Ryan Freeman, part owner of Dade City Brew House, presenting the “No Shortcut Home” beer during the Dec. 12 TEA class at Aviary Recreation.
The holiday season should come with the tagline: “Eat, drink and be merry.”
Emphasis on the “drink” part.
To help Villagers and other nearby residents get a better understanding of the best beers to drink — responsibly — during the holidays, and all year round, Mark DeNote has been bringing Beer Tasting opportunities to the Enrichment Academy since 2018.
“When someone says, ‘I don’t like beer,’ I take that as a challenge,” DeNote said. “I try to see what I can provide to open that door to some type of beer that you can enjoy. That’s my end goal. The questions you start with is questioning what flavors you do like to drink.”
And he knows from which he speaks. It wasn’t love at first sip with beer for DeNote. He said he became fascinated with the world of beer after going to a craft beer bar in Orlando and sharing drinks with friends.
“After that I started learning, reading, taking tests, and traveling all in the name of beer,” DeNote said. “And that’s been since 2005.”
Now, along with teaching the one-day TEA classes, Denote also hosts his own podcast, writes for his online publication floridabeernews.com, and is a certified cicerone (a beer professional).
For his work, he often travels across Florida — and beyond — to try various beers. Many of the locations DeNote visits to taste beer become subjects for his TEA classes.
“I’m always traveling and trying to find beer that’s extraordinary to bring to class. After nearly 20 years of trying to taste any and everything, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole and can share the information I find with the people in the classes,” DeNote said. “I like to focus on different themes and categorize the beers.”
DeNote said the best beers are ones that makes him think.“I can enjoy it, but it makes me pause because there is an aspect or an ingredient or tradition you don’t see often,” he said.
On Dec. 12, DeNote hosted a TEA class at Aviary Recreation, bringing in various beers from Dade City Brew House. He also invited Ryan Freeman, co-owner of the Dade City Brew House, to speak to the class of nearly
40 students about six different beers brewed in-house at the brew house while also giving guests a taste of distinct holiday-flavored beers.
“The thing about beer is it has a flavor for everybody. There are over 100 recognized beer styles. Pick the flavors you like and there is a beer that will compliment that flavor,” DeNote said. “If you can understand wine, hard lemonade or your drink of choice, then beer has something for you. There’s even non-alcoholic beer.”While sampling the beer, Denote taught the class how to use their five senses to enjoy the beer. To appreciate and take note of the look of the beer, students were told to hold their clear glass halfway filled with beer up to the light and admire the colors in the cup.
After looking at the beer in the glass, students were told to swirl the drink around in the glass lightly to awaken the flavors that give off an aroma before taking three smells in the cup. Next, students were encouraged to take their initial taste of the beer by sipping and letting the drink warm in their mouth.
DeNote told students to “experience the mouthfeel” of the drink before finally looking for lingering flavors of the beer.
“One goal is to make it so that when someone goes to a beer bar, they aren’t imitated by the selections,” DeNote said. “And they know what to expect from a tap list. I want them to be able to find the breweries who are doing incredible things and find those special beers only available for a limited time.”If you missed out on any of the previous beer tasting classes, there is still time to register for the coming courses, which will cover a range of topics — including Belgian beer, dessert beers,
beers perfect for Valentine’s Day, and more.
There are also new classes with a smaller class size of 16 people.
To find the various days, times and location of the upcoming classes, visit theenrichmentacademy.org.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
