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10 HEADLINE NEWS & ANALYSIS FINANCIAL

financial news april 25. 2011 | finchannel.com
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Kesaria Takashvili

“I am 48 years old and I have

44 years of brewing experience;
it means that I have been walk-
ing through breweries since I
was 4 years old; at that age of
course together with my father,
who also was a brew master in
Germany. I am currently the
4th brewing generation in our
family. At present I am super-
vising the brewing process at
Natakhtari brewery. I worked
before in several breweries in
various countries,” – says Tho-
mas Schwind, a Chef Brew Mas-
ter of Natakhtari Brewery.
Q. Why is it important
to control the quality of
beer?
A. The quality of the final
product is the most important
criteria, which we have to ob-
serve in all production steps as
well as in sales and distribution.
The consistent quality cannot
be compromised at any stage.
All departments know that the
quality of the final beer is our
direct contact with a consumer.
Q. How do you control
the quality of beer?
A. Natakhtari is controlling
all raw materials, packaging
materials, semi-finished prod-
ucts and the final product at
every stage several times.
Beside the physicochemical
analysis, the Natakhtari team
is performing microbiological,
packaging and sensory analy-
sis.
Q. What role does the
quality of ingredients vs.
technologies play in the
production process?
A. As the raw materials for

Thomas Schwind: Water

the beer production are all nat-
ural, they are fluctuating year by
year, depending on the climate
conditions. The knowledge of
the brew master combined with

is a major and the most

the state of the art technology
guarantees consistent product
quality and taste during the
whole year.
Q. How do you control
the quality of raw materi-

significant ingredient of beer

als/ingredients?
A. As stated before, the qual-
ity assurance is crucial for all
raw materials and production
steps. Depending on the analy-
sis the brew master will adapt
the process parameters.
Q. We know that the
most important ingredi-
ent in beer is water, how
would you evaluate qual-
ity of water in Natakhtari?
What outstanding features
does it have?
A. Yes, it is true that our main
raw material is water. Here, in
Natakhtari, we are lucky to have
unique water, based on my ex-
perience, I can say: it is one of
the best waters for brewing in
the world.
Q. How can consumers
differentiate a high qual-
ity beer from a poor qual-
ity beer?
A. The consumer knows very
well that if beer tastes smooth,
has a slight malt character and
aroma component coming from
hop, it is a high quality beer.
When this taste harmony is
disturbed by a hard aftertaste
and an unpleasant smell, the
taste is negatively influenced by
some process failures.
Q. Which beer is better?
A. A good beer is a fresh beer,
which means that the area of
beer supply should be around
the brewery, to reach the con-
sumer in the shortest time pos-
sible.
You recognize a fresh beer by
a clean smell, bright and golden
color and finally by a smooth
and a creamy foam. It is easy to
drink, without any disturbing
aftertaste.
Q. What do you think
about Georgia and Geor-
gian beer?
A. Georgia is a beautiful
country, I can say from my heart
that Georgians have delicious
cuisine; you have numbers of
meals that go well with beer for
example, Khinkali, Khachapuri
etc. For me it was a big surprise
to discover that Georgia has an-
cient beer history as well, which
means Georgians are gour-
mands and they can easily iden-
tify good and fresh beer.