Professional Events

This is the first beer and food menu I have created. I was really excited to share this menu with friends and explore these flavours together.

The first course of the evening will be a casual soft pretzel and hummus paired with a traditional Helles Lager. I decided to go with a crowd pleasing pairing of a soft pretzel, but added hummus for another dimension of flavour. The pretzel’s baked bread crust and cracker-like malt flavours mirror the soft grainy sweetness of the Helles, while the salt and lively carbonation keep the pairing refreshing rather than heavy. When tasted alongside the hummus, either on a water cracker or pretzel, the Helles develops a deeper nutty character making it a more complex pairing, even though both the beer and the foods are light in flavour.

Next is a Vietnamese summer roll. These summer rolls contain fried tofu dusted with Chinese 5 spice, vermicelli rice noodles,lettuce, mango, fresh mint and coriander, and carrots. These ingredients are wrapped in rice paper to form a roll and are served with a light dipping sauce made from vegan fish sauce, lime, rice vinegar, sugar, and fresh chili. I paired this dish with a Belgian blonde. The spicy phenol character produced by Belgian yeast will amplify the Chinese 5 spice while also elevating the flavours of the dish with its peppery notes. The lower ABV and delicate cracker-like malt character won’t overpower the delicate summer rolls. The mango, herbs, and vibrant dipping sauce will draw out more fruity ester aromatics from the beer. The effervescence of the Belgian Blonde can lift the richness of the fried tofu and cleanse the palate. Another great beer to pair with summer rolls would be a Saison.

Vegetable samosas and onion bhajis are a classic pairing for a German Weissbier. The bouquet of Indian spices in the samosas and bhaji provide a flavour bridge to the phenolic spices in the beer. The heat from the chilis is cut with the fluffy mouthfeel and sweetness in the beer while the palate is cleansed of the greasiness from frying by the high carbonation. The sweetness from the onions harmonise with the fruity banana esters drawing out more fruitiness from the dishes. The earthiness of the vegetables complement the subtle German herbaceous hops. It’s an all around people pleaser.

This is inspired by one of my favourite recipes in Mark Dredge’s Beer and Veg book. It’s a porter mushroom, lentil, and chestnut shepherd’s pie that I’m reinterpreting as a hand pie which will pair beautifully with a Nut Brown Ale. The rich umami flavours from the mushrooms and soy sauce will draw out the subtle umami flavours hidden within the beer. The toasted, caramelised flavours created through roasting, baking, and sautéing become the centre of this pairing. The roasted and toasty malts, the sauteed onions, the crispy pastry all contribute savoury depth. The baked pastry will complement the toasted flavours in the beer and the lentils and chestnuts will be reminiscent of the toasted nut aromas in the brown ale. Also, the sweetness from the onions and the mushrooms will align with the sweetness in the beer. The intensity of this pairing is matched making it the ultimate comfort meal.

Lastly, I wanted to end on a contrasting flavour profile as the rest of the dishes were quite complementary. This pairing plays on the classic combination of chocolate and cherry with fudgy chocolate brownies and a kriek. The tart dark berry flavours in the beer will enhance the brownie’s rich cacao character. The sweetness from the brownie will cut the acidity in the beer, while the light acidity and effervescence of the beer will lighten the dense brownie. This pairing will hopefully be reminiscent of a black forest cake or chocolate covered cherries.

Everards Brewery has the opportunity to showcase all of their products in the Beer Hall. As their flagship pub, it is a place where fans of Everards beer can come and taste around 20 of their beers at any one time.

It is valuable for the Beer Hall staff to be confident and knowledgeable about the beer styles the brewery produces so they can communicate effectively and make recommendations to customers. While it would be unreasonable to expect staff to memorise every beer on the bar and its tasting notes, it is practical to provide them with the building blocks to understand beer styles and help guide customers.

These training sessions are limited by time, so I have created a crash course for beer styles using a Powerpoint to serve as a visual aid. I also used samples of malt and hops so they can experience first-hand the complexities of these ingredients used in brewing. We discuss how these different ingredients are used to create different beer styles. In addition, we also talked about basic beer and food pairing guidelines to help them with recommendations to customers. I really like using Mark Dredge's approach to pairings using the 3 Bs: bridge, boost, balance.

