Hosting a beer tasting

[rdaws]

I'm hosting a beer tasting for some colleagues, so I'm looking for some advice on the format. I'm a bit of a beer geek so I'm afraid of going overboard and getting over-ambitious with it, so I was toying with a few ideas. This is a pretty typical corporate audience, so I've arranged these from what I think is pretty noob to pretty advanced... not clear necessarily where these people fall in the spectrum. Here are the options I've come up with:

1) "Drink this, not that" - Comparison between the mass-produced versions of styles vs. the craft versions. Think Newcastle vs. Dogfish Head Indian Brown, Blue Moon vs. Wiehenstephaner, and so forth
2) Style tour - More educational, a tour from pale lagers to imperial stouts; examples, commentary on production, tasting notes, etc. Would probably run through 7-8 styles, more for those that are pretty unexposed to whats out there
3) Region tour - Formatted around region, it would be a couple from the U.S., a couple from Belgium, a few from the U.K., etc., and would be more representative of what those brewing communities are doing
4) Food and beer - fruits, cheeses, bacon, etc. paired with Beer styles
5) In depth style comparison - pick 2 styles, run through 4-5 examples of each, what makes them different

Thoughts? Any experience running something like this?

 

[Peter Dinklage]

As a beer drinking noob (I've only been drinking for a year), I'd say the style tour seems the most appealing. I have always wondered what processes differentiate the various styles.

 

[Monaco]

I think they would be very into and appreciative for you sharing your knowledge of beer.

What I don't think they will appreciate is you telling them which beer they shouldn't drink, instead, let them know what you prefer over certain beers and why (brief history, let them know what is so special) then compare taste, don't shove your preferences down their throats. If they are as intelligent as you hope they are, they will make the right decision and it will be because of your knowledge.

 

[robertorex]

I think the style tour is great, the "drink this not that" may come off a bit too beer-douchey.

 

[Johnny_5]

Definitely sounds like fun. I would go without the "drink this, not that" and just be suggestive and explain why you don't care for x beer, and prefer y beer. Beer and food pairings sounds really fun also so make sure you hit up a good cheese shop and get some quality stuff.

One thing you should also be careful of is big massively hopped beers. When introducing craft beers to people who have only drank macros these can very overwhelming and off-putting. I have been drinking craft beers for about 4 years now and still havent worked myself up to those yet.

 

[rdaws]

The "drink this, not that" idea was intended to be pretty tongue in cheek, but I can see how it may come off pretentious.

I think the style tour may be the winner. The beauty of that is that I can have one "massively hopped" beer without breaking the whole lineup; if somebody doesn't like one of the options, no big deal, we've still got a lot more to get through.

I definitely intend to set the premise at the beginning, though, that having an appreciation for what's out there doesn't mean you have to like it, and that there's nothing wrong with a Heineken (or whatever) if that's what you like to drink. Should be a good time!

Thanks for the tips... keep 'em coming!

 

[Listi]

Hmm, interesting ideas, I actually like all of them. I think you should have a US focused tasting, while hitting a few European greats. The "this not that" idea is GREAT, but you'll end up drinking too much "boring" beer, and not enough exciting beer! It'd work over a longer period of time (2-3 sessions) but would suffer in a 1 session format I think... I'd probably showcase 2 "normal" styled US craft beers first (Brooklyn Lager, Anchor Steam/Liberty, Stone Levitation, Victory Prima Pils or whatever your own local brewery is etc.) Fairly common, easy to get, and head and shoulders above Budweiser or Coors. Giving people something good to drink, while not requiring beginners to stretch their beer imaginations to the point of breaking To ease them into the night with new flavours, but nothing they can't comprehend. Then a few essential European beers: A British ale (bitter, porter, whatever you choose!) A German Hefeweisse A Belgian Abbey Dubbel (I have found non-beer drinkers to LOVE Dubbels, at least a fair few of them! St. Bernardus/La Trappe/Chimay/Westmalle) Now that everyone is warmed up, you can throw 3-4 big US ales out there! IPA/Double IPA, Imperial Stout, Imperial Brown, etc. Let everyone know that the uniqueness of beer is limited only by your imagination! That's probably how I'd go about it

