Taste Beer Like a Pro: An Interactive Experience for Aficionados and Amateurs

Join fellow Press Club members for a lively and hands-on exploration of beer, where palate meets perception and marketing meets meaning. In this interactive session, you’ll learn how to taste beer like a professional—sharpening your sensory awareness and exploring how subtle differences in flavor, aroma, and texture shape our experience of “good” beer.

We’ll also engage in spirited discussion about how these perceptions influence branding and marketing in a world where taste is inherently subjective. How do brewers and marketers convince consumers that one beer is better than another? Can flavor be sold, or is it just a story well told?

As part of our conversation, we’ll dive into the debate over adjuncts—those non-traditional ingredients like fruit, spices, rice, or corn. Are they a creative expression, a shortcut, or both? Together, we’ll challenge assumptions, share opinions, and enjoy a range of styles designed to provoke the palate and the mind.

We will taste 5 beers, accompanied by palette-cleansing charcuterie spread.

Whether you’re a die-hard beer lover or just beer-curious, this experience is designed to educate, entertain, and inspire new ways of thinking about what’s in your glass—and how it got there.

Your guide for the evening will be Judd Belstock, beer industry entrepreneur and corporate executive; Wine and Spirits Education Trust Beer Level 2 Certification; Harvard MBA; University of Chicago Economics BA.