Hosting a beer tasting

[rdaws]

Originally Posted by Listi

I pair Schlenkerla with kielbasa

Sounds like a good beer-listing! What was the response? Did people seem like they were going to rush out and buy some new beers, or did they just see it as an interesting one time thing?

Several people ran out to get the St. Bernardus Abt 12 and the brewery's other varieties (Prior 8, Pater 6), and getting people into the Belgians is never a bad thing. Also, a couple of the people that had, in the past, been of the "I don't really like beer" or "I'm a Miller guy" attitude were definitely interested in exploring the Prima and, especially, the Weihenstephaner.

So all in all I think I got some non-beer drinkers into the better "lighter" beers, and still had something to offer to the better-beer drinkers.

 

[Listi]

Originally Posted by rdaws

Several people ran out to get the St. Bernardus Abt 12 and the brewery's other varieties (Prior 8, Pater 6), and getting people into the Belgians is never a bad thing. Also, a couple of the people that had, in the past, been of the "I don't really like beer" or "I'm a Miller guy" attitude were definitely interested in exploring the Prima and, especially, the Weihenstephaner.

So all in all I think I got some non-beer drinkers into the better "lighter" beers, and still had something to offer to the better-beer drinkers.

Sounds good!

As far as my own luck with getting people interested in good beer, although just in individual settings... Everyone seems to love dubbels/dark belgians and hefeweiss. A little more surprised on the Prima! Glad to hear the Miller folk weren't turned off by the bitterness.

St. Bernardus is just a wonderful brewery, everyone I know who's encountered it considers them to be among the finest beers they've ever had.

 

[akatsuki]

"Drink this not that" is dangerous - a lot of people don't care or prefer the cheap crappy ones... Good taste is not something innate.

 

[HORNS]

Originally Posted by akatsuki

"Drink this not that" is dangerous - a lot of people don't care or prefer the cheap crappy ones... Good taste is not something innate.

Or, good taste is subjective. Whenever I want someone to try something I like, I remind myself of a friend of mine in school who was very evangelical about having me listen to songs/music that he liked - he would tell me to hush and proceed to turn up the volume. It was all very obnoxious and the result was the opposite of his intentions: I invariably hated these songs and the musicians who sang them. People push back in moments where a someone is essentially attempting to exert control over them.

Taste experiences, in particular, are very personal, and a person tasting, for example, a St. Bernardus for the first time needs some unadulterated moments to smell, taste, and feel the beer while processing it in their mind in the context of THEIR OWN database of past taste and smell experiences.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by HORNS

Or, good taste is subjective. Whenever I want someone to try something I like, I remind myself of a friend of mine in school who was very evangelical about having me listen to songs/music that he liked - he would tell me to hush and proceed to turn up the volume. It was all very obnoxious and the result was the opposite of his intentions: I invariably hated these songs and the musicians who sang them. People push back in moments where a someone is essentially attempting to exert control over them.

Taste experiences, in particular, are very personal, and a person tasting, for example, a St. Bernardus for the first time needs some unadulterated moments to smell, taste, and feel the beer while processing it in their mind in the context of THEIR OWN database of past taste and smell experiences.
This.

 

[Robert]

Solid choices, rdaw. Prima Pils and Alpha King are two of my favorites. Can't really go wrong with anything on that list.