A Sixer with Master Cicerone® Ryan Daley

Each quarter, you send the questions to us on social media and we’ll select six and ask a Master Cicerone^® to answer them. This time we welcome Master Cicerone Ryan Daley to answer your questions.

What needs to happen for restaurants and hotels to provide the same service for pairing dishes with beer as they do with wine?

Well, first off, I challenge the notion that there is a large understanding when it comes to the actual pairing aspect of food & wine. On the whole, most customers aren’t selecting a wine based on what they’re eating, and many servers aren’t providing a wine suggestion based on the customer’s meal order (oftentimes this hasn’t even been discussed when the initial wine order is placed). That’s not to say this isn’t happening, I would argue though that it is more the exception than the rule.  

In my opinion, the focus on wine selection is geared more towards style and flavor profile. This is where wine does a great job, especially in higher-end fine dining restaurants. Having knowledgeable and confident staff that can pair the right wine with the right person is the key.

This is the opportunity that beer needs to capitalize on. Beer has such a varied range of styles and flavor profiles, but many people don’t have a strong handle on what’s what. We need to guide them. It starts at the brewery level. Better defining flavor profiles, brand story, and the overall experience a customer can expect from any given beer is what we should consider table stakes. From there, there needs to be a more concerted effort across the board; brewery, wholesaler, retailer as it relates to staff education. We need to arm those at the point of service with the right information for them to excel at their role, which is pairing the right person with the right beer.

How did you live while preparing yourself to the test?

Dangerously!  

And, purposefully. With the time commitment being so intense to sufficiently prepare for the Master Cicerone exam, in addition to a full-time job (one that requires a significant amount of travel) and raising a young family with my wife Kate, who was pregnant with our third while I was in the home stretch, I didn’t have the luxury of wasting time. 

That doesn’t mean I locked myself in a room and read for two years straight.  It means that I paid close attention to what I was doing and how it was going to help me on my goal to passing the Master Cicerone exam.

Certainly a lot of the time was dedicated towards reading, writing and reviewing notes, tasting beer, attending various training seminars, and everything else one must do on the academic side of Master Cicerone prep. But that also means taking time to exercise, hang out with family and friends, or even throw in a few days (there weren’t many) where I didn’t pick up a book or have a beer. 

Basically, when it comes down to preparation, my goal was to walk in the Cicerone office the morning of the exam and feel like I was peaking emotionally, physically, and mentally. That is what it took to come out of the two-day gauntlet that is the Master Cicerone exam with a passing grade—balance.

Did I mention I’m a Libra?

What is the fact you learned while studying that you use most often to impress an audience of beer geeks?

Using acquired knowledge to impress other people is not really my MO. Unless someone asks if I have an affiliation or connection to the Cicerone program, I usually don’t tell people I’m a Master Cicerone.  

But you asked the question, so here goes.

It’s not the facts I learned while studying that I would probably use to impress others, it’s the experiences I had while studying that are more impactful, more meaningful, and for the purpose of this question, I’ll say more "impressive."

Beer is much more than stats and styles, and certainly much more than chemical compound names that most people have never heard of and have no idea what they mean. Beer at its best is an experience. Where are you drinking? What are you drinking? Who are you drinking with?

While studying I had the chance to travel abroad to some great beer countries and cities. Experiences like drinking Rauchbier in Bamberg, Kölsch in Cologne, or Altbier in the Altstadt of Dusseldorf. Spending an afternoon at a great beer bar in Brussels, drinking cask beer in London, or visiting countless breweries across the US that brew some of the best beer on the planet.

The vast range of experiences that beer can offer is something that everyone can geek out on. We should all be impressed by that.

With more experimental hops being designed, how do you see the future of hops in beer? 

The future of hops looks bright. For now.

With hop-forward beers like IPA being so dominant in terms of overall share of craft beer, and with the recent shift away from hop bitterness and towards hop aroma & flavor, it appears that there is still a lot of room for hops to drive additional consumer demand over the next few years. One of the things that hops—and hoppy styles like IPA—have done so well is they’ve kept the conversation fresh. With new interpretations of IPA styles, like hazy & brut, and a steady dose of new hop varieties, people are not getting bored.

