Why Us? Why Craft Beer?
We Ferment Your Event principals, Tara Nurin and Gary Rosen, have a combined 15 years of professional beer background between us. While I (Tara here!) manage most of the client relations and back-end business, we both work together to provide you with personal attention as we customize your affair: selecting beers, designing menus and dreaming up creative concepts that will set your event apart from anything your guests have previously experienced. Our clients have included Tropicana Casino & Resort, Hersha Hospitality, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Starfish Junction, Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival, Philadelphia Urban Adventures, and the Wayne Art Center. We're both Cicerone Certified Beer Servers, and you can hire either one of us to attend or you can bring in The Beer Pair ... that's what we call ourselves when we come in as a team.
If you're wondering why someone would endeavor to pair beer with chocolate or if you're skeptical about the whole beer-as-education idea, think about it this way: American craft beer sales have grown by an average of 11% annually for the past decade (with women comprising more than one-quarter of U.S. craft beer drinkers), and more than 3,000 craft breweries operate in this country alone. Worldwide, food lovers are discovering that beer can be as elegant -- and more versatile -- than wine. It's a veritable revolution, and it's one that increasing numbers of your guests either already participate in or want to. But we're one of a select group of agencies that have the expertise to effectively craft an entertaining and enlightening beer event. There are few better ways for you to generate buzz, attendance and memories than by offering your guests, clients or members our spirited craft beer tastings.
Who Are We?
Tara (still me) is the inaugural Wine School of Philadelphia/Philly Beer School Writer of the Year, and I teach the world's only regularly scheduled beer and chocolate pairing class. I'm a former on-air TV reporter who writes about beer for publications like USA Today, US Airways magazine, Philadelphia magazine, New Jersey Monthly, Ale Street News, All About Beer, Draft and Craft Beer & Brewing. I founded Beer for Babes, NJ's original women's craft beer appreciation group and I volunteer as the publicity director for the Pink Boots Society, the world's only international organization for women in the beer industry. I'm also TIPS certified and have completed a Beer Judge Certification Program course in beer styles. Visit my website at TaraNurin.com.
Gary is a former psychology professor and substance-abuse counselor who launched his beer career as a brewer and sales rep for a Long Island brewery. He now works as the craft beer specialist for Shore Point Distributing Co., a beer, wine and liquor wholesaler in Central Jersey. Among the favorite aspects of his job are the beer dinners and promotional events he creates and leads with verve and skill (ask him about his beer-versus-wine pairings and bartender beer cocktail competitions). Gary has also completed a Beer Judge Certification Program course and fully expects to pass the exam to become an official beer judge in November.
