Stella competition will determine the U.S. pouring champion
Sixteen contenders chosen from competitions across the country – one from an online contest – will tap into their beer-pouring skills Friday for a chance to be named the U.S. champion in the 2010 Stella Artois World Draught Masters competition.
Competing for a slot at the 2010 Stella Artois World Draught Masters finals in Old Billingsgate, London Oct. 28, the finalists will demonstrate their beer-pouring prowess before a panel of judges who will scrutinize each and every phase of the Stella Artois 9-Step Pouring Ritual.
Among the 16 U.S. finalists, 15 were selected from eight regional semi-final markets — Tampa, Orlando, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, Washington D.C., New York and Boston — and one is a wild-card participant randomly chosen from the top 25 national scorers in an online interactive 9-Step Pouring Ritual game.
Once chosen, the U.S. Draught Master crowned in Boston will rendezvous in London with the other 31 individual competition winners from around the world to perform the centuries-old Belgian Pouring Ritual and compete for the 2010 Stella Artois World Draught Masters title. As in Boston, the World Draught Masters event in London will feature the style of 1960s Franco-European cinema with props, music, clothes and sets from the era.
The Draught Master crowned at this year’s global competition will embark on a quest during which he or she will visit more than 20 different countries as a Stella Artois brand ambassador and share his or her passion and dedication to the craft of the perfect pour.
The 16 U.S. finalists are:
- William Huetz , Tampa
- Chuck Rogers, Tampa
- Grant Huff, Orlando
- Sarah Arnold, Las Vegas
- Scott Ast, Las Vegas
- Will Schneider, Denver
- John Van Bockern, Denver
- Ryan Petro, Phoenix
- Seema Jeswani, New York
- Chris Meyers, New York
- Jerome Eno, Boston
- Nate Garel, Boston
- Therese Steiner, Boston
- Aimee Chambers, Washington, D.C.
- Brady Locher, Washington, D.C.
- David Silverman , New York City (“What’s Your Pour Score” wildcard)
Road Trips for Beer covered the Orlando semi-finals, where editor Gerard Walen discovered the ritual is not nearly as easy as it might seem.
The U.S. Championship will be Friday, Sept. 17, beginning at 9:30 p.m. at The Liberty Hotel in Boston. The public is invited to attend the competition, but you must RSVP at championships@draughtmasterusa.com or go to draughtmasterusa.com to be added to the guest list.
Stella Artois traces its origin back to 1366 at the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium, just outside of Brussels. The beer was originally brewed to celebrate Christmas, and it was named Stella (Latin for “star”). In 1717, Master Brewer Sebastian Artois purchased the brewery and changed its name to Artois. The modern Stella Artois brewery, built in 2004, is still located in Leuven. The brand is currently owned by international conglomerate AB InBev.
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