Beer lovers of Ottawa take note: the Canadian Museum of Nature is hosting Nature Tastes: Beer and Botany, the first in a series which combines the science of alcohol with guided tasting sessions.
The event is the first of four in the Nature Tastes series, which will also include sessions on whiskey, wine and gin. Each session contains a mixture of talks by museum scientists and tasting sessions led by local and international beverage experts.
“People have been experimenting with making things out of plants since time immemorial,” says Paul Sokoloff, a museum botanist who is hosting the event.
“Since we realized that by growing wheat and hops and putting them together in certain ways we could make something that was not only tasty and nutritious, but also made us feel pretty good, plants have been really intertwined with beer,” says Sokoloff.
“That was actually the whole idea behind this particular series of talks about alcohol, what we really enjoy — beer, wine, whisky and gin,” he says. “That all comes from plants around us, so we thought it would be a really cool way to pair botany, which is not flower arranging as people sometimes think it is, with something that people find accessible already.”
Local craft breweries Kichesippi, Beau’s, Mill Street and Big Rig are the beer suppliers for Beer and Botany, each offering up their best and most unique brews.
“I think it is important in any capacity to be aware of the origins and have an opportunity to more fully understand what it is we consume, be that with our food or with our fermented beverages,” says Sheena Sherwood, office manager at Kichesippi Beer Co.
“We will be talking about the botany behind it, with wine we will also talk about the minerals behind it, so a whole range of different aspects from a kind of natural history point of view,” says Ailsa Barry, the museum’s vice-president of experience and engagement.
Nature Tastes follows the success of the Museum of Nature’s successful Nature Nocturne series, which sees the museum exhibits opened up at night for guests to enjoy on their own terms while enjoying food and drink.
“For us, it’s another way of introducing people to the fact that in our everyday life, we use science all the time. It will give people a different perspective when they are drinking their beer.”
Sokoloff says plants are often overlooked by people despite the fact that they make up such an important part of our daily lives. He hopes these events will help bring botany to the minds of more people, at least when they are enjoying their cold pint or glass of Merlot.
“In botany,” he says, “there’s a term we use called ‘plant blindness.’ When people think of the natural world they think of animals and dinosaurs. They don’t necessarily think of the plants that are everywhere around us, so we think this is a really good way of showcasing the fact that plants and the way we interact with plants, is this really, really interesting, multilayered thing.”
Unconventional events such as Nature Tastes and Nature Nocturne are bringing young adults to the museum, something that has traditionally been difficult to accomplish, says Barry.
“We’re really keen to think about new ways to get people to be engaged, think about things and have fun,” she says. “Fun is the most important part, so that’s what we really want people to do, to have a really memorable, fun evening where they get a better understanding of things.”