Beer Masters is arriving in Belgium after a successful broadcasting in UK end of last year!
Wait… no, it’s not Brew Masters, the famous TV series from 2010 with Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head). Beer Masters is a brand new program. In short, it is to beer what Master Chef is to food: an entertaining TV show where homebrewers compete through rounds of challenges to deliver the best beer!
The teams (of 2) were selected in 5 countries. Italy, France, Netherland, UK and of course Belgium.
The program is hosted by James Blunt and Jaega Wise. I don’t really need to present James the singer-songwriter but heck …. James is also the owner of a pub in London, a soldier, a pilot, a slalom champion, an engineer, speaks more than 3 languages and he knows the most hilarious beer jokes of UK. Jaega is the hero brewster of Wild Card Brewing, Brewer of the year 2018 (UK), host of plenty of food shows and podcast and an adorable personality!
Each episode explores a new brewing challenge and welcomes guest judges and seasoned brewmasters to coach the contestants!
I was initially only involved in the concept: designing compelling stories, meaningful challenges, sharing my passion for beer with the producing company Electric Robin. I ended up being enrolled as the “Expert and Judge” for the Abbey Beer episode (Ep.3) and the final (Ep.5). Maybe because I was baptized in Orval or because I worked many years with Leffe…. Anyway I gave the teams a Masterclass about Abbey beers and Food Pairing (an epic diner!) in the studio north of London . The teams were then asked to Brew an Abbey beer with some mandatory ingredients and to prepare a meal that would pair perfectly with the beer.
Chef and rockstar Roberto Valbuzzi (Crotto Valtellina ) joined me to judge the quality of the pairings!
The show is simply great, designed for an audience that goes way beyond craft beer lovers. It delivers a truly entertaining program where brewing challenges are layered with culture (history and tourism), design (create your own label,…), personalities (passionate teams) and hedonic pleasures (food pairing,…).
Now broadcasted in Belgium (VTM) after UK (Amazon UK). Hopefully coming soon in many more markets.
Not to be missed!
