This weekend in Berkeley, California, is the Western Regional Barista Competition - where I can only imagine great coffee will be served. You know I love good coffee, but alas I don't see me making this event. It seems as much as I like coffee, I won't go through any great lengths to get a cup like I do for beer. Not yet anyway.
This isn't exactly a coffee post, as I've got questions that relate to beer. Really.
The WRBC appears to be playing on a level field, from what I've gathered the beans are provided by the organizers and not brought in by the participants. I've not received confirmation on this, although I've tried to call a couple of local participants. If that's the case, the competition will truly be about the skills of the barista, and not simply about who can procure the best beans.
Now, on to beer.
Could you imagine running a brewers competition like this? I would be so interested in seeing some of the country's elite brewers sign up for a friendly competition where they were all given the same ingredients to make a single batch of beer - say a brown ale. The beers would then be "judged" by whomever, assuming it'd be industry folks mixed with some pro judges. The winner could then boast, although they likely wouldn't, that it was truly their skill that set them apart and not the ingredients available to him/her.
I'm not an event organizer, but if I were this would be something I'd look into a bit, see if there were any brewers interested in playing along. Hell, with so many of the top-tier brewers being so friendly with each other, it doesn't seem implausible that they'd organize something like this among themselves - just for fun. Right?
Anyway, that's all. Reading through the barista competition stuff got me thinking, figured I'd share my ill-conceived brewer competition. Cheers!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Regional Barista Competition & Brewing Stuff
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
HAHA! We have organized something like this! Drake's Brewing in San Leandro hosts a competition every year where the brewers make and IPA, typically from a new or experimental hop, and follow the same grain and hop bill. These beers are poured at the Drakes brewfest and judged against each other by qualified judges. When Sacramento Brewing and Rubicon Brewing both had "Bravo IPA" on at the same time last summer it was because of this competition.
Hmmm... I'd overlooked that, I guess I didn't realize the same grain bill was being used. Very interesting.
It's funny, my barista friends (even the ones who love competing) generally hate barista competitions. Guess they're basically pastry chef style competitions as a huge component of the score (relatively) is the "signature" drink e.g. this thing and this. Apparently it's hard to distinguish yourself in the latte/espresso/etc. rounds so it's the signature that does it.
For beer, however, that format would rock! Hopefully the Drake's will bleed into other such competitions ...
Hi, Event Organizer for the 2008 Western Regional Barista Competition, Kerry Laird here.
Just to clarify on your comments - the barista each bring their own choice of espresso beans ( from their personally selected roaster (and some bring a couple of blends and decide which is better that day to use). The espresso is more heavily weighted than the signature drink and technical aspects are considered as well. You can find out more here:
http://wrbc2008.com/_pdfs/WRBC08_Sensory_ScoreSheet.pdf
Also, the really fun stuff for all - we have 16 of California's Specialty Coffee Roasters signed up to serve thier best to all attendees - each with an hour at the "4th" espresso machine (the other three are used in the competition). Come taste the diffence. Here's more on that:
http://wrbc2008.com/fourthmachine.html
And not to be missed by anyone who enjoys beer, wine, coffee, tea, chocolate or beer is the Sensory Skills Class. Hope you'll come join us!
http://wrbc2008.com/fourthmachine.html
and here
http://wrbc2008.com/_pdfs/WRBC08_Technical_ScoreSheet.pdf
Kairy,
Thanks for clarifying, I looked through the judging guidelines online and didn't see that specified. Sounds like a great event, and if I were a more dedicated home roaster and general coffee enthusiast, I'm certain I'd make my way there. 16 California roasters though... that seems like something I could get into.
Thanks again for clarifying. Yes, I sucked at every angle for this blog post. Thanks for everyone's help.
Rick, I really appreciate you writing about the WRBC and helping us get information out about. We have a live blog at www.pacificbaycoffee.com going all weekend and photos updates at www.wrbc2008.com. We'd love to hear what you think - and hope you'll come check it out live.
Post a Comment