Chester Beer Tasting Masterclass For Two

The world of beer is changing. Craft beers, speciality beers and world beers are appearing in our pubs, and beer drinkers around the UK are rejoicing! We visited Poole, a pretty Dorset seaside town, to try the Brewhouse and Kitchen’s beer tasting masterclass and find out what all the fuss is about!

Poole’s Brewhouse and Kitchen Pub is located in the heart of the seaside town, just a short walk from the train station and bus stops. It’s a beautiful pub full that’s of character. Beer bottle lamps light the bar and the walls are jam packed with bottles and quirky decoration. Our master brewer greeted us and showed us to our table, introducing us to the beer tasting class that would follow. She began our experience by explaining the brewing process and showing us the onsite brewing equipment. She explained how every beer has very few ingredients and the varying amounts of Hops and Malt used gives a unique flavour.

Then it was on to the bit I’d been waiting for, the tasting! We were handed a tasting sheet for note taking and our brewer went off to collect our first sample of the session. Every beer we tried was completely different. Some had been brewed on site (delicious by the way), some were bottles that had travelled from Europe or America and others were beautiful British craft beers.

The specific flavours and aromas were explained in detail for each sample we tried. We tasted a cloudy wheat beer that tasted of Banana and a gorgeous dark porter that was so smoky it tasted exactly like Bacon! Who knew you could experience so many delicious flavours within a single taste of beer? Of course, we also sampled more traditional styles of beer, all of which were delicious.

Between each new sample, we had plenty of time to sit back and relax with our beer in hand, enjoying the lovely atmosphere of the pub and chatting with our brewer. After tasting about 8 beers (and finishing a couple of the bottles off…) it’s safe to say we were feeling a little merry and ready for some lunch!

Included in this beer tasting experience experience is a gourmet burger – just what we fancied to accompany the last of our beer samples! I opted for a tasty goat’s cheese veggie burger and Naomi went for the bacon burger. Both were amazing and accompanied by a generous portion of chips. Delicious!

After we’d devoured our lunch and spent a little time exploring the rest of the bar and asking any last questions with our host for the day, it was time to head home. We left feeling extremely full and very happy with our introduction to the world of beer. I’d gained a great amount of knowledge and sampled some fantastic beers. I would highly recommend this masterclass to anyone who has an interest or love of this wonderful drink!

Brewhouse and Kitchen offer their beer tasting masterclasses at a number of different venues around the south. Check out the full range here. If you want to delve deeper into the world of beer, why not try out one of their brewing experiences? Have a look at the experience here.