So I am planning on going to the Spring Craft Beer Fest here in my hometown. It's my first beer tasting event (I'm new to the whole "Beer Scene") and I was wondering....What is the best approach to this whole thing? What do I want to do to get the best out of a beer tasting? Let me know your tips and tricks to when you attend these events because honestly....I HAVE NO IDEA! ;-) Thanks guys and gals! This is the event I'm attending: www.SpringCraftBeerFest.com
Do lighter beers (Low IBU, Low Gravity, but also no wild yeast (sour)), and work your way up to the bigger and sour beers. This will help not do any damage to your palate. Also, dont wear any cologne (who wears that anyways). No sicy food, no coffee, no mouthwash, no smoking hours before Just a start..
I recommend just asking a lot of questions. Brewers are typically nice and want you to like their beer. If you don't know anything about how the beer is supposed to taste, just ask. Tell them what you think, and see if that was what they were trying for or not. Its worst if you just drink the beer without learning anything.
Ha Ha!! Lastb33 recall: So they won't think I am an idiot for asking what I think are dumb questions?
If you start out by saying that your new to beer, I can't see a nice person blowing off any simple questions. I think I've learned more at tastings than anywhere else. If there are demos at your event I would attend those as well. They're usually free.
By "dump beers" you mean people wouldn't be offended if I didn't like a beer? They have places to dump them?
I don't know if they would be offended, but generally there are a lots of beers to try at Beer Fests. Generally you want to try a lot of different beers and don't want to get drunk, so if I don't care for something, I generally dump it (ever festival I have been to has dump buckets) and move on to the next one.
Keep in mind that some fund-raising tastings like this one have reps from the distributor and many have volunteers who might be beer geeks that do the serving and not necessarily reps from the brewery, so some specific questions about a beer will have to go unanswered. That is a very lengthy line-up of beers, so you'll need to do some homework ahead of time to prioritize your targets. Decide what are your 5 favorite styles and seek out only those types for an enlightening comparison of how the same beer style from different breweries can sometimes taste very different. When you're a noobie make it an organized educational event rather going there to just try a lot of things.
Your 5 favorite styles are your choice, but if you want to go ala' carte and choose beers with solid reputations, here are the ones that I've really enjoyed, and they also have a good following among BA members. BORIS from Hoppin' Frog, both of the Dogfish Head beers, Great Lakes Porter, Troegs Nugget Nectar, and any of the Bell's, New Holland (except I'm not a fan of Full Circle) or Founders beers (I'm partial to the Michigan breweries since I drink them the most). I've not had most of the beers on the list, so just because I didn't recommend them does not mean they are not worthy of a try. Of those that I mentioned the ones that I think will be a very enjoyable experience are Bell's Hopslam (slightly late in its season but it will still be a treat) and New Holland's Dragon's Milk. The Hopslam could go quickly because of its sought-after reputation, but maybe not since it was probably plentiful in Ohio this year. I hope this helps. Cheers, and have a great time.
