On Aug 5, Star Academy held their Kuala Lumpur Guinness Perfect Pour at One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya. Bar staff from different restaurants, bars, and pubs in Klang Valley gathered to learn how to do the Perfect Pour as well as compete to win a trip to an all-expenses paid trip to St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, where Irish brewer Arthur Guinness first started brewing the world-known stout over 250 years ago.
After a two-year hiatus, they’re back with an immersive and interactive experience in understanding the origin, ingredients and serving rituals to master the perfect Guinness pour.
The programme started bright and early in the morning (ironically for the bartenders), and everyone was split into two groups for two different sessions.
In my group, we were escorted into Room 2 first, also known as Heineken Malaysia’s Sungei Way Brewery, where we learned about the 7Cs, the 6 steps for the Perfect Pour, and the Guinness Pouring Competition.
The 7Cs is a set of quality standards designed to help deliver great looking and great tasting Guinness Draught from the tap, and they are Correct Gas, Correct Temperature, Clean Lines, Clean Glassware, Counter Visibility, Consistent Freshness, and Crafted Presentation.
As for the long-awaited Perfect Pour, we learned that it is a 6-step process that takes exactly 119.5 seconds.
As a person who doesn’t usually drink, I was surprised by the taste of beer fresh from the tap! The unique two-part method and surging give the Guinness drink its iconic creamy head and velvety texture. Tastewise, the perfect pour gave balanced bitter and sweet notes to the stout, and it was simply delicious!
After the bar staff were judged by their pour, we head on to the next room with the St. James Gate theme. Inside, we were led to a room of information and the history of Guinness, where we learned about the brewing process and ingredients of Guinness.
If you’ve ever wondered why Guinness has its ruby red colour, it’s because they roast their barley at exactly 232°C. Among the interesting facts, we learned that the bitterness of the Guinness stout comes from the hops and the bulldog image on the neck label of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is unique to Malaysia, a feature on bottles sold here for more than 100 years.
After going through a trip of Guinness history, they compiled the scores of the Central regional competition and the finalists for Klang Valley are Ang Ai Keow from Souliquid and Allan Coronel from Makhan by Kitchen Mafia.
After doing their rounds around East Malaysia and now Klang Valley, their next locations are Opero Hotel in Johor Bahru, Royale Chulan in Penang, and Weil Hotel in Ipoh, Perak before the grand finale on Oct 21.
