Industry News – HEINEKEN Malaysia’s Star Academy Returns with its Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 Programme

[Industry News]

The annual Guinness Perfect Pour programme, run by Heineken Malaysia Berhad (HEINEKEN Malaysia), is back in search of the best Guinness bartender. The initiative aims to train bartenders around the country to uphold Guinness service standards while awarding the champion for delivering outstanding glasses of Guinness. From August to October 2022, Malaysian bartenders are invited to attend training sessions in six states, with the potential to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin, Ireland, the home of Guinness.

Mastering the six steps of the Guinness Perfect Pour is essential for producing the best-tasting glasses of Guinness. Guinness Perfect Pour is an annual initiative created in 2017 by HEINEKEN Malaysia’s Star Academy to raise service standards in the food and beverage industry, enabling bartenders to deliver the perfect Guinness to customers. This year, the Guinness Perfect Pour programme offers a new experiential approach, with participants involved in an immersive encounter to learn about the origins, ingredients, and serving rituals of Guinness.

“We are passionate about our customers and consumers, and we strive to give them the best experience in enjoying Guinness. Our commitment to serving high-quality beers extends beyond perfecting the brewing process. We empower our trade partners by training bartenders in mastering the perfect pour to serve beer at the highest quality. The six steps in the Guinness Perfect Pour technique bring out the perfect flavour, aroma, and presentation, making sure that every Guinness fan gets to cheers to a perfect serve, every time. Hence, we are calling for our partner restaurants, pubs and bars to join us in this year’s Star Academy Guinness Perfect Pour, and together we can serve world-class Guinness across the country,” said Vasily Baranov, Sales Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia.

The Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 project is now open for registration, with a goal of training 600 bartenders across the country through sessions in six cities: Sabah, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, and Ipoh. The training sessions will take an experiential approach, with bartenders participating in an interactive guided tour with hands-on experience to master the six steps of the perfect pour. Participants will next go through a theory and physical test, where their product knowledge and bartending skills will be evaluated and assessed.

The top seven scorers from the training sessions will be chosen by HEINEKEN Malaysia and invited to the award ceremony in October 2022, where the Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 champion will be announced. The first- and second-place winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin, Ireland, where Irish brewer Arthur Guinness began producing the renowned stout more than 250 years ago. At the conclusion of the programme, each participant will also get a Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 recognition plaque trophy and an official certificate.

For more information on the training session dates and to sign up for Guinness Perfect Pour, bar staff at participating HEINEKEN Malaysia partner outlets including restaurants, pubs, and bars may register on the Star Academy website at www.star-academy.heinekenmalaysia.com or contact 013-3370878. (Registration for each training session closes a day before the respective session’s training date.)