The interesting thing about the future of hops is that there is so much research and breeding taking place right now, that most of the results will not hit the general market for years to come. Whether it be a new hop variety that delivers unique aromas and flavors or a better understanding of interactions with other ingredients, like yeast and biotransformation. The future of hops is underway as we speak.

That said, I’m a believer in the saying, "the only constant in life is change." I don’t necessarily see hop-forward beers going away anytime soon, but eventually consumer preferences will shift, brewers will push boundaries with other ingredients & processes, and the days of hops getting the headlines will pass.  

What is the value in becoming a Master Cicerone over Advanced Cicerone or Certified Cicerone?

It sounds cooler. Just kidding (kind of). The value to me is not in the title, the value is in the knowledge, and more importantly, the application of the knowledge that makes becoming a Master Cicerone so valuable.  

Both the Certified Cicerone^® and Advanced Cicerone^® exams are incredibly difficult, and it takes a huge amount of work and dedication in order to pass. At the end, people are rewarded with a greater appreciation and knowledge on all things beer. Master Cicerone, however, puts an even greater focus on the application of that knowledge. With 8 tasting exams and 12 oral exams (no love lost for 6 hours’ worth of essay writing), the value comes in having to be well-versed in the application of the information.  

Personally, the most valuable aspect in becoming a Master Cicerone is my improved tasting ability. In order to pass the Master Cicerone exam the level of tasting skill required is quite high. During my prep I was fortunate to attend a few tasting trainings led by some of the industry’s best, in addition to tasting and learning from other people who had either taken, or even passed, the Master Cicerone exam, like my co-worker Max Bakker.

Working in education; tasting, evaluating, and discussing beer flavor is where I get to spend a lot of my time. Had I not pursued Master Cicerone I would not be as strong in this area as I am now. 

What are your top 5 favorite beer styles and why?

Gueuze 

The Lambic family of beers are so interesting, whether it be with respect to raw ingredients, brewing processes, or flavor profile, and Gueuze is the perfect embodiment of all those things. From lemon zest and grapefruit pith, to blue cheese and hay, the flavor profile often combines everything from fruit to funk, with an acidity that is both complex and refreshing.  

American Pale Ale 

If there is a good APA on draft this is typically where I start any session. I love how the style has evolved to have a bit less body, less caramel malt and perceived sweetness, while dialing up the level of hop aroma and flavor. The combination of citrus, tropical, and floral flavors from various hop blends is something I really enjoy.  

Dark Mild

Not a style that many breweries are offering right now, but a great beer nonetheless. They usually showcase flavors of biscuit, milk chocolate, caramel, and even subtle dark fruits, while still being light body and easy-drinking. My kind of beer. I’m always excited when I walk-in a brewery taproom and see they have a Mild pouring.

Munich Dunkel

Until I drank Dunkel in Munich this style was not on my radar. It’s safe to say now, I’ve been converted. Fresh Dunkel combines flavors of a perfectly made piece of toast with hints of cocoa powder and pretzel. If I close my eyes and try to imagine what beer was meant to taste like, this is what would come up.

Barrel-aged Stouts

I’m a fan of Bourbon and Scotch, so no surprise that combining character from these spirits with beer is going to hit the mark. The body, the texture, the warmth, and how flavors reveal themselves in waves as the beer warms up and I work my way, slowly, to the bottom of the glass, are myriad of reasons why these beers are so enjoyable. A conversation in a glass? Indeed.  

With 15 years of experience in the beer industry, Ryan Daley has gone from a merchandiser at a local beer distributor to one of 18 Master Cicerones in the world. He currently works as a Sr. Educator at the Brewers Collective, a division of Anheuser-Busch. He spends most of his professional time traveling the country to help grow the collective knowledge and appreciation of all things beer for those who work at the brewery, wholesale, and retail level.  

Ryan lives in Hamburg, NY with his wife Kate and their three children, Maeve, Rory, and Annie. They love to spend their time learning, exploring, and making every day in life an adventure.