In 2023, Germany hosted the inaugural "Finest Beer Selection by Meininger & Doemens," a new kind of beer competition. Schmatz, aiming to create a space for people to enjoy and connect over world-renowned craft beers, organized its first festival. This festival exclusively featured beers that won gold medals, including first place in the international beer category, at the competition, allowing attendees to drink them on-site.
Here's a look at what happened at the "Schmatz presents Finest Beer Selection Festival," held on April 6th and 7th at Schmatz Shochiku Square (Higashi-Ginza)!
1. "Finest Beer Selection by Meininger & Doemens" Gold Medal Beers
Baeren Brewery, which collaborates with Schmatz on products like "dark bären lager," was also among the lineup.
The "Finest Beer Selection by Meininger & Doemens" is a beer competition that champions a new standard of quality. Its distinctive approach, unlike other competitions, lies in not comparing beers within categories but intuitively assessing the inherent excellence of each beer.
A simple evaluation method is used, where the aroma of each beer is analyzed individually and scored out of 100 points. Only beers achieving 90 points or more are selected for the exclusive Finest Beer Selection.
Tasting and selection for the Finest Beer Selection are conducted in a blind tasting format, evaluated by an international panel of certified expert judges.
The beer festival, featuring only gold medal-winning beers recognized worldwide, presented an array of luxurious, top-tier beers. Among the featured breweries was Baeren Brewery, with whom Schmatz collaborates on products like "dark bären lager." It was a huge hit with our customers!
2. Three Hours of Non-Stop Excitement
The beer festival kicked off with a welcome beer upon entry. Attendees could enjoy unlimited refills of their preferred beers for three hours, accompanied by a selection of tapas. Throughout the event, Schmatz staff provided beer descriptions, and representatives from guest breweries shared insights.
A vibrant array of original Schmatz tapas was also on display.
It seemed that all the attendees enjoyed three hours of non-stop excitement, eager to try both the drinks and the food!
While some customers tasted every beer available, others savored their favorites with refills. Many engaged in lively conversations with staff, guest brewers, and diploma beer sommeliers who volunteered. Each participant found their own way to enjoy the event.
When asked for recommendations midway through, everyone excitedly shared their thoughts: "The sour beer was amazing!" "I've never had a non-alcoholic IPA before, but it was really delicious!" "That Hefeweizen was irresistible!"
Many people attended alone, but by the end, they were drinking together like friends! This truly demonstrated how Schmatz's vision of a "world overflowing with 'Schmatz' (the sound of happiness) from beer" was being realized at the venue.
3. "This is the beer festival I've always wanted!"
Many of those who came to the venue were regular customers of Schmatz restaurants. Many of those subscribed to our newsletter learned about it via email and invited their families and friends to join.
Others, new to Schmatz but passionate about beer, found this event by searching "beer festival." They were motivated to register by thoughts like "What kind of beer wins gold medals?" and "Tasting different beers sounds fun!" This event seems to have sparked their interest in visiting Schmatz restaurants as well.
Attendees seemed very satisfied with the actual beer festival, commenting, "This beer festival is the perfect size! Three hours is not too short, not too long, and it's not too crowded, so it's comfortable without long queues or excessive noise!" and "The tapas are all delicious, and the small portions are just right for trying many different things!"
During conversations, many people shared the delightful feedback: "This is the beer festival I've always wanted!"
One person, who usually stops by a neighborhood Schmatz after work, commented that having the event during the day on a weekend made them willing to travel a bit further, and they appreciated being able to drink a lot without worrying too much about work the next day.
Others, who genuinely love Schmatz, expressed enthusiastic messages like, "If Schmatz hosted more events like this, I'd invite my friends and family, and I want more people to know about Schmatz!" Thanks to everyone, this was an opportunity to confirm the demand for beer festivals.
4. We will continue to organize events that everyone can enjoy.
This was our first attempt, and we at Schmatz experimented quite a bit, so we are delighted that everyone enjoyed it so much! However, there are still areas for improvement and ideas for even more excitement.
Even this time, we received requests for future events, such as: "Tasting different beers is fun, so I'd love to go to more beer-tasting events in the future, not just limited to gold medal winners!" "I like Hefeweizen, so I'd like a Hefeweizen tasting festival!" "I'd also like to go to an event where I can taste different Schmatz beers!"
We received a lot of feedback from everyone this time, and Schmatz will use these opinions to plan future events that allow you to enjoy happy moments with beer. Please keep an eye on Schmatz event information!
