Sommeliers, traditionally, are people whose expertise are selecting and serving wine. (It's French for wine geeks, if you don't want to be fancy about it.) But the times they are a-changin' (so sings Bob Dylan), and that includes the wine-exclusivity of the tag. The number of budding beer sommeliers are a-growin', so says Raj Sadhwani of The Distillery and Booze On-Line, Inc.
"I like a lot of malt whiskey and I also drink a lot of beer. So I wanted to really specialize in these two categories, specifically imported beer [since] it's one that's very weak in the Philippine market," Raj says. "People started to appreciate it more and more. It now accounts for 70 percent of our sales."
With about 40 different beer brands in The Distillery (and plenty more at places like Pivo Restobar, Beers Paradise, even in supermarkets), the beer market is definitely responding to the increasing demand for more than the usual beer drinking experience.
If the numerous brands to choose from seem daunting, consider this list your starting kit to the surprisingly diverse world of beer. Raj picks out 10 beers you need to try at least once in your life. The lineup is composed of brewskies from countries like Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, England, and Mexico. Some of the beers are familiar names but what makes this list different, Raj points out, is that these picks are superior in their respective categories. Other beer snobs will disagree: saying that the popular ones lack complexity in body, flavor, hop signature, and other technicalities. Then again, beer drinking requires no college degree.
"Just keep an open mind. Sometimes you don't like it at the first sip, but it grows on you. Be ready to try something different. Try to absorb whatever you can from the taste, the smell," Raj adds. "It's good to try new ones and different flavors because after a while you'll have favorites. It's really the experience of getting to try new things. It's just really about having fun." Now, isn't that what you drink beer for?