I'd be worried about alienating people who usually drink Budweiser or something by ONLY having big impact beers. Craft lagers, British bitters, and Hefeweisse are fairly accessible beers, they won't sprain anyone's tongue, but can still be excellently crafted beers. But if you have people in the audience who usually drink something a little better, such as Newcastle and Guinness, you'll elevate them to new heights with Belgian abbey ales and American hop monsters! Good luck! Let us know how it goes, sounds like it'll be an excellent time!

 

[Politely]

If it's a typical corporate audience, then they probably know little about beer. If that's true, I like a combination of 1 & 2. You can present a spectrum, beginning with the typical US beers and their craft counterparts. I don't know if I would necessarily introduce the exotics, like the super-IBUs - those are an acquired taste, and frankly after those beers, it's hard to drink anything else, and in some cases, to taste anything else. So, I would be careful about the sequencing. I enjoy the aha moment when people try to go back to the typical US beer after they've had some beer with substance.

 

[kaxixi]

Another vote for Victory Prima Pils. Add a good Czech pilsner so folks can understand where the American lager came from as well as as where it can go.

 

[lpresq]

I vote for #2 and #3. First, examine the differences between a Porter, IPA, Pilsner, Oatmeal Stout etc. (I really dont know the differences myself). Then, offer a tasting of a few beers from various countries e.g from the UK and Germany to Japan.

 

[Listi]

Originally Posted by Politely

If it's a typical corporate audience, then they probably know little about beer. If that's true, I like a combination of 1 & 2. You can present a spectrum, beginning with the typical US beers and their craft counterparts. I don't know if I would necessarily introduce the exotics, like the super-IBUs - those are an acquired taste, and frankly after those beers, it's hard to drink anything else, and in some cases, to taste anything else. So, I would be careful about the sequencing. I enjoy the aha moment when people try to go back to the typical US beer after they've had some beer with substance.

I actually had that moment between Dogfish Indian Brown and Newcastle Brown

(My first great beer, and my one of my favourite beers before I had Dogfish Indian Brown)

 

[dusty]

most definitely #2

 

[underwearer]

have a 'test your cork sniffing skills' a blind test to see who could pick out an expensive micro vs a cheap macroswill...or guess the hops used, or guess the alcohol ABV, or guess the type of grain used, guess the off flavors etc;

def start with the light beers and work towards the heavy/high alc beers or everyone will be pissed and just drink whatever willy nlly

 

[rdaws]

Thanks for the tips everyone! Based on the suggestions, I went with a style tour. Here's what we had:

1) Victory Prima Pils (actually a first for me... I had Sam Adams Noble Pils on the list, but they discontinued it about a week prior, and based on the recos here I went with Victory - great stuff!)
2) Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen
3) Three Floyds Alpha King IPA
4) St. Bernardus Abt 12
5) Ayinger Celebrator
6) Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (this was a gutsy choice... wanted to sort of push the limits on what people thought beer would taste like. This one was pretty widely panned, as expected, but I think it was good for the format).
7) Dogfish Head Indian Brown
8) Anchor Porter
9) Bells Expedition Stout (really wanted the Great Divide Yeti, which I prefer, but it was not available!)
10) Lindemans Framboise

Since this was after work, we threw in some food as well and I tried to make some rough pairings (which actually ended up pretty spot-on) corresponding to the numbers above:
1) Pizza
2) Goat cheese
3) Blue cheese
4) Ripe pear
5) Gruyere (strangely, everybody hated the cheese but loved the pairing)
6) Grilled chicken (for lack of a better available choice)
7) Robusto Gouda
8) Brie and crackers
9) Dark chocolate
10) Raspberry chocolate (real creative, I know...)

So, thanks all for your suggestions, it all went over really well! It's really difficult to come up with a list for first-timers when you only have your audience on one occasion, but it went over really successfully.

 

[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?