EBCU Workshop
“All About… Pilsner” presented by Christian Andersen and Jens Eiken 
vom 07.12.2023:

From loathed to loved. The pilsner style – or more correct pilsner styles – was loathed by the craft beer brewers and beer lovers for many years in the beer revolution. Pilsner was – and is – the industy beer über alles. More than 90 percent of all beer in the world is pilsner. Today the fine art of brewing the perhaps most difficult of beer styles is finally embraced by the craft beer brewers. In this presentation we will explain the many pilsner styles and flavours. We will try to reveal the secrets behind the fine pilsner and highlight some of our favourites.

Christian Andersen is a prized beer writer and blogger. He is the author and translator of several books about beer. Skilled journalist and communications consultant. Christian is a former delegate to the committee of the European Beer Consumers Union from The Danish Beer Enthusiasts.
Jens Eiken is a former Master Brewer in managerial roles at Carlsberg, the Jacobsen Brewhouse, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Royal Unibrew, Novozymes & Carlsberg Research Laboratory. Jens is now working as Global Product Manager, Brewing & Distilling, at IFF.

EBCU Workshop
“Beer, Health and Wellbeing” by Claus-Christian Carbon
vom 14.11.2023:

Beer has some undeniably good basic ingredients, primarily when ecologically produced and sustainably processed. Even the calories are not that high compared with standard soft drinks. Politics, however, focuses on health-related issues with beer, for instance, problems with alcohol, overweightness and unbalanced diet. This strict focus on measurable and also undeniably negative health factors comes at a price: We will forget other factors which play an important role in as so-called secondary or indirect effects which are linked with cultural values, social aspects and further values such as identity. All these effects can be subsumed under the concept of well-being. This wider view on beer from a well-being perspective is important to capture a consumer’s holistic experience but still does not neglect negative factors which should be treated professionally and with an open mind.

Claus-Christian Carbon is an academic with an interest in the social aspects of beer. He is a psychologist by training, working in the field of sensation and perception as a Full Professor at the University of Bamberg in Bavaria, Germany. He is a Beer Sommelier and a former executive member of the EBCU.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Norwegian Farmhouse Ale” presented by Lars Marius Garshol
vom 12.10.2023:

Norwegian Farmhouse Ale has attracted great interest over the last years, partly because of the kveik yeast, but because it is so difficult to find many are not familiar with this type of beer. In this presentation we will go into where these beers come from, why they are the way they are, and what styles of Norwegian Farmhouse Ale there are. We will also visit some brewers to see what they do and how they brew these beers. Since the kveik yeast is used for some of these beer styles we will also look a little at what it is.

Lars Marius Garshol used to be a software engineer, but he gave that up to work full-time on researching and writing about traditional farmhouse brewing. He’s spent the last decade researching various aspects of farmhouse brewing throughout northern Europe. He is the author of Larsblog, a blog devoted to sharing his discoveries and travels, Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing, and a book on Lithuanian beer. He lives with his wife and daughter in Rælingen, Norway.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Mild presented by Will Taylor and Brett Laniosh”
vom 22.05.2023:

Mild used to be England’s most popular beer style but now accounts for less than 3% of beer sold in British pubs. It’s a fascinating beer, typically, but not always, dark and low in bitterness. This presentation will cover the history of the drink and give some great examples of it that exist today. We will also be sharing information on brewing this particular style of beer. For many years, CAMRA has used the month of May to promote Mild, so we look forward to celebrating this great beer with you.
Will Taylor is the founder and owner of Woodcote Brewery, based in Worcestershire. Established in 2015, the brewery won six awards in 2022. They bottle condition their beers which are all vegan and unfined.

Brett Laniosh is a project coordinator for the EBCU and a former director of CAMRA. He runs cellar training courses in pubs and breweries and runs a beer and pub magazine publishing company.

EBCU Workshop
“An Introduction to the European Beer Consumers Union” with André Brunnsberg and Chris Welsh”
vom 11.04.2023:

A chance to hear from the chair of EBCU and members of the Executive Board on the activities and campaigns the organisation has been involved in recently and has planned for the future. There will be an opportunity to put your questions to André, Chris and other members of the board and project coordinators.

André Brunnsberg is the chair and Chris Welsh is a member of the executive board of EBCU.

