Questions answers with WSET beer educator Natalya Watson

To start, could you tell us a little about yourself? What are your passions, and what led you to become a beer sommelier?

To put it simply, I’m a beer educator who’s passionate about sharing my knowledge of beer with others, because I believe that beer is simply too delicious to remain undiscovered!

My beer career began behind the bar at Mother Kelly’s in London in 2015, then I took on the role of UK marketing manager for Belgian family brewer Duvel Moortgat for more than three years. During my time at Duvel, I really focused on developing my beer expertise and, not only did I gain some of the qualifications I now hold, I also discovered my true passion – educating others. In 2019, I left Duvel to set up my own business dedicated to beer education for which I was named ‘Training Professional of the Year’ at the British Institute of Innkeeping’s 2022 National Innovation in Training Awards.

I’m qualified as an IBD Beer Sommelier, Advanced Cicerone® and WSET beer educator and hold my WSET Level 2 Award in Beer. I’m also the author of Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles (Kyle Books, 2020) and host of the ‘Beer with Nat’ podcast.

In September 2023, I joined WSET as Business Development Manager to support the launch of the organisation’s new beer qualifications within Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). My role involves travelling widely in these regions to spread the word about the qualifications, teaching courses, and training our brilliant educators, which I really enjoy and find incredibly rewarding.

In addition to being a beer sommelier, you are also a Certified Educator for WSET’s new beer qualifications. Could you tell us a bit more about them?

WSET’s new Level 1 and 2 Awards in Beer give both trade professionals and beer enthusiasts product knowledge and tasting skills enabling them to become more beer-confident. Available both online and in-person, the courses explore the main types and styles of beer, key methods of production, tasting technique and food pairings. Using WSET’s trademarked Systematic Approach to Tasting® (SAT), students are equipped with a universal language to describe what they’re tasting and a framework for assessing quality.

The courses were created by WSET’s Sara Hobday (Head of Research and Curriculum – Beer) and Mirella Amato (Master Cicerone® and WSET Senior Business Development Manager for Beer), in collaboration with beer industry experts.

What was the main motivation behind creating a specialization in beer? Have you identified specific skill needs in this field?

Beer has evolved greatly over the past decade. With a broader range of flavourful beers on offers in pubs and bars, we found that both staff and customers were looking to learn more about this beverage and we wanted to meet that need.

We also noticed that there was a gap in the market, in the UK and in other countries, for in-person beer courses that taught tasting alongside theory. As mentioned, our courses don’t just cover product knowledge, they also teach tasting skills. WSET’s approach focuses on learning through tasting, so students can experience how the ingredients and processes used affect what’s in their glass.

This extensive tasting practice not only helps beer professionals and enthusiasts to develop their tasting skills and build their beer confidence, it also makes the courses great fun, too, as they go on journey of discovery through different types and styles of beer.

Since the launch of this certification in February 2024, how many professionals have you trained?

Since we launched the qualification earlier this year, nearly 1,000 people have achieved their Level 1 or Level 2 Award in Beer. To ensure the quality of our delivery, we only launched in a limited number of countries, but as we roll the courses out more widely, we’re looking forward to seeing these figures continue to grow.

I’ve also had the pleasure of helping to train 26 of our fantastic educators from the Americas, Europe and beyond.  In total, we have more than 40 expert educators around the world. They all come to us with an advanced level of beer knowledge, then undergo rigorous training to help deliver our content – on both theory and tasting – the WSET way, which engages and inspires our students to have the best learning experience possible.

What feedback have you received from participants on the impact of this training?

 The feedback I’ve had from both beer professionals and enthusiasts has been incredibly positive. Highlights include the amount of content covered and how the course information is organised and structured, particularly how beer styles are grouped.

Usually, beer styles are grouped by their colour or country of origin, but WSET groups styles based on the main ingredient that drives the beer’s aroma and flavour – such as yeast, for example. This really helps candidates to understand what types of aromas they’re looking for in each style, simply by knowing whether it’s malt-, hop- or yeast-driven.

Students also enjoyed the wide range of beer samples they taste throughout the course and found the WSET’s Systematic Approach to Tasting® especially useful in building their confidence to describe the aromas and flavours they’re finding.

You can trust WiSP to train you in WSET Level 1 and Level 2 in beer

Thank you, Natalya Watson.