Umeå Beer Club – For Beginners to Experts!
A common question that gets asked about the Umeå Beer Club is “Do I need to know a lot about beer to come to a tasting?”. The answer is absolutely not! Our tastings are designed for people of all interests in the beer world, from experts to people who have never tried a beer before. Everyone is given time to analyse the samples themselves and make up their own minds before we discuss them as a group. No one is forced to give their opinions about the beer but it is always lovely to hear different view points. There is no membership fee, so you are welcome to buy tickets for any tastings you like.
What happens at a tasting?
Our aim is to produce fun and educational beer tastings in a relaxed atmosphere. We try to not take it too seriously but still focus on the beer. Most tastings consist of 8 different beer samples, with four of these paired with food to showcase how well food and beer can go together to enhance each others flavours. Everyone’s opinion is welcome and there are no right or wrong answers. So if you would like to have a fun night enjoying a range of beers with like-minded people, we would love to have you at our next tasting!
Some words from the sommelier
Then God said “Let there be beer” and there was.
I’m no scholar, but I believe the bible says that God created the world in 7 days. Light and dark on the first day, the sky on second and so forth. Now I presume this was thirsty work, so I think he probably invented beer around the fourth day. On the fifth day he invented the coaster because he hated the little rings his pint was leaving on his table. Thus beer was born into this world…. or maybe not. Beer has been around for many millennia, making those tedious family reunions bearable since before the pyramids were built. Luckily for us, it’s still around today to enjoy.
So who am I? Well, I’m Dave and I’ll be host here on this website and beer group as we have a look through the tipples that we test over the course of the meetings. I originally hail from the mean streets of Oxford (note: not particularly mean) but now live in a little city in the north of Sweden called Umeå. If you look for Umeå on a ma just search for the arse end of nowhere and you might find it. I’ve been in the bar trade since 2003, working my way up from “vomit clean up noob” level to being responsible for a few bars over the years. I decided in 2017 that I would try and launch a new beer club in Umeå. This is a great time to be a beer fan, with new breweries popping up almost every week and brewers pushing the boundaries of taste and design further than ever. Each club meeting will involve the tasting of eight different beers. We will be comparing them to others in the same genre, learning more about the breweries and suggesting complimentary food that would work with them.
My taste is pretty varied and I like to try almost anything beer related either on my own or as part of a group of friends. I will reviewing the beers we sample in the club and writing about my personal opinions on each one. Some beers will be delicious, some mediocre, whilst some will just plain suck donkey balls. I’m sure some people will totally disagree with what I say, and that’s OK. The world would be quite boring if we were all liked the same thing. I hope you can use these somewhat light hearted reviews as a suggestion and inspiration for finding something new when they next have a cheeky beer at the weekend.
Just remember to use a coaster.
