The Woodside Inn Beer Tasting Fest Feb’12

This is our second blog about a beer fest by Woodside Inn but that’s because we can’t help ourselves from doing so. These guys are so good at what they do… Serving Beer! Most pubs in the city stick to keeping a standard beer menu. Some have an elaborate beer offering and very few (can count them on fingertips) enjoy serving the beer. One of these few places is Woodside Inn. They take the task of beer serving very seriously, quite often they have seminars, tastings, fests, whatever one likes to call it. We’ve spoken about the Beer and Burger Festival earlier.

We feel lucky to have been able to cover one of the two tasting events which happened just a few weeks apart. Hosted by Mr. Nikhil Agarwal from All Things Nice, he has formal training in the art of tasting from a reputed institute in London.

What happens when a knowledgeable man, a keen audience, a variety of beer, delicious finger food and a dash of humor are put together in a room? Well, we could only try to narrate them with words as best as we could, but it is something one personally has to witness!

Beating the heat with a chilled welcome beer glass of Kingfisher Draught and some nice soothing songs in the background, the guests settle down in their seats eagerly waiting for the event to kick start.

Nikhil introduced the event to the crowd by asking ‘What is Beer’. Trust us, when he asked that question the crowd went silent!

‘Everyone at one point has had alcohol (Beer). Be it an underage teen, a retired 72 year old man or even a 50 year old Marwaree lady for that matter (referring to his mother!). But unfortunately most of them really don’t know what they are drinking! This is the niche that needs to be addressed in Mumbai, and in India overall.’  Nikhil told us later.

So, with the help of some funky slides on the projector, he started off explaining what beer actually is, how it came into being some 8000 years back, how it consists of barley, water, hops etc. He spoke about beer from the Mesopotamian era, about the Ninkasi Hymn (A recipe devoted to goddess of Beer), etc. Beer is good, God is good – Yes, God meant men to consume beer! He educated us about the different types of beer like Lager, Ale, Stout, etc.

To keep the audience captive as well as happy high at the same time, Nikhil went back and forth between the beer tastings and the beer background. In tasting he emphasized on the importance of smell by a small practical demo using a mixture of two powders (we won’t spoil this secret for you). Then for all the six beers, we started by noticing the appearance of beer, then the aroma of the beer and the finally the taste of the beer. This often followed by some other trivia about each specific beer. Sometimes even from the audience!

In the order of the Beers we tasted that night:

• Erdinger Weissbier: German, Wheat Beer.
• Asahi Super Dry: Japanese.
• Brooklyn Lager: United States.
• Fuller’s London Pride: UK.
• Murphy's Irish Stout: Ireland
• Liefmans Fruitesse: Belgium

If you thought, in INR 995 per head, this was it then hold your horses! Throughout the event some really delicious and mouthwatering finger food like onion rings, beef burger, veg burger, etc. where circulated. And oh boy! We still want more of those burgers! As if this wasn’t enough, the sweet guys at Woodside Inn were adamant on getting us drunk! At the end of the tasting they offered us bottomless beer glasses for a mere INR 500!

In a one on one interaction, over some Murphy’s Stout, we discussed with Nikhil about the event. Most people are unaware about the beer they drink, even their favorite/regular ones. The aim of events like these is to make people see their beers beyond the social lubricants that they are considered!  Apart from differentiating beers from one another the people would be able to make a better judgment call the next time they buy beer.

In the end, both of us appreciated how Woodside Inn is trying to bring about an informed change in the upcoming drinking culture of Mumbai! Hope to see more of these fests! Our best wishes to Woodside Inn on this noble and honorable venture.