Firstly, some explanation for those not au fait with CAMRA’s beer tasting activities. There are 86 Tasting Panels in CAMRA of which our local one is Cornwall. Like the Branch, it covers the county of Cornwall and all the breweries in it. Other Tasting Panels in our SW Region are Devon, Somerset and Bristol&Bath. All are quite big in terms of area and/or number of breweries. Tasting Panels are responsible for the majority of nominations of beers for CAMRA’s annual Champion Beer of Britain competitions and also maintain Tasting Notes for beers that appear in the breweries section of the annual Good Beer Guide and for other purposes.

CAMRA runs tasting training courses for Tasting Panel Members, both for new recruits to tasting and as a refresher for existing TPMs. We are fortunate to have two CAMRA Accredited Trainers in our region who form a double act, not the two Ronnies, but the two Grahams. One is Graham Whiting of Cornwall, who is a Member of Cornwall Tasting Panel. He organises the candidates and presentation, including visual aids. The other is Graham Dunbavan of Somerset, who is the Chair of Somerset Tasting Panel and a much respected but now retired Head Brewer of RCH and then Epic Beers (Pitchfork). He prepares all the flavour solutions for the training and lectures on the technical aspects of beer tastes.

In March, the two Grahams ran a course in Somerset which attracted members mainly from Somerset, Bristol and Bath. On 11 July, during the heatwave, they delivered a training course for members in the west of the region. Thanks to landlord Steve Hall, we were able to use the upstairs room at the Hole in the Wall in Bodmin.

The two Grahams were assisted by Karen Whiting, who labelled endless plastic tot glasses with numbers for the various flavours to be assessed by the trainees.

The trainees beavered away diligently through the course before we all retreated downstairs for a well-earned pint or two.

Thanks to the two Grahams, Karen and our host Steve. Oh, why was I there? On duty as SW Regional Tasting Panel Coordinator!

Cheers,

Steve Barber