News

Cicerone program aims to burnish chain beer service

June 27, 2010

As artisan drinks – microdistilled spirits and craft beers – propagate, consumers have been catching on. At last week’s Technomic conference in Chicagoland, menu trend specialist Nancy Kruse noted bar menu buildups at fast casual locales such as Buffalo Wild Wings. Another session on fast casual trends marked local and alcoholic beverages as differentiators, which makes craft beer a natural area for growth.

But before operators go and stock up on popular regional American or even upscale foreign brews, they should know that these beers should be handled and presented with care, like any other artisan food. In fact, many floor staff don’t handle, store and serve better beer the way it needs to be served in order to reach its full potential.

Enter Ray Daniels, founder of the Cicerone Certification Program. Daniels, a 20-year beer industry veteran, created his program three years ago to help brewers use best practices in making, serving and describing beer. Now he’s bringing his expert training to the retail sector, promoting his program to restaurants to help their staff learn how to better handle, store and serve beer.

“I pretty much put it together out of frustration of bad beer service in a lot of places,” said Daniels. He describes dirty glasses, improper, headless pours, and flat beer due to improperly prepared tap lines as the biggest service snafus.

Daniels said he targeted distributors after brewers, and now he’s ready for the national push to let retailers know they have a resource for better beer service, starting with the session he did at the National Restaurant Association show last month with Brewer’s Association head Paul Gatza.

The session targeted restaurateurs in general, but beer goes especially well with pizza and other high fat/carb laden menu items because "the bitterness and carbonation in beer helps provide a contrast,” Daniels said.

Restaurateurs can access and learn more about his program at Cicerone.org.