Over the years, wine tasting has become a fairly standard practice among those looking to expand their cultural and technical understanding of alcoholic beverages. But with the relatively recent rise to prevalence of smaller batch craft beers, combined with our modern ease of importing foreign goods, beer tasting is beginning to become a popular pass time for both seasoned aficionados and new beer drinkers alike.
While beer tastings tend to have a different feel from wine tastings, hosting a beer tasting is much like hosting a wine tasting in terms of preparation. You will need to spend a fair amount of time planning your evening’s beer lineup, as well as what else you would like to provide to your guests. Here are a few tips for picking out your beers:
Consider your audience
While an experienced beer drinker would hardly think twice about trying a new or outlandish beer, those who are not accustomed to the heavier and more flavorful types of beer may be intimidated by a line-up of complicated ales and stouts. Ease newer beer drinkers away from the typical megabrewery fare by offering “transitional” beers that more closely reflect the beverages that they already enjoy. Immediately offering an assortment of strong beers to a group of hesitant tasters is the quickest way to scare them off for good. If you are hosting a smaller tasting party and will be familiar with the personal tastes of your guests, try to pick beers that are closer to what they already drink to ease them into the idea of trying some new beers before breaking out the flavor powerhouses. Lagers, light ales, and pilsners are usually a good place to start new tasters.
Theme
The wild variance in taste between different kinds of beer is considered by many to be what makes the beverage so interesting, but it can also quickly turn putting together a cohesive tasting lineup into an intimidating task. While not necessary, establishing a theme for your tasting will help quickly narrow your options and make the selection more manageable. Selecting seasonal beers or beers from a specific country or region of origin are quick and easy ways to hasten your selection process. Serving beers of the same type is also a quick way to simplify your search, but this can be risky; tasters who are not crazy about the selected type of beer are not likely to enjoy the lineup and may be hesitant to come back again without advance notice of the tasting order.
Tasting order
Unlike wine tasting, your beer ordering typically will not have quite as many rules. Many people suggest that beers should be tasted from lightest to darkest, but this is likely just a convention carried over from wine tasting. While it is generally true that darker beers do tend to be richer and heavier, color really has nothing to do with where certain flavors belong in your tasting order. The two most important things to keep in mind when organizing your beers are bitterness and alcohol content. Save bitter, hoppy beers like IPAs and ESBs until closer to the end of your lineup to avoid polluting the palette with lingering aromas too early in the progression. Beers with high alcohol content tend to be particularly strong, and should also be saved until late in the lineup so that their staying power doesn’t interfere with the taste of other beers.
Aside from these considerations, your tasting order will be largely up to you. Take some time before you go shopping to consider what sort of progression that you are aiming for (crisp to malty, savory to sweet, familiar to exotic, etc.), and select beers that best achieve your concept. Don’t be afraid to mix things up from time to time, either. While beer is fully capable of extremely complex and intricate flavor patterns, the elements of each taste tend not to be as delicate as those of wine, and therefore do not require quite as much “protection” built into the tasting order. As long as you are not “ruining” your tasters’ palettes by serving the strongest beers first, a bit of well-planned jumping around between flavors and beer types is perfectly acceptable.
Your beer is, obviously, the main attraction at your beer tasting. But there are several other elements that complete a truly engaging beer experience. Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning the execution of your beer tasting.
Presentation
Entice your guests (especially less adventurous tasters) into trying each beer with a well-organized tasting table arrangement. Try to leave your unopened beers in refrigeration as long as possible to avoid temperature loss – no one wants to feel like they are being served a beer that’s been sitting out on the counter unattended for too long. Also, leave a few non-chilled, sealed bottles of each beer on offer at the front of the table for your guests to pick up for a closer look.
Glassware
Beer glassware is fairly straightforward. A simple, tapered pub glass will fit the bill nicely for most beers that you will serve. Occasionally, a specialty beer may call for a stemmed or custom-made glass, but the standard pint glass will still do the job if you are unable (or simply can’t afford) to track down a large enough number of specialty glasses. For smaller tastings, some hosts prefer to use miniature tasting glasses to pre-pour each beer and serve them all at once to each guest on a tasting paddle. This setup will require seating and table space for each taster, but it also allows guests to taste the beers at relatively the same rate and will encourage group discussion.
Know your selection
Be ready to answer routine questions about each beer should your tasters ask. The name (and brief history) of the brewery, country and region of origin, type of beer, alcohol content, primary ingredients, and flavor profile are all important things to know about your beers. You don’t need to be a beer mastermind to engage your tasters, but knowing as much as you can about your selection will certainly make conversation easier. Also, be sure to taste each beer before finalizing your tasting order. Even if you have had the beers before, consider doing a quick run-through to work out any last-minute ordering adjustments.
Serving temperature
Know what temperature at which to serve each beer. While the American tradition seems to be to keep your beer as cold as possible, this can actually numb the taste buds and dull the flavor of some types of beer. Strong, dark beers should typically be served between 55°-60°F, while standard ales, IPAs, and stouts should be served between 50°-55°F. Lighter beers such as lagers and pilsners should be served the coldest at between 45°-50°F. Most refrigeration units run significantly below these ranges, so be sure to set your beers our far enough in advance to give them a chance to warm up a bit.
Palette cleansers
Offer water and bread as palette cleansers for tasters to use between beers. There are plenty of other items that can be used as palette cleansers, but be sure that they are relatively plain and do not have a distinctive flavor of their own that might interfere with the taste of the next beer.
Participation
Be an active part of your tasting, especially if you are hosting it in a smaller, more intimate setting. Maintaining a “party presence” is easier said than done while serving drinks and trying to keep up with who has reached what beer, but a personable host makes any tasting experience much more engaging and encourages guests to come back for the next one. Don’t hesitate to share your opinions of each beer with your guests, and encourage them to do the same by asking questions about the beers that they have tasted so far. And don’t be afraid to sip a few of the beers along with your guests, either. It makes for more authentic, real-time insights into the flavor of the beer, and after all of your work putting the evening together, you deserve a taste, too. Just remember to drink responsibly, and enjoy your beer tasting.
