Join us at Bar Convent Berlin 2022 where we'll be collaborating with industry friends to bring you four unique sessions exploring WSET's tasting technique, the importance of taste, aroma and texture in spirits and how to use sparkling wine to make your drinks list stand out.
Event details
Drinks trade show
Bar Convent Berlin is the largest trade fair for the bar and beverage industry. Bar owners, bartenders, distributors and manufacturers from around 80 countries come to BCB in Berlin every year to make new contacts, learn about product innovations and attend seminars. BCB has expanded its global network with further shows in the US and Brazil.
The 2022 event is returning to the Exhibition Centre Berlin, 10-12 October.
Click here to register for the event.
WSET talks tasting at Bar Convent Berlin 2022
Join WSET to hone your palate and get technical about tasting spirits and sparkling wine at BCB 2022.
WSET’s expert educators will be joined by leading bar industry figures on the Palais each day of the convent to explore the importance of taste, flavour and texture when working with spirits and sparkling wines. We’ll strip back the branding and delve into what makes an exceptional and perfectly balanced serve.
WSET talks tasting: defining quality
Using the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting to understand quality in spirits
Monday 10 October: 16:30pm - Liquid Stage A
Any experienced bartender has their go-to brands - the ones you recommend more than any other, the bottles you reach for when creating new serves, the brand whose story resonates the most with you and your customers. Our connections with spirits can be deeply personal, so when it comes to defining ‘quality’, is there a way to be objective?
In this session, WSET’s Charlie McCarthy will be joined by Felice Capasso to explore some parameters that can be useful when judging the quality of a spirit based solely on what’s in the glass. Through a tasting of three spirits, tasted blind, you’ll leave with the confidence to define quality objectively using WSET’s Systematic Approach to Tasting, and with plenty of ideas about how to apply this skill behind the bar.
WSET talks tasting: a matter of taste
Exploring the five basic tastes and how they are (and are not) expressed in spirits
Tuesday 11 October: 18:00pm - Liquid Stage A
A bartender’s toolkit needs to include not only a strong command of flavour and aroma but also an understanding of the five basic tastes we experience when a drink hits the palate.
It is widely understood that our palates can detect five basic tastes – salt, sweet, savoury (umami), sour (acidic) and bitter. Some of these tastes can be expressed in the spirit itself, others can be added or enhanced through other ingredients and garnishes.
Join WSET’s Charlie McCarthy for a tasting of three spirits, exploring which of the five tastes you are most likely to experience in different spirit styles, and why. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of your own palate, and how tastes can be played with to create unique and innovative drinks.
WSET talks tasting: sparkling wine
How to add sparkle to your drinks list
Wednesday 12 October: 15:00pm - Liquid Stage A
Selling sparkling wine by the glass comes with clear benefits to your offering, but many people steer clear because they don't know how to offer it sustainably and avoid wastage.
Join Berlin Wine School's Pawel Gruntowski and Chockie Tom of Doommersive in an exploration of three major styles of sparkling wine, and how to use inventive and unexpected sparkling wine serves to delight your guests and your accountant alike.
You'll leave with a deeper understanding of the production choices that influence the character of sparkling wines, how to use the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting wine, and extra inspiration to create your own sustainable and delicious sparkling wine cocktail serves.
WSET talks tasting: all the feels
The underestimated importance of texture in spirits
Wednesday 12 October: 16:30pm - Taste Forum
Texture is an element that is often overlooked when it comes to tasting and describing spirits. It's sometimes hard to detect, and even harder to describe, but is very often the difference between an exceptional drink, and one that feels lacking.
In this session, WSET's Charlie McCarthy will be joined by Piotr Sadjak for a tasting of three spirits with notably different mouthfeels. Together we will explore the production factors that affect texture and how to put words to sensations on the palate so you can apply this when developing new serves.
Click here to register for the event.