JOSHUA TITLEY listens carefully to a beer masterclass from a man who knows.

EVERY drinker with functioning tastebuds who has had the good fortune to sup a pint of Rooster's Yankee has one thought when placing drained glass upon soggy beer mat. The man who brewed that is a genius.

And so he is. His name is Sean Franklin, master of all he brews at Rooster's in Knaresborough. With his wife Alison, he opened the brewery ten years ago, and has since established his beers as among the most distinctive and quaffable around.

Now you too can learn a little more about the world's best ales from Sean by enrolling at the Beer Academy.

That is the name given to an event during this year's York Festival of Food and Drink, which starts on Friday. Go along to the Guildhall on September 14 and Sean will educate both mind and palate in the great subject of beer. And all for just six quid.

If only they had beer on the school timetable, Bar Talk might have paid more attention. But we are ready to learn now, and Sean is delighted to pass on what he knows.

The idea of the Beer Academy came from Mark Dorber, of a famous London pub, the White Horse, of Parsons Green (also known as the Sloanie Pony). He'll be there too. And Sean is just as keen to let the world know that the great Saxon drink of beer is as elaborate and exciting than any of that wine stuff imported by the invading Normans.

At the food and drink festival Beer Academy he will be tutoring attendees in the "quality factors" in beer, such as the length of flavour and the complexity of the aroma.

Just like wine, once you know what you are sniffing for from a beer you can detect everything from lychees to raspberries to cat's pee. Delish.

Sean believes the big drinks companies are going down the wrong track by marketing mixer drinks with ever more exotic additives. They should be widening the beer market to encourage "the potential customers of the future".

"There are signs that even the major breweries are introducing new beers. It's a bit late but they are doing it, because they see the minor breweries creating great beers.

"That's happening with the micro breweries in the United States, and what happens there is often mirrored here."

Independent breweries around the world are creating fantastic new tastes, some of which pupils at the academy will experience for themselves.

Among Sean's favourite international beers is an Alaskan Smoked Porter which you can buy in bottles from Safeway. The Schlenka Smoked Beer, from Safeway and Beer Ritz, is another one worth seeking out. Many Belgian beers hit the Franklin bullseye too.

He has turned to adventurous US ales for inspiration because "I think the English beer market is conservative now, almost as conservative as the German beer market".

Americans are far more likely to risk failure with a pioneering brew than we Brits. They have added such ingredients as tobacco and chilli to beers. "About 98 per cent fail but two per cent are absolutely marvellous."

His own experiments are conducted under his other beer label, Outlaw. Successes become permanent Rooster beers.

The reason they taste so good is because Sean works hard to create a "plain background". That means eliminating impure tastes in the brewing process so the flavour of the hops can emerge untainted. "It's accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative," he said.

- AFTER you graduate from the Beer Academy, why not try out your new skills in some of York's finest hostelries?

The Ale Trail is back. Now an established favourite of the food and drink festival, it involves 14 York pubs committed to serving real ale.

And there are free gifts up for grabs for the truly committed. Collect a card from the Maltings, Tanners Moat, and ask for your card to be stamped when you purchase a drink in each pub. When you have filled your card with 14 stamps from all the participating pubs during the festival, take it to the Maltings and redeem it for a free T-shirt. You can also enter a prize draw to win a trip to Masham, courtesy of Ale Trail sponsors Black Sheep.

York Festival of Food and Drink booking line: 08701 203115. Information: 01904 554430

Updated: 08:42 Saturday, September 06, 2003