Brewing Up Some Fun with Betty!

Michael Agnew, Certified Beer Cicerone

Betty Crocker and beer – who would have thought? I must admit that before I got involved with the Beerology project the connection would never have occurred to me. Now that I’m in it, it just seems to make sense. Making beer is so much like cooking – like baking actually. And beer is a natural both with food and in food. So Betty Crocker and beer? I’m there.

But how did I get there?

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Michael Agnew and I am a Certified Cicerone™. That’s like a sommelier for beer. I own a company called A Perfect Pint in Minneapolis. I do beer tasting parties for private and corporate events, as well as beer consulting and beer education. I write about beer and beer/food pairing for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Seriouseats.com, and my own Perfect Pint Beer Blog, and have had some pieces published in national beer magazines. I am also the author of an upcoming book on the brews and breweries of the upper-Midwest. In short, I love beer.

Folks from the Betty Crocker Kitchens first gave me a shout in December last year. I’m not really sure how they found me. But they did find me and I guess that’s all that matters. They had a little fledgling project that they were developing about beer, and they wanted to know if I could come give them a primer on how to make it. Homebrewing is what started my sudsy obsession, so I said, “Of course I can.”

The next month I gave them a 2-1/2 hour walkthrough of the basics, from equipment to process, and a little bit about beer and food. Then off they went to brew up the first, experimental batches of Betty’s Beer.

The whole thing must have caught the fancy of someone, because the Beerology project that was initially described to me as “edgy” has become full-fledged and lives here in Betty’s Brew House. Suddenly I’m writing pieces on everything from beer basics to pairing beer with food. And we spent a whole day shooting video about beer…called, Beerology! Want to know what glass to use or how to pour a proper pint? Watch the videos.

It’s all very exciting. There’s almost nothing that I enjoy more than talking about beer (well…maybe drinking it). To be able to do so on a platform like Betty Crocker is fantastic. There is already a bunch of great Beerology content up here. I look forward to creating even more in the coming weeks. Check back for it.

Cheers,

Michael

P.S. What gets you psyched about the matchup of Betty and beer?