogelbacher, is the owner of Sugar Creek Brewing in Charlotte.

I find the resources at cicerone.org extremely valuable. If you consider yourself even a little bit of a beer aficionado, I suggest you register, use the free resources and then take the certified beer server test. If you’re going to be having beer, why not know as much as possible about it? It’s a wonderful opportunity to impress and even annoy your friends and family. If this all sounds too academic and serious, however, I encourage you to be a beer autodidact.

The Self-Taught Beer Way

Falling into a delicious rabbit hole of beer doesn’t have to feel like work, and we’ve never had more resources and knowledge available about beer than this exact moment. So whether you want to learn about beer styles, brew your own beer and create your own recipes, or fully taste beer

The Complete Beer Course: Bootcamp

for Beer Geeks, Joshua M. Bernstein. In my opinion, this is the best introductory book on beer, and it seems to be the most comprehensive. Each section is structured around easy-tofollow classes. The history of beer, the brewing process, distinct beer styles and even how to taste beer are all covered in this book.

How to Brew, John Palmer. The story of brewing in America and even in the state of North Carolina always begins with a robust home brewing culture. It’s quite possible many of your favorite local breweries started in a garage, and this book was probably something they referenced many times along the way. Clocking in at 400 pages, this book covers everything from purchasing supplies to brewing from kits to full grain brewing. It’s the best place to start if you’re interested in brewing at home. Designing Great Beers, Ray Daniels. Ray Daniels is the founder and director of the Cicerone Certification Program so it is fitting that one of his books be mentioned here. After receiving a thorough education in home brewing from the book above, are you going to begin making your own recipes? This book is indispensable because it defines parameters around beer styles, giving the home brewer freedom to flash creative within those styles. It has more than 200 detailed style tables, and it can be found in most craft brewery libraries.

The Brewmaster’s Table, Garrett Oliver. There is probably no more universally loved person in the craft beer world than Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster and vice-president of production at Brooklyn Brewery. Here he has given a generation of beer lovers a whole vocabulary of the senses for pairing beer and food. We are all familiar with the idea of pairing wine with food, but did you know you could also do that with beer? In fact, Garrett makes the case for beer being a more versatile liquid for making culinary flavors, smells and textures pop.

Other resources:

Brewersassociation.org. This is the website of Craft Brewers Association, and it provides a wealth of information from styles, history, sales data and everything in between. They also publish a magazine, The New Brewer, every two months.

CraftBeer.com. This is another great resource that has a lot of valuable beer serving information and a Beer 101 Course.

Improving our knowledge of the things we love should be a lifelong endeavor, and I hope you’ll make these resources part of your continuing education or give these books a spot in your summer-reading book shelf. Your smarter palate will thank you. SP

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Feeling Trendy

A new school year is upon us,

and with it comes new trends. And who better to introduce you to those trends than your trusted shepherds of style here at Sand & Pine? Ok, so in high school we may have been a little more like Duckie than Blane. And sure, the fact that we’re using a Pretty in Pink reference to define cool may make us seem like just the opposite. But trust us, we were just late bloomers. Now we’re almost as in vogue as all the school impedimenta we’re about to drop on you.

Locker Looks

Gone are the days when the only things decorating your locker were your smelly gym shoes and a moldy sandwich.Today’s lockers require embellishments! The latest trend is to adorn your locker with fun accessories that make your cubby truly your own. Whether it’s a tiny spinning disco ball and a small patch of shag carpet for the lover of all things vintage, or a petite macrame plant hanger complete with faux plant for the budding bohemian, the possibilities are endless! Add some fun magnets or a magnetic picture frame or two for extra personalization. Just make sure you aren’t late for class because you were busy admiring your mini chandelier.

eco-lunching If you’re like us, your favorite class is, well, lunch. Plastic is passé and one-time-use anything is so last year. So in 2021 our lunch boxes are looking a little eco-friendlier. Stock your kiddo’s lunch box with a cloth napkin (bonus points if you make your own using recycled fabric from home), bamboo utensils and reusable snack bags. Bento boxes are a great way to eliminate the need for snack bags altogether and the handy compartments keep your picky eater’s different food types from touching. Your precious pupil will be snacking sustainably all year long. Water Works

Knowledge isn’t the only thing your kiddos are thirsting for. We all know how important it is to stay hydrated, but how can you be sure your little scholar is drinking enough water without you there to nag them all day? One trick to get them guzzling is to send them off to class with a hydration tracking water bottle. There are tons to choose from. The most basic options simply have markings on the bottle showing you how much water you have consumed. But the more advanced bottles sync up with your smartphones and nudge you throughout the day to get your drink on, giving you reminders either by changing color or sending a reminder to your smartwatch.

Feeling Trendy

cloud writing clean gadgets While plastic is antiquated and paper is nearly past tense, we can’t help it that we still love jotting down notes the old-fashioned way with a paper and pen (not a chisel and stone, and shame on you for thinking we’re that old). But paper use isn’t great for the environment and most assignments are conducted via laptop or even smartphone these days. That’s why the Rocketbook Core Smart Notebook is really appealing to our inner hypergraphia. This 36-page notebook can be used endlessly by simply wiping the pages clean. But where do all your deep thoughts and doodles go? Don’t fret, all your handwritten notes are immediately transferred to your cloud service of choice, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud. Ours came equipped with a Pilot FriXion pen and a microfiber cloth so we were ready to start squiggling straightaway. We wash our hands a bajillion times a day now, but how often do we really think about sanitizing the small gear and electronics we handle regularly? Given that scientists at the University of Arizona found that your cellphone is 10 times dirtier than most toilet seats, we probably aren’t Lysoling everything with the gusto we should be. Which is why this year we are investing in a UV and UVC phone sanitizing box. At about the size of your average iPhone box they are just the right length and depth to also blast the germs off your keys, calculator, pens, pencils or fidget spinner. We’ll sleep easier knowing our stuff is at least more sanitary than the standard lavatory.

SP