‘De Kampion’ activity takes Belgian brand to bar staff
WHILE a drinks manufacturer will do everything it can to produce a virtuous product, in many cases the drink’s qualities are only fully displayed following a worthy final delivery by a well-trained bartender.
And it’s this that’s at the heart of premium beer brand Heverlee’s ‘De Kampion’ on-trade activity, which is currently making its way around Scotland.
Focused on communicating the provenance of the Belgian beer, which is said to be based on a description of a light drinking lager produced by the Norbertine monks of Heverlee hundreds of years ago, the bartender training sessions are also designed to help bar staff deliver the ‘perfect serve’ of the 4.8% ABV beer, which was launched in the Scottish on-trade in 2013 by Tennent’s owner C&C Group.
The ‘Bartender Brunches’ take participating bartenders through the story of the brand as well as showing how the Belgian beer can be paired with various different types of food, including blue cheese, nachos and chocolate.
We use the ‘beheading’ of the pint to create a really good quality pint for all of our consumers.
The top three bartenders from ‘De Kampion’ will then be taken on a trip to Heverlee’s home, south of Leuven in Belgium. A winner will be crowned in a final pint-pouring contest inside the historic Park Abbey grounds, where the centuries-old recipe which inspired Heverlee is said to have been found by master brewer Joris Brams.
At one of the De Kampion Bartender Brunches at The Bungo bar and restaurant on Glasgow’s south side last week, bar staff – and SLTN – were trained on the ‘perfect pour’, including the pint ‘beheading’ to prevent oxidation and ensure that the head stays bitter while the beer beneath remains sweet.
Colette Duckworth, customer marketing executive at Heverlee, said: “It’s really great for us as the Heverlee brand team to get involved with the trade and meet and talk about how important Heverlee is to us in terms of the quality of the brand.
“It’s really fun for us to do some food pairing and also to go over the perfect serve. Looking at why, for example, we use the beheading of the pint to create a really good quality pint for all of our consumers in Scotland.
“We can’t wait to take people over to Belgium.”
