Hey BA's I'm teaching a beer class tonight at a local community college as part of a hospitality course. I had to pick eight beers, each representative of a certain style or location. What are the eight beers you would pick to illustrate the wide, wide world of beer to a small class of students who are new to beer? My "super" eight in order: Radeberger Victory Prima Pils Leffe Blonde Saison Dupont Samuel Smith Nut Brown Rochefort 10 Wild Beer Co Iduna Cru Saison Treehouse Julius.
Are you sampling? When was this when I was in school. I would have to throw in a hefeweizen for its unique banana aromas/flavors. Also, maybe just one more type of IPA, or more of a progression from Pils, to say a Pale Ale, then your hoppy IPA. Maybe even throw in a stout (oatmeal stout) to show that not all dark beers are the same. They'd only have the Rochefort 10 as their basis. Tough to call in just 8.
If you had taken Food Service/Hospitality, instead of carpentry. OP, I would swap out the cloudy/hazy/juicy/SunnyDelite type IPA, and add a more typical bold, bright IPA, with a nice bittering aspect and a dry finish.
It's really tough. I had Ayinger Brauweisse on deck for a hefe. I'm hoping that the Nut Brown will give them a take on darker ales that will lead to stouts. I could have done SOS or Sea Hag with the Julius. . . but why not just go straight to the top? Edit: @beertunes makes a good point. I will sneak Sea Hag in there, and @Oktoberfiesta, yes, we are sampling.
It'll be funny, or rather interesting if they will appreciate, know, care, like, or hate Treehouse's offering. A more traditional IPA, if you can find would be Sculpin (not GF). Dry with some citrus elements. Instead of a classroom, I sometimes do this with family or friends just getting into stuff that isn't piss water. I look at it more like what many breweries have as their 6 core beers on their flights. Here is what I try to accomplish: 1. Macro better tasting alternative. Think Weihenstephaner Original, or in your case, prima/Radeberger. A local pils offering here too. 2. hefeweizen. So many people get thrown into the fire and sample a craft friends beer that is hoppy. They get a bad impression that all craft beers are hoppy messes. 3. Red or Amber (fat tire type of beer/ or Boston Lager). More malty ramping up to stouts 4. I agree with a good nut brown/oatmeal stout/ 5. Pale Ale ramping up to IPA 6. Belgian Strong Ale or Tripel. Think Delirium Tremens or Duvel. 7. IPA 8. Imperial Stout. Ten Fidy OP, your list basically has 3 lighter beers, with two Saisons. I think that dominates the spectrum on the lighter side (that may be your goal). I think you can cut out two types of pils (into 1), maybe replace a saison with a hefe, and you should definitely have a middle grade red or amber beer, and two types of hoppy beers to show hops have range.
I'd go with easy to find awesome representations of many styles so they can remember them any chances are see them in stores or bars/restaurants: Weihenstephaner Hefeweisen should be added Victory Prima Pils is a good choice for a Pilsner (I'd recommend Pilsner Urquell though to be more authentic) Leffe Blonde is a good choice for a Belgian Blonde ale Saison Dupont on your list is fine (or Hennepin or Tank 7 is a tad cheaper and about as good IMO) Samuel Smith Nut Brown -great choice but recommend to scratch this style for an American IPA (...if you can get TreeHouse than absolutely go with that) Rochefort 10 - great choice for a big Belgian Sierra Nevada Pale Ale should be added (the timeless all American standard for the style) Imperial Stout....recommend to go with Old Raspy or Sam Smith's Russian Imperial Stout. Classics. That will hit many of the major brews. A cheap/awesome sour like Rodenbach or Petrus would also be nice to add. Not many newbies know much about sour / horseblanket stuff and will be amazed at how different they are. The goal should be to showcase just how different beer styles are and how drastically different they are from the cheap BMC stuff.
Weihenstephaner hefeweizen is an absolute must in this situation. Funkwerks tropic king, saisons are awesome and this one is very approachable. St bernarbus 12, really any quad here but this and chimay are my favorites. Sixpoint crisp, slid pils should be readily available too. Pseudosue, any really good ipa or pale ale works in your case treehouse would be awesome, or Sierra Nevada to show a classic. Bells third coast, I feel this is a fairly approachable barleywine. Any porter or brown ale. Big imperial stout, ten fidy, fis, old raputin any of them work.
Gotta get some Cali beers on that list lol If your doing a Pale Ale Sierra Nevada is the one to have.
