Natalya Watson is an award-winning beer educator, Beer Sommelier and Advanced Cicerone® passionate about sharing her knowledge of beer with others because she believes that beer is simply too delicious to remain undiscovered. She’s the founder of Virtual Beer School, host of the ‘Beer with Nat’ podcast, and author of Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles.
She regularly hosts tastings, leads staff trainings, and presents about beer at conferences and on-camera.
awards & accolades
- Shortlisted for Disruptor of the Year in CODE Hospitality’s Women of the Year 2023 for Virtual Beer School
- Named Training Professional of the Year at the British Institute of Innkeeping’s 2022 National Innovation in Training Awards for Virtual Beer School
- Silver Award winner in the Best Beer Broadcaster category at the British Guild of Beer Writers’ 2020 & 2021 Annual Awards for the ‘Beer with Nat’ podcast
- Gold Award winner in the Best Writing about No & Low Alcohol Beers category at the British Guild of Beer Writers’ 2020 Annual Awards for Episode #29 of the ‘Beer with Nat’ podcast with Becky Kean of Nirvana Brewery
- Named a Good Beer Hunting Signifier in 2020 for Virtual Beer School
- Named a ‘Beer Influencer you should be following on Instagram’ by Uproxxx Life in 2020
- Named ‘One of the Top 10 women to watch in the drinks industry in 2019′ by About Time Magazine
press
- The Irish News, ‘Sommelier likes the hops: Bangor-raised author, educator and podcaster Natalya Watson on a career in beer’ (August 2022)
- Brewer World, ‘Inside the Mind of a Beer Sommelier Who Launched An Entire Website & Virtual Beer School During Lockdown’ (February 2021)
- BEAST Magazine, ‘Inspiring Beer Sommelier – Natalya Watson’ (February 2021)
- The Sun, ‘A Brew You’ (Aug 2019)
Natalya’s journey
Natalya’s had a rather round about way into beer. After studying microbiology at UCLA, she pursued her Master’s in Public Health at UC Berkeley, focused on food safety and nutrition. After a short food policy internship in Washington, DC, she moved to New York City and worked in communications and marketing for an organic babyfood business.
Introduced to good beer by friends in graduate school, her interest in beer only continued to grow. Natalya visited bars, breweries, and bottle shops across NYC and beyond, even taking on a part-time bartending role, home brewing and blogging with friends, and formalising her beer education through the Cicerone Certification Program.
A few years later, Natalya was ready to see if she could work in beer full-time. So she took the plunge and relocated to London. She got her start working behind the bar at Mother Kelly’s in Bethnal Green. From there, she learned about an opportunity with Belgian brewery Duvel Moortgat and became their UK marketing manager, a role she held for the next three years.
During her time at Duvel, Natalya committed herself to developing her beer expertise, achieving both her Certified Cicerone® and Beer Sommelier accreditations. She began teaching at the Beer & Cider Academy, judging at beer competitions, and launched her podcast ‘Beer with Nat’ to help shine a spotlight on the incredible women in the beer industry that she was meeting along the way.
Focusing in on her passion for educating others, Natalya left Duvel to set up her own business, Beer with Nat, centered around tastings, training, and consultancy.
In 2020, she became an Advanced Cicerone® and her debut book – Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles – was published by Kyle Books in March.
Unfortunately, the pandemic led to the cancellation of Natalya’s in-person book launch, so she held an online launch instead. From there, she began offering free weekly online beer education sessions to keep people entertained during lockdown. And, in late 2020, these sessions evolved into Natalya’s new business – Virtual Beer School.
Virtual Beer School gives everyone a chance to learn more about beer and show what they know through interactive online courses. Since its inception in September 2020, over 400 students have taken Natalya’s VBS courses and she was named Training Professional of the Year at the British Institute of Innkeeping’s 2022 National Innovation in Training Awards.
In September 2023, Natalya put her Virtual Beer School business on hold to join WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) to support the launch of the organisation’s new beer qualifications… and to help bring beer education to an even bigger audience!
Alongside her WSET role, she continues to teach, speak and present – including her recent TV appearance on Channel 5’s ‘Harvest on the Farm: Live’.
why beer?
Natalya calls it her “A. B. See.” philosophy. Beer allows her to:
A: Achieve expertise. As a Beer Sommelier and Advanced Cicerone®, Natalya understands the value of these certifications in building confidence and credibility and is happy to support others at any stage in their journey.
B: Bring people together. From her earliest days exploring the beer scene in New York City, to meeting the Crafty Beer Girls in London, to tastings, trainings, beer festivals, or even just a pint at the pub with pals, beer brings people together. And connecting over a shared passion allows us to realise were all much more alike than we are different.
SEE: See the world. From America to England, Belgium to Germany, beer is global and the best way to understand most beer styles is to seek them out at their source. Following her passion for beer has led Natalya from local brewpubs, to behemoth breweries; from the underground cellars in Pilsen, to beer gardens in Munich, and the cafes in Belgium. Want to see the world? Let beer be your guide.
If you’re keen to learn, connect and explore through beer, get in touch.
Natalya Watson, Beer Sommelier 