Beer sommelier redux

Salt sommelier? Water sommelier?

These job descriptions make beer sommelier seem like less of a stretch, don’t you think?

The Los Angeles Times has a story about how the food business is booming, “and with it, there’s a boom in jobs you’ve never heard of.”

Consider the specialty Christina Perozzi has carved out for herself. She calls herself a beer sommelier, doing for microbrews what a traditional sommelier does for Super Tuscans. She says she “geeked out” on beer while working at Father’s Office in Santa Monica, a bar known for its extensive selection of beer, and now her “biggest passion is teaching people how beer pairs with food.” And so she helps restaurants and bars develop beer lists and train their staffs, organizes pairings with chefs at public events and teaches beer classes.

Perozzi has a blog (christinaperozzi.com), is writing a book (“Beer 4 Chx”) and says she would also like to branch out into beer tours, any one of which would have been job enough at one point in time.

Personally, I’d like to nab a job as an “affineur.” It refers to the person who improves the flavor of a cheese through aging for a few months or enhancing by some method such as washing in brandy.

Or maybe beer?

7 thoughts on “Beer sommelier redux”

  1. Hey, a quick look at Christine’s website shows that it’s going to be pretty easy for her to write a book: BeerAdvocate’s already done the heavy lifting. Heineken is a “very industrialized” beer? What the hell’s that mean? It’s made with metal machines ‘n’ stuff? Heineken’s all-malt, fergodssake, whatta ya want?

  2. “What the hell’s that mean? It’s made with metal machines ‘n’ stuff?”

    LOL!!

  3. Lew nailed it with the nod to BA (and RateBeer, etc.). With the popularity and memberships increasing you now have a huge array of people developing their beer knowledge at a record pace. Those who want to cash in on this…will do so, obviously. Can you argue with their knowledge? Heh…of course!

    Outsource dinner to India. Now THAT was a hoot.

    Cheers!

  4. Why are you guys beating up on me?
    I love beer and I’m just trying to make a career out of it, because a wise person once told me “Make what you love your living!”
    I give credit to everyone I’ve learned from.
    That includes Beer Advocate which is a wonderful site.
    I encourage everyone who loves beer and especially craft beer to shout about it from the hills so that everyone can experience something other than 90 percent of the beers on the market. That’s all.

  5. Hi-
    Guys like to beat up on people- that is what they are all about. Have you ever seen those guys who are “INTO BEER”? I dream about doing the beer tours myself, but my lack of tattoos, shaved head and testosterone — well, maybe there’s nothing wrong with a weird chick doing beer tours (as my friend termed my idea), I dunno.

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