Communiversity - Almost About the Beer

I recently attended a communiversity class on beer tasting. Communiversity is a program conducted by the University of Missouri Kansas City. This one was held a McCoy's in Westport, a restaurant and bar section of Kansas City. The instructor's name is Jim Quinn. He has quite a lot of beer knowledge although a few points were apocryphal. The beers tasted initially were McCoy's brews and included a Lager, Raspberry Wheat, an IPA, a Brown Ale, a Stout, and a Wheat. All were fine with the Brown Ale being the best of the bunch. From McCoy's we moved to the Foundry and tasted bottled beers such as Coors, and Boulevard's Pale Ale. The class needs some work. The discussion included some beer history and a brief discussion of styles, but very little on the tasting experience. There were too many enrollees and some were obviously there to just espouse their own knowledge. It was hard to hear the instructor and often he just conversed with the folks down front. I was able to talk to the Assistant Brewmaster and had some questions answered about oxidation and light exposure. I would go back to McCoy's which gets a 3.5 out of 5 on being About the Beer. I would give the class another go, but it only gets 3 out of 5 on being About the Beer. Maybe they will work out some kinks.