WSET Level 1 Award in Beer

Have you ever wished you knew more about beer? Can you tell the difference between an IPA and a pilsner? A brown ale and a porter? The WSET Level 1 Award in Beers gives you a hands-on introduction to beer’s styles, ingredients, production, and culture – no experience needed.

Perfect for anyone curious about beer, our WSET Level 1 Award in Beer introduces you to the essentials of beer, from key ingredients and the basics of brewing, styles, service, tasting and food pairing. 

Upon completion of your beer training course, you’ll gain a globally recognised qualification and the knowledge to help you explore the world of beer in greater depth. 

 

 

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

The WSET Level 1 Award in Beer provides a great introduction to the world of beer. Learning though sight, smell, and taste, you'll become familiar with a range of beer styles and how they are made. 

If you work with beer, you’ll be able to answer customer queries with confidence and provide helpful recommendations. If you’re learning for fun, you’ll feel inspired to explore new styles and know how to get the most out of every glass. 

 

What's covered?

The main ingredients used to make beer: 

  • Malt and other sugar sources, water, hops and other flavourings, yeast

 

The main production steps used to make beer 

  • Malting, brewing 

 

The principles of successful beer storage, service, and food pairing: 

  • Beer storage and service: Keeping beer fresh, glassware, pouring keg beer, opening and pouring bottled beer, service temperature 
  • Common beer faults: Staling, light strike (skunking), bacterial infection 
  • Food and beer: Preferences, sensitivities, interactions, applications and other considerations 

 

The characteristics of a range of key beer styles 

  • Malt-driven styles: American or international pale lager, Munich helles, blonde ale, Munich dunkel, brown ale, porter and stout, barley wine 
  • Hop-driven styles: traditional Czech or German pilsner, bitter, American pale ale, American IPA, hazy IPA 
  • Yeast driven styles: weissbier, dubbel, tripel, saison, witbier 
  • Sour styles: Berliner weisse, geuze (gueuze) 

QUALIFICATION DELIVERY

Courses are available in-person or online through a network of WSET course providers. The Level 1 Award in Beer requires:

  • 6 hours of guided learning with a WSET course provider
  • A 45 minute exam
  • This is a fully guided course, meaning there are no private study requirements

WSET course providers will be able to offer the course in a variety of formats, for example over a single day or several evenings.

They can also offer the course through WSET's Online Classroom - our interactive e-learning platform where you complete the course at your own pace over four weeks, under the guidance of an expert educator.

Available to study in these languages:

  • English

 

The course was great! Solid information and really interesting.

Katie, Level 1 Award in Beer

QUALIFICATION INFORMATION

Entry requirements

There are no entry requirements for this qualification - it is suitable for complete beginners.

You must be of legal drinking age in the country where you are attending the course to participate in any alcohol tasting. However, this is not a barrier to successfully completing the qualification.

Requirements may vary by course provider.

 

Assessment

Your learning will be assessed by a closed-book exam of 30 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 45 minutes. Exams will be available both online and in-person.

 

Course specification

For more information and full details on the course requirements, please download the Specification below:

 

When can you enrol?

Courses will be offered through an international network of approved course providers. 

To find your nearest course provider, head to our Where to Study page below.

 

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