"Women also know how to pour a beer." With this assertiveness, Jenifer Tejada, the only female finalist in the first Estrella beer pouring competition, organized by Damm through its Bar Manager platform, went to the draft beer tap. It was the same confidence with which she poured and served three Estrella Damm beers to a jury of experts, earning her the first prize in the competition: a check for 2,000 euros.
Jenifer Tejada, trained in one of Barcelona's leading hospitality schools, works with her family at Bar Homer in Mollet del Vallès, an establishment inspired by the TV series The Simpsons. The young woman reached the final of the competition along with nine other bartenders, including owners and waiters, from all over Catalonia. Second and third place went to Elías Latorre, from Conservas Latorre, a vermouth bar on Calle Calàbria in Barcelona, and to Raúl Ruiz, from El 9 Suprem, in Figueres, who were awarded 1,000 and 500 euros, respectively.
All contestants showed their skill with glasses and the tap, which in good harmony are indispensable elements for serving a good caña, especially to crown it with cream, and not with foam.
To help spread the technique of a good pour to enjoy a draft beer, the brand's sommelier, Yan Maia, gave an explanatory demonstration: tilt the glass 45 degrees and place the tap two fingers away to fill it with the stream of beer; the glass should be filled up to three-quarters, no more, before closing the tap and leaving it in a vertical position to continue, after resting for a few seconds, reopening the tap to a quarter of its flow and letting a thin stream of cream fall onto the vertical glass. Without spilling it.
The competition highlighted the resilience of the restaurant sector in the face of the impact of Covid-19, with the participation of establishments with a long history, and others recently created such as Café Punt 5, in Figueres, which opened eight months ago; or Calla y Tapa, in Barcelona, also launched this year. It was also a good example of the cultural diversity of the restaurant industry, with the presence of Chinese owner Chun Hua Chen, who has run the Punt de Trobada establishment in Reus for 15 years.
The remaining finalists, up to ten baristas, were Fernando Pérez, from Can Feu, in Sabadell; the Confidencial cocktail bar in Mollet del Vallès, with Alberto Magdaleno; Félix Navarro, from Restaurant L'Olivé, also in Mollet del Vallès; and the small Van Van Var, from Barcelona, with Carles Armengol at the helm of the establishment.
Damm, satisfied with the success of the event, promoted and collected videos of waiters pouring beer to enter the competition through the digital tool Bar Manager that it has designed to provide direct service to its customers. With personalized management for each establishment, Bar Manager offers restoration professionals permanent contact with Damm. Establishments can consult their consumption, personalized promotions, training capsules, sector news, and establish direct contact with the technical service of the beer manufacturer. The brand received a total of 293 videos of waiters pouring a glass of Estrella Damm, from among the 34,500 users who already have the application.
The brand received 293 videos of waiters pouring an Estrella beer, through its Bar Manager applicationThe jury of this first edition was formed by Marc García, head of the hospitality channel in Catalonia for Damm; Karen Peiró, master brewer and head of Cerveseria de Damm; Jesús Salvador, head of Market Quality and International Brewery for Damm; Yan Maia, Beer Sommelier for Damm; Carles Sitjar, Gastronomy Manager for Damm, and gastronomic journalists Yaiza Saiz and Ferran Imedio.
Some of the criteria that the jury took into account to evaluate the participants' pours in the final were the technique used (tap opening, glass inclination, pressure, etc.), as well as other aspects such as the presence of bubbles, the rinsing of the glass, or the presentation of the beer on the bar, among many others.