British Guild of Beer Writers chairman Tim Hampson, founder member Roger Protz, Italian writer Maurizio Maestrelli and Luc de Raedemarker ,one of the organisers of the Brussels Beer Challenge, were presented with a prestigious award while in Antwerp for the Brussels Beer Challenge.
The Belgian Brewers’ Guild made the quartet Knights of the Brewers’ Mash Staff, in recognition of their beer writing and work promoting beer at its most recent induction ceremony.
The Belgian Brewers’ Guild is the modern incarnation of the centuries old Guild of Brewers and today perpetuates the traditions and nobility of the brewer’s craft.
Faithful to their traditions, Belgian brewers organise a series of festivities every year to pay tribute to the man regarded as the king of beer, Gambrinus.
During these events the new knights are inducted by brewers in ceremonial black-and-red robes.
The new knights were not tapped on their shoulders with a sword, but with a mash staff – a 2m (6ft) long wooden paddle used by brewers to stir barley malt as it is mixed hot water prior to the beer being fermented.