EBCU Workshop
“Challenges to the Brewing Industry from Climate Change”
vom 21.02.2023:

So, finding myself accidentally in the company of a global expert, I asked him, “Is there an easy way to avoid catastrophic effects from climate change?”, and he said, “Sure. Be under 50.” That was ten years ago. Since then the incline has got steeper and the path become lined by large corporations bent on securing their continuing financial success. Brewing is around 4% of the global economy and its carbon footprint is significant. The way it carries out its business must change in line with the needs of our grandchildren. Greenwashing won’t work. This seminar will analyse the problems, the proposed solutions and the issues that are still unaddressed.

Tim Webb is an EBCU Project Coordinator, beer consumer champion and author.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Baltic Porter”
vom 17.01.2023:

In 2016 Baltic Porter Day was born, as a way to celebrate this style of beer. Often called the Polish Brewing Treasure (Piwowarski Skarb Polski), this dark, rich beer is especially popular in the Baltic Sea basin, as the name would suggest. Rightly so, as it was created here in the 19th century as a continental version of the famous British porters. Today Baltic Porter is known around the world, with fantastic examples of the style brewed in the USA. But still, it is most famous in the Baltic Sea basin, especially in Poland.

Marcin Chmielarz is a brewer, beer vlogger, and pub manager. Since he started discovering craft beer, he has been particularly interested in one beer style – Baltic Porter.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Grodziskie”
vom 21.11.2022:

Grodziskie is a beer style originating from the 16th century, from the little Medieval town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski, located in western Poland. However, in the early 1990s the style was forgotten and discontinued at its mother brewery, only to be rediscovered 20 years later by the community of Polish homebrewers and craft beer enthusiasts. Often called “Polish champagne” due to its carbonation, highly drinkable and refreshing, with a hint of oak smoke, it remains a unique Polish contribution to the world’s beer heritage.

Dawid is a beer judge certified by BJCP and PSPD (Polish Homebrewers Association). His experience spans numerous domestic and international competitions, as well as workshops on beer styles and sensorics for various audiences – from consumers to judges. He is also the Chairman of PSPD Judges’ Committee and Coordinator of Warsaw Homebrewing Festival.
Marcin is the Head Brewer at Browar Fortuna located in Wielkopolska region, the home of Grodziskie. He is also an experienced BJCP judge and the Head Judge of Grodziski Homebrewing Competition – an annual event entirely dedicated to the style. Together with Dawid, he recently delivered speeches on Grodziskie for the beer industry in Brazil.

EBCU Workshop
“Beer and Food”
vom 10.10.2022:

How to combine beer and food? How to use beer as a food ingredient? The workshop advises easy and good tricks on how to make beer and food taste good together and what advantages beer has when used as a food ingredient.

Anikó Lehtinen is a beer journalist and the Chair Person of Olutliitto, the Finnish Beer Consumer Union.

If you want, you can reserve the following snacks and beers for the workshop, or you just come and listen:

IPA and Gouda cheese, Sour beer (flavored with berries) and milk chocolate, Stout/porter and blue cheese.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Dutch Trappist Ale”
vom 26.09.2022:

Belgium has always been known for its Trappist breweries. But neighbouring The Netherlands can boast two Trappist breweries, making it the second country with respect to a number of trappist breweries. They are Koningshoeven (La Trappe) with a long and intriguing history and De Kievit (Zundert), one of the wave of new Trappist breweries. This workshop will focus on why the Trappist came to the Netherlands. We will discuss why they started brewing and of course the beers they brew.

Henri is director of StiBON beer education and has been advisor to Trappistbrewery De Kievit in Zundert since its inception. He has previously served as chairman of EBCU.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Sahti”
vom 13.06.2022:

Sahti is a Finnish, ancient farmhouse ale and the beer style itself is at least 2000 years old.

Sahti is made from malted and unmalted grains, mostly barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavoured with juniper and sometimes with hops and has often a banana flavour due to the use of baking yeast.

Finnish Sahti has protected status in Europe, so in order to be described as Sahti a beer must be brewed following the traditional process and ingredients.

Every year the Finnish Sahti Brewing ´Championship is held on the first weekend in August.

Find out more about the past, present and future of this true Finnish beer style Sahti
presented by Sahti Brewer Marjokaisa “Sahti-Kaisa” Piironen and Beer Expert Anikó Lehtinen.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Grape Ale”
vom 19.05.2022:

From tradition to innovation and beyond

Grapes aren’t just for wine! Grape based beers have been attracting a lot of interest in recent years. Italian Grape Ale (IGA) made with natural fruit bring together two different but very interesting partners.

