It must be every man’s fantasy to be dragged to a brewery on their honeymoon. Beer Academy Sommelier Sophie Atherton didn’t let her recent wedding interfere with her passion for beer. Hearing the call for beer sommeliers to help promote cask ale week, she took time out from her honeymoon in New York to visit fellow Sommelier, Garret Oliver, at the Brooklyn Brewery to persuade him to film a clip to promote cask ale week.
Recently married Sophie said “It was too good an opportunity to miss to get one of the world’s leading beer experts to give Cask Ale Week a plug. I was really chuffed that Garrett was so keen to help and he made the interesting point that the craft beer revolution in the US might not have happened if it wasn’t for the cask ale brewed here in the UK. Yet another reason to be proud of our national drink.”
“Luckily my new husband is also a beer lover and didn’t need too much persuading about this disruption to our honeymoon itinerary. Our first date was at a pub and we bonded over a shared love of cask ale. He came with me to the brewery and didn’t seem too unhappy having to sample Garret’s fine range of beers! “
Garret Oliver’s Cask Ale week message can be seen in full on Sophie Atherton’s beer blog – a FemAle View .
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Paul Hegarty
Notes for Editors.
Sophie Atherton has been a journalist for more than a decade and a beer enthusiast for nearly a quarter of a century. She started writing about beer around two years ago and since then her work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Publican’s Morning Advertiser and CAMRA’s BEER magazine. She also works with breweries to raise their profile through PR and social media. In addition to her freelance journalism she writes a beer blog called A FemAle View: http://afemaleview.wordpress.
Garrett Oliver is a graduate of Boston University, and holds a degree in Broadcasting and Film. He began brewing professionally at Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 becoming brewmaster in 1993. In late 1994, Garrett joined The Brooklyn Brewery as brewmaster. Many of his beers have won national and international awards.
He soon gained a reputation as an avid and entertaining lecturer and writer on the subject of beer. Garrett has hosted more than 800 beer tastings, dinners, and cooking demonstrations in fourteen countries. He writes regularly for beer and food-related periodicals, and is internationally recognised as an expert on traditional beer styles and their affinity with good food. He has made numerous radio and television appearances as a spokesman for craft brewing. He has served as a judge for the Great American Beer Festival, the Great British Beer Festival and The Brewing Industry International Awards. His books include the Good Beer Book, The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food and the Oxford Companion to Beer.
He is the recipient of the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation and Excellence in Brewing, the 2003 Semper Ardens Award for Beer Culture (Denmark) and the Cheers Beverage Media’s “Beverage Innovator of the Year” Award. In 2007, Forbes named him one of the top ten tastemakers in the country for wine, beer and spirits.
The Beer Academy
The Beer Academy is an educational body that was founded by a small group of beer enthusiasts in 2003 to help people understand, appreciate and enjoy beer sensibly.
To date over 10,000 people have attended Beer Academy courses and tasting events such as the BBC Good Food Show, the Great British Beer Festival and the British Museum as well as in pubs and bars up and down the country.
The Academy offers a range of courses and qualifications ranging from a 90 minute tutored introduction to beer through to the two day Advanced Course for serious beer connoisseurs.
Full details of all Beer Academy Courses and events can be found:
Website – www.beeracademy.co.uk .
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