Throughout the morning of Monday 9 March, the southern Galicia edition of the Estrella Galicia Beer Pulling Championship was held at the Hotel Pazo Los Escudos in Vigo. A total of 30 aspirants from different parts of Ourense and Pontevedra competed in the different rounds for the title of best beer puller in the south of Galicia, supported by the public who attended the event. Only five of them made it through the qualifying round to compete in the Galician final to be held on Monday 16 March at the Fórum Gastronómico de A Coruña, and compete against the other five contestants form the north of Galicia.
Of the five finalists, Rodrigo Fernández (La trastienda del 4, Vigo) and Sara González (Coto del águila, Vigo) are the champion and runner-up, respectively. Behind them, Fátima Maquieira (Cafetería Termas, Caldas de Reis), Antonio Gómez (A Mordiscos, Vigo) and Miguel López (Portobelo Beach Club, Moaña) also qualified for the grand final on Moday 16.
The champion, Rodrigo Fernández, has acknowledged that “it’s not the same to serve a beer with nobody watching you as having everyone waiting to see what you do or not…if you project any error, everyone is looking at you”. Sara González, the runner-up, highlighted that “it’s completely different to have a perfectly pulled beer with its foam, than to pull it without taking that into account”. Regarding the grand final in A Coruña and her expectations, “I would have been happy to finish in the top five, but runner-up is great, and I’m going to A Coruña with the idea of coming first”.
The jury, made up of professionals from the beer, catering, and restaurant sectors, had a tough job when evaluating the aspirants’ quality and excellence when serving, as well as their knowledge about the beer world. The jury was Juan Vidal (Catering and Tourism Specialist. Teacher at the CIFP Manuel Antonio), Alberto Benavides (Director of Bar & Beer), and Xabier Cubillo de la Hoz and Fernando Iglesias Quiroga (both from the Quality Department of Hijos de Rivera).
The next Championship, which will be searching for the five north Galicia finalists, will take place in A Coruña on Monday 16 March and will have participants from A Coruña and Lugo.