I am grateful that the Everards Beer Hall team has asked me to provide beer training sessions for the staff during their quarterly training days. This was one of the most rewarding parts of my job, so I hope I will have more opportunities in the future to keep spreading beer knowledge, understanding, and love to more people.

In collaboration with Thornbridge Brewery, Women in Beer organised an event for International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day aimed at bringing women from all backgrounds together and empowering them to see their place within the brewing industry through talks, tastings, brewing sessions, and a panel discussion. This panel discussion was centred around careers in beer. I was invited by Amelie to participate as a panellist and share my experiences as a brewer early in my career, which was a huge honour.

During the panel, I spoke about my background and the path that led me into brewing, as well as my passion for beer, brewing science, and sharing knowledge with others. I also discussed the changing landscape of the brewing industry in the UK, including the challenges breweries face from both a business and consumer perspective. I reflected on how breweries are adapting to evolving demand for new beer styles and the growth of low- and no-alcohol products, while also balancing heritage, tradition, and authenticity.

A key part of my contribution focused on the importance of inclusivity and adaptability within brewery production teams. I spoke about the value of greater diversity in brewing and how a wider range of perspectives leads to stronger collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving across the industry. I also shared advice for those interested in entering brewing and production careers, encouraging people to pursue apprenticeships, entry-level production roles, and professional qualifications such as those offered by the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers. Above all, I encouraged aspiring brewers to follow the areas of brewing that genuinely excite them — whether that’s brewing science, water chemistry, or sensory evaluation — and to use that passion as a guide for further learning and career development.

When I was working at Everards, I had the amazing opportunity to showcase the art of brewing to the public by leading brew days in our small-batch brewery. We open this experience to the Beer Hall and pub staff, students wanting to broaden their knowledge, members of the community, and groups wanting to collaborate. Most recently, I organised and led Everard's first International Women's Collaboration Brew Days. We collaborated with the Nottingham women in beer group, No Half Measures, and some of the lovely women from Everards pubs. I guided them through the brewing process, gave them a tour of the rest of the brewery, and led them through a tasting of some limited-edition and flagship beers that Everards has to offer.

I have created a Brew Day PowerPoint presentation to serve as a guide through the brewing process; this adds a more concise and clear summary of each process as well as interesting supplemental information. I love being able to share this hands-on experience with people who have never brewed beer before and teach them how the science of brewing can be technical and complex but in an approachable way

I also had the pleasure of brewing a beer with my dad when he came to visit. That was one of my favourite memories from my time at Everards. It was surreal showing my dad what I did for work and sharing my passion with him.

This was my first experience judging a competition, and it was eye-opening to participate in a completely new approach to tasting beer.

Preparing for the Sommelier Exam, I've been blind tasting beer samples at home, pulling together my tasting notes to determine the style. In beer judging, however, the style or category is already defined. In this instance we are comparing our tasting notes to the style category it has been placed in to determine whether the beer is representative of that style.

I approached tasting the beer in a similar sequence to the WSET systematic approach to tasting, since that is the structure I'm used to. I began analysing the appearance of the sample, then marked the aromas I was detecting, and finally detailed the mouthfeel and flavour. To finalise my judgement of the sample, I compared my notes to the beer style guidelines and was able to come to a conclusion about how well the brewer represented the style.

These score sheets are shared with the brewer, so I tried to give constructive feedback and praise well-defined beers. I found it difficult to make practical suggestions without knowing the brewing techniques or ingredients used, but my professional brewing background gave me context for providing notes on what areas the brewer emulated the style or where they fell short.

I judged the Pilsner Style Lagers and the Belgian and Abbey Ales categories. There was a wide variety of styles and interpretations within these categories and I had some really lovely brews, particularly a Belgian Dubbel that was rich in toasty, biscuity, molasses aromas that deservingly won second place in that category. Brewing beer on an industrial scale where we have the equipment to maintain cleanliness and consistency throughout the process, it was so impressive to taste beers that were made at home by passionate brewers.

Overall, this experience reinforced the importance of structured tasting and style knowledge when evaluating beer quality.