You order a pint, guzzle and then order another. Isn’t that how it goes with beer? So naturally we were intrigued when a beer tasting invitation to swish, sniff and swig a bunch of international brews arrived in our inbox. ‘I accept’ meant a session of nasal appraisal at Woodside All Day Bar & Eatery (Andheri), an event that you can sign up for every month starting February.  That'll be Homer + 1 on the invite, thanks.

Good Head

Conducted by All Things Nice’s Nikhil Agarwal in the bar’s outdoor section, the tasting turned out to be a combination of theory and practical exercises. We don’t have to tell you which was the fun bit.

It started off with a boring Wikipedia-ish slideshow on the history and production process of beer that could definitely have been edited, spruced up with cooler facts and made more engaging. The largely quiet and yet-to-get-high audience (we blame ourselves too) didn’t help. Thankfully, beer makes everything better. As we moved on to the actual tasting with fun tips on how to smell, swirl, roll the beer around on our tongues and finally judge its aftertaste, the session started to get more interesting. Our group started asking questions, while everyone shouted out random words like “coffee”, “cloudy”, “floral” and “Corex” to describe the different brews they were trying - Asahi from Japan, American Brooklyn Lager, Erdinger from Germany, UK’s London Pride, Irish Murphy’s and Liefmans Fruitesse cherry-flavoured  beer (served with ice!) from Belgium. The food comprised microscopic portions of two onion rings, one bruschetta and a mini slider. Clearly, their intention was to create a buzz.

Sign Up

Ultimately, the hour long session with its new tastes and some wastes succeeded in bringing beer lovers together, and yielded what most alcohol fuelled nights should – new friends. At Rs 995 per person (includes a mug of beer on tap, six half pints of international beers with three small plated appetisers + expert instructions), it’s definitely a fun way to spend your evening.

Getting there: Woodside All Day Bar & Eatery, new Link Plaza, Oshiwara Link Road, next to Oshiwara Police Station, Andheri (W), call 26336549 or view the event page here, next one on February 10, Rs 995 per person.