CICERONE, BEER SOMMELIER

As beer becomes more and more important in our society, and on our table, the expertise in the field is also becoming clearer. I met Vincent Lahaie, Cicerone at Labatt, to tell me more about his work.

But what does one mean by the word Cicerone (sisuh-rohn)? It refers to hospitality professionals with proven experience in selecting, acquiring and serving the wide range of beers today. To claim the title of Cicerone, you must earn the title of “Certified Cicerone®” or hold a higher certification. The Cicerone Certification Program aims to ensure that consumers receive the highest quality of beer at every occasion to serve it. To facilitate this, those who sell and serve beer must acquire knowledge in five areas: Beer preservation and service, beer styles, beer flavors and appraisal, beer ingredients, and processes of beer brewing as well as beer pairings with food. Here is a summary of my meeting with Mr. Lahaie.

It was a Thursday afternoon that took place at the legendary Labatt brewery in Montreal.

As I arrive on the scene, I return to the Labatt bar where Jennifer Damiani is waiting for me, corporate affairs and public relations from Labatt and Vincent Lahaie, Labatt’s Cicerone and several draught beers. It should be noted that Vincent’s main job is a sales representative for the various bars and restaurants in downtown Montreal.

“Everyone has to do their Cicerone 1 course at Labatt, an introductory beer course. I did my second Cicerone class in 2017, in Toronto. It’s a written exam and a tasting. There were several steps: learning a draught system by heart, assembling and dismantling parts. It was quite complex. We were about 100 in 2017 to have the level 2 certification.”

He explained that there are two other levels, the 3 and the 4, and the goal with these courses, is to really educating their customers. And so the customer can communicate these gains to consumers. The food and beer pairing is also something that is put forward in these courses.

Vincent told me that for him, this course helped him to advise his customers on the beers to be placed on the menu to match them with the different dishes. As we continue to talk, he explains to me that he would like to do Level 3, which is really more about the chemical compounds of beer and beer processing processes. It’s really more advanced.

“We often organize” tap takeovers “where we make food and beer pairings. And new establishments and service staff are trained to tell them what beers taste and perfect matches. It also helps me a lot to know what customers want. I can know what will be the best choice among the tastes they are looking for.”

With the season of football and hockey starting again, people are more in the bars to see the different matches or others. And tell me that they are sponsors of various leagues with Budweiser. Whether it’s the NFL or the hockey with Budweiser red lights.

“We’ve noticed that customers want more choice, they’re researching beer. While Google was doing a Google search for the term ‘beer geek’ in 2004, we were getting 34 results; today it’s close to 10 million. People want to know even more about the products. People are looking for beers and where they are, not the other way around.”

What is found in a beer is 4 main ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. Malt is barley which is malted. You do not get the cereals in their original state, but they are well processed. There are several kinds of malts. The color of the malt influences the color of the beer. For example, the Mill Street Cobblestone, it is black patent malt, but is extremely roasted and transmits this taste in beer. The malt also gives the texture, the neck of foam, the sugar necessary for the fermentation. Water is the source of some beer names like the Pilsner which takes its name from the city of Pilsen. Today we are able to get the perfect waters. The 3rd ingredient is hops. This gives bitter taste to beer. Formerly, hops served to preserve beer. That’s where the name of the IPA comes from elsewhere. And more and more present in beers. Yeast is what you put in the beer at the moment of fermentation.

This is what will consume the sugar of the malt. Some yeast can give taste, as in the Hoegaarden or the Leffe, for example. The 5th ingredient is the adjuncts. They reduce the malt and replace it with different substitutes like rice, corn or syrup, for example.

While they all gathered the ingredients, it is the moment of the brewing that Vincent explained to me. It starts with germination. Then, it is the soaking that makes the sugars come out. Subsequently, the grains are filtered to keep the carcasses in the tank to give a kind of oatmeal. This step will sometimes be done several times. After that, the mixture is boiled and the hops are added and the microbes removed. At the beginning, hops are added to add bitterness to the beer and then in the middle of the recipe, more hops are added to keep the aromas and at the end, hops are added in the last five minutes to give a flavor to the beer. Then it’s fermentation. Then, it is a quick brewing process that causes the hop carcasses to stick to the edges of the tank wall. Then it’s cooling the beer. This process is necessary for yeast to reproduce. Yeast also needs to be oxygenated. There is no alcohol until the fermentation stage. For non-alcoholic beer, the process is much more complex. During fermentation, whether for an ale or a lager, they all go through the same process, either one type of yeast or the other, the Budweiser is a lager, the IPA is ales. For the ales, it is 2 to 3 weeks of fermentation, for the lager, it is 4 to 6 weeks. The lagers are maltier, with bread tastes, because the hops are not transmitted well in the lager. Imagine a spectrum with the ale on one side and the lager on the other. The reason why more ales (IPA or others) are found in microbreweries is because the brewing time is lower and the process is less complex and therefore requires less equipment. Then it’s the process of filtration, a process that more turbid beers do not do. Then it’s carbonization and bottling.

“The closer the beer is to the bottling date, the closer it will be to what the brewer wants. The shelf life of a normal beer is 6 months to 1 year.”

We are now going to food and beer pairings, which are on a rising trend, because beer has many different flavors. The first, according to Vincent, is to choose a style of beer that we like. But Labatt has also developed 3 rules, which are a big success factor.

• Align—align the intensity of the beer and dish • Connect—link a flavor by isolating a note from beers and foods

• Cut—use beer to cut the flavor and create a rich contrast with the food. In short, find a balance between beer and food.

Even glasses are important. Lagers have glasses that have feet so they do not heat the beer. The ales as for them, win to be warmed to bring out the aromas from where the glasses without feet.

With the Hoegaarden, which has just released its new packaging, we go with imperial rolls with shrimp, vermicelli, red cabbage, carrots, coriander and citrus sauce. The citrus side of the Hoegaarden is perfect with this deal.

For Stella Artois, it’s more like cheeses, with Gruyère among others. The sparkling beer helps fat cheese.

For the main course, BBQ grilled pork ribs, a pale ale, the Chipie from the Archibald Brewery.

As for dessert, the Mill St. Cobblestone that accompanied a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. We seek the roasted taste, the coffee taste of beer.

The bottom line, Vincent told me, is that people have fun with the different flavors, what counts in the end is that you have fun and discover beers that you will love with your dishes.