Throughout the morning, the First Galician Beer Pulling Championship has been taking place at the Estrella Galicia stand at the Forum Gastronómico in A Coruña. Thirty participants from all over Galicia have battled through the different rounds in order to win the title of best beer puller, cheered on by the large number of public who attended the event.
After different rounds in which they had to demonstrate their ability to serve draught and bottled beers, answer a variety of questions about the brewery world, Mario Basoa Casal, co-owner of the bar O Enxebre in Fene (A Coruña), was proclaimed champion. He admitted not having expected to get so far in the competition which he had entered upon the insistence of family and friends.
Both he and the runner-up, Sebastian Greenhalgh, a catering student at the Escuela Paseo das Pontes, will represent Galicia at the National Championship to be held in Madrid in March within the setting of Salon Gourmets.
Both expressed their pride and happiness at having obtained the title and admitted that they would be training hard to prepare for the national championship.
The objective of the championship is to promote the brewery culture and acknowledge the work carried out by Galician bartenders as an essential link in the distribution chain of Estrella Galicia products. A professional service is essential in catering in order to offer the end consumer the whole range of possibilities that the Estrella Galicia range of products contains.
The jury, made up of beer pulling, catering and gastronomy experts, has admitted the difficulty it had in reaching a decision due to the high standard of the participants. The members of the jury had to evaluate quality, efficacy and speed of service as well as the participants’ knowledge about the characteristics of Estrella Galicia products.
After two eliminatory rounds, the winner and the runner-up were chosen in the final round, each receiving a cash prize of €600 and €400, respectively. In addition, the following three runners-up received consolation prizes and all the finalists received a diploma and their weight in beer.
