Journalists drilled on beer tasting

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday August 30, 2010 00:00

Like a true expert, the no nonsense Ntshole explained the characteristics of each brand.  Some of the characteristics include the aroma, the thickness of the product as well as the colour.

He pointed out how each beer tastes and what it looks like.

Giving an example, Ntshole said that the taste of two brands could be different just like water and milk or petrol and diesel as he put it.  Just by tasting, you can tell that two products are not the same. By just taking a sip, experts like Ntshole can tell what brand it is.  

He said one of the brands tastes malty.

'E nkga momela,' he said.  Regarding another of their famous brands, he said, it is somehow sour, somehow bitter but never sweet.

A true connoisseur, Ntshole proved that he is adept at his trade. He explained everything in layman's language that was clearly understood by the prospective brewers.

During his lecture, Ntshole who acted like a strict school master, read the riot act to those who went out of order.After his briefing, the competition commenced.  The media groups were then offered samples of the different brand. The Mmegi team composed of yours truly, Chanda Baputaki and Boitumelo Khutsafalo.  Each team made up of three people was also provided with water and biscuits to soothe away the taste of the different products.

Initially the journos did not take the competition seriously and did not expect to win.

They just participated for fun.

When we were given our first samples, Baputaki suggested that we should consider all the characteristics that had been mentioned.

Khutsafalo and me felt that this was too technical. We suggested that we should only consider the colour and taste.

After taking a sip from the first sample, I insisted that it was a St Louis Export. Khutsafalo was not very certain as he said he has never tasted the St Louis Export. 

We settled for St Louis Export.  As we went through the samples we didn't engage in heated arguments like the other groups. 

If one of us suggested that 'no, this is a Lion', we would all agree.

This seemed to have worked for us.

Although he is not a veteran tippler, Khutsafalo seemed to have a good sense of taste and was the one who saved us. 

He was definitely certain that the sixth brand was Castle Lager. 'That is my stuff,' he said triumphantly.Khutsafalo also reviewed our draft answers as he went through the list again. 

He also suggested that the first sample was St Louis and not St Louis Export because it was light. We agreed with him and settled for St Louis and this is where our trump card was.  Had we settled for St Louis Export for the sample, we would have only had three correct answers out of six. 

But we managed to get four marks and topped the class because of Khutsafalo's instincts. We gained confidence as the results were announced. We were surprised to see that some of the groups which comprised drinkers, got all the answers wrong.  And then others only got one answer correct. The winners were finally announced; 'Mmegi'.  We were humbled as everyone congratulated us including KBL officials. 

Of course people felt that since yours truly is a 'veteran', I could have been instrumental in leading our team to victory.  But it was not me, the ring leader was the younger  Khutsafalo who is still an apprentice when it comes to matters of imbibing.

At the end of the day the Mmegi team were declared winners.

The KBL officials said the prize includes a trip to South Africa in November, where the winners will be taken on a tour of a world tourist attraction brewery.

While in South Africa, the winners' brewing skills will be put to the test.

In the likely event that our patented lager proves to be popular, KBL will be fighting for our services with other international brewers. 

Probably by the end of this year we will be lost to journalism for good.