IGAs perfectly represent the butterfly effect “does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? ” (Edward N. Lorenz)

Even if in Italy there is the largest number of butterflies species on the European continent, actually what caused a disruptive effect in the global brewing world was adding ingredients from the wine to the beer?

Find out more about the past, present and future of this modern style, presented by Unionbirrai Beer Tasters and some of the brewers winners of the IGA categories at Birra dell’Anno”

Simone is an experienced brewer living in Bologna and the Chief Operating Officer of Unionbirrai.

EBCU Workshop
“All About… Gose”
vom 03.03.2022:

There are many rumours about the historic German beer style of Gose. It did not originate in Leipzig, today’s main Gose brewing city. In fact, it all started in a benedictine monastery in the 14th century. What about the taste? How salty and sour should a real Gose be? What about fruits and spices? And what about the iconic Gose bottle with the long, almost endless neck?

Markus Raupach, Beer writer, Beer judge and President of the German Beer Consumers Union gave an interesting insight, together with a famous german Gose brewer: Matthias Richter from Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig, known to many as “Mr. Gose“.

Celebrating 30 years of EBCU
vom 25.09.2021:

More than 30 years ago, EBCU was established to preserve the diversity of traditional European beer cultures, to protect consumers from unfair prices being imposed through unreasonable taxation or unreasonable trade practices and to ensure that consumers receive the best information about beer.

We are proud that we can be more and more meaningful in Europe both through the national organizations and through the umbrella EBCU.

Despite Corona, we didn’t want to just let our anniversary pass by, and we cordially invited our friends and members you to participate in our online event in which we looked back on 30 years of EBCU. We started this event with a toast to EBCU and continued with a tasting of several beers from countries that founded the EBCU, interspersed with a panel discussion about the past and future of the EBCU.

EBCU Workshop
“The Beer World after the Pandemic”
vom 20.05.2021:

By the start of 2020 the beer industry in Europe was showing strong signs of renewal. The number of small independent breweries had broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in seven decades, the 21st century’s slow fall in beer sales was starting to reverse, traditional and modern beer styles were appearing in abundance, and there were even some signs of larger and smaller breweries starting to work together to mutual benefit. Then came COVID.

With bars and restaurants being locked down all over Europe for much of the last year, shaking hands and hugging outlawed in most countries, and many people fearful to leave their homes, what now is the future for hospitality and how will this affect the brewing industry? What breweries are affected the most? Those dependent on bulk sales or smaller ones making a precarious living from a small number of accounts? Have brewers been looking out for each other or is there a battle for survival? How will beer and brewing move forward as the dust settles and the masks are removed? And how can consumers help?

This workshop was hosted by Tim Webb, beer consumer champion and co-author of The World Atlas of Beer, and included on the panel Simon Spillane, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Brewers of Europe in Brussels, Claus-Christian Carbon, Professor of General Psychology at the University of Bamberg and Ina Verstl, brewing economics journalist from Brauwelt magazine.

EBCU Workshop
“Tips for a new era of online beer events
including tastings and judging”

vom 18.03.2021:

The beer industry has gone through considerable growth and change over the past 20 years, particularly in the areas of digital marketing and the use of digital events such as online beer tasting and judging. The 2020 pandemic has intensified this trend.

There are many challenges in adapting existing and implementing new event concepts such as beer festivals, competitions and tastings into a digital format.

In this workshop, Markus Raupach gave an overview of his experiences as an online tasting and judging provider and offered essential insights from his experience in developing the Deutsche BierAkademie and as German chair of the World Beer Awards judging team. In addition, Anita Ujszaszi, Awards Director of the World Beer Awards was participating as a speaker.

The following questions (and more) concern all those who want to move into the world of online tasting:

  • What software and hardware is needed?
  • How do I behave correctly as a trainer or tutor?
  • What equipment do I need?
  • What else do I need to consider in the field of digital beer events?

Markus Raupach is President of the German Beer Consumers Union and founder of the German Beer Academy. He is also a beer sommelier, brandy sommelier and cheese sommelier, an experienced international beer judge, member of the British Guild of Beer Writers and the North American Guild of Beer Writers as well as a recipient of the Bamberg Beer Order, board member of Bierland Oberfranken and the Association of Bavarian Brandy Sommeliers.