Every year, bartenders all over the world battle it out to see who can pour the best pint of Stella Artois, covering the 9 crucial steps for a perfect pour. To be honest I have never realised the amount of details going into serving punters “She Is The Thing of Beauty”- a perfect Chalice of Stella Artois. What are the 9 steps, you might wonder. Here’s a video:

Step 1: The Purification
The Chalice must be cleaned and rinsed.
Step 2: The Sacrifice
The tap is opened in a single swift motion and the first drops of beer are poured.
Step 3: The Liquid Alchemy
The Chalice must be held at a 45° angle, just under the tap.
Step 4: The Crown
Lowering the Chalice permits the natural formation of the foam head.
Step 5: The Removal
The tap is closed quickly and the Chalice removed. No drips permitted.
Step 6: The Beheading (what a step lol)
While the head foams up and threatens to overflow, a head cutter is deployed to smooth it gently.
Step 7: The Cleansing
The bottom and sides of the Chalice are to be cleaned.
Step 8: The Judgment
The perfect amount of foam equals two fingers.
Step 9: The Bestowal
The beer should be presented on a clean coaster, with the logo facing outward.

One fine afternoon, we were invited to witness the birth of 2013 Malaysia’s Stella Artois World Draught Master at the Genting International Convention Centre . Over 40 bartenders signed up for this, which means we were going to watch the ritual 40+ times!

But of course, we were treated to a lunch first to whet our appetite for the beer (or is it the other way round?). As this was the first time I brought my brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 (yes, you might have noticed the slight upgrade of my photo quality lately), I went about the took pictures of the food first, naturally.

Well, we treated ourselves to some Stella Artois too, these were not poured by the contestants though.

Before long, we were ushered into the hall to watch the competition and we found out that all the beer poured by the contestants will be served to the audience (and judges of course). I guess we were in for a long boozy afternoon!

“A perfect pour is fundamental to experiencing the perfect Stella Artois. The brand’s timehonored 9-step Pouring Ritual helps ensure the beer are served and poured in care, consideration and craftsmanship, and it is important that all those who enjoy Stella Artois pay as much attention to serving it as we do to making it,” said Kenneth Soh, General Manager of Luen Heng F&B Sdn Bhd in his speech.

Liew Xin Yin, the Winner of the 2011 Malaysia World Draught Masters who represented Malaysia at the Global World Draught Masters in Buenos Aires, Argentina did a demonstration of the 9 step pouring ritual and said: “A perfectly poured Chalice is a thing of a beauty. The training and support has helped my skills not only in pursuit of executing the 9-steps pouring ritual flawlessly but also as a bartender. With such a storied brewing tradition, I hope there will be more bartenders who will benefit from this training to ensuring every Chalice of Stella Artois is perfectly poured and serve great beer.”

After all the contestants have done their thing (we became quite the expert in judging I can tell you), the Top 5 were chosen to perform their pouring ritual for the second time (more beer for us!). It was quite hard to pick the best contestant, but I thought this guy executed the steps well with confidence, so it was no surprise he was the winner of the day.

After watching the ritual countless time (plus video demonstration while we were on the way to Genting Highlands), we all were itching to try our hands and I certainly had a lot of fun doing it.

Now does any bar want to hire this hot bartender? 😛 I might be a bit too expensive though.

For more info on Stella Artois, and photos from the event, check out: http://www.facebook.com/StellaArtoisMalaysia and Malaysia’s Hottest Bloggers’ facebook page.