Projo Beer Blog

July 2006 Archives

England won the World Cup -- the World Beer Cup, that is.

Peter Genovese, a reporter for The Newark Star-Ledger, wrote a fun story this week about a beer-tasting competition modeled after soccer's World Cup.

The competitors included a beer from each country that made it to the round of 16 in the soccer matches.

"This competition had all the drama and intrigue of a World Cup match, with two exceptions — the playing field was a conference table, and participants weren't flagged," Genovese writes.

The Judges included Genovese and two guys who've won the Beerdrinker of the Year competition, which, Genovese explains, is "described as 'America's premier competition for beer lovers,'...based not only on how much you enjoy and appreciate beer, but how much you know about beer history and production."

The final's matched England's Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale against Mexico's Negra Modelo.

In background about the judge's, Genovese mentions that Australia's Cooper's Sparkling Ale is among his favorites. That beer happens to have won another World Beer Cup competition that's drawn headlines.

In Genovese's competition, Australia was represented by Foster's Special Bitter, which was knocked out of the semifinals by Negra Modelo.

The story lists all of the beers in the competition if you want to do your own judging.