It’s possible that, at some point in your life, you’ve paid good money for a bad beer. “There is no such thing as a bad beer,” is the oft-repeated quote from businessman, beer promoter and presidential brother, Billy Carter. “It’s that some taste better than others.”

If only this were true. Sure, there are average beers and wow beers, but there are also bad beers. I believe that tasting off beer is almost as important (if not as enjoyable) as tasting world-class stuff, particularly for brewers. How can you analyse your own beer flops if you can’t recognise an off-flavour? Of course, recognising inappropriate flavours is only half the battle – you’ve also got to know why that aroma/flavour is there and what you can do to avoid it.

Enter The Brewster, Apiwe Nxusani, who is running a trio of sensory analysis course, accredited by the prestigious Siebel Institute of Technology in the USA. The one-day course will introduce participants to a range of off-flavours, including acetaldehyde,  DMS, diacetyl, isoamyl acetate and mercaptan, among others. Don’t worry though, it’s not all about bad beer. Recognising “on-flavours” is just as crucial and there will be plenty of chance for that as well. The course will not only demonstrate how to recognise these characteristics, but also why they might have occurred and how they can be avoided, with an assessment at the end of the course.

So is the course just for brewers? Not at all – knowledge is power, they say, and being able to recognise a bad beer is a pretty useful skill for an avid beer drinker. It’s also vital for restaurateurs and bar owners. Craft beer is still new in South Africa, and as a bar owner you don’t want to be caught out by a bad beer or a clued-up drinker who knows more about your product than you do. Tucked away down here at the tip of Africa, we don’t get many opportunities to partake in internationally recognised brewing courses so walking away with a certificate from the Siebel Institute is something that any beer enthusiast – and every brewer – should want to do.

The course dates are:

Johannesburg: 12th September 2015

Cape Town: 17th October 2015

Durban: 14th November 2015

The course is R2500 per person – a considerable saving on the US prices and a very worthy investment in your business. For further information or to book, contact Apiwe on : info@brewsterscraft.co.za