I'm throwing a little beer tasting in a couple weeks. Any recommendations for its order; Surly SeVIIn (Belgium Strong Ale) Surly Eight (Barrel Aged Oat Wine) Surly Nein (Smoked Hefeweizen) Surly Ten (Old Ale) Brau Brothers Test Positive Ale (Wild/ Sour) Brau Brothers Barrel & Bog Funky Sour Ale (Wild/ Sour) Bad Weather Due Date (Herbed/Spiced) Bad Weather Baril de Pluie (Triple) O'Dell Woodcut No. 7 (Russian Imperial Stout) Lake Front Brandy Barrel-Aged Imperial Pumpkin (Pumpkin) Avery Rumpkin 2015 (Rum Barrel-Aged Pumpkin) Boulevard Love Child No. 4 (Wild/ Sour) Laginitas Ole Gnarly Wine 2015 (Barley Wine) Avery Samael's 2016 (Old Ale) Avery Samael's 2012 (Old Ale) Avery Samael's 2011 (Old Ale) Avery The Beast 2012 (Grand Cru) Avery The Beast 2009 (Grand Cru) Avery Mephistopheles 2015 (Stout)
An approach I like is to lay the event out into a series of stages, opening up a couple of beers of distinctly different styles (e.g. a sour and a stout or an IPA and an old ale) at each stage, both to help people avoid palate fatigue and so that people that dislike a particular style will always have something new to try. Another guideline I think worth considering is to have the highest ABV beers come up later in the lineup, so people don't get so inebriated early on they can't really enjoy later brews.
I have a genuine question. With something like this where you have 19 bottles, basically all with a very high ABV, what are the logistics with regards to people? Do you have 15-20 people and everyone gets an ounce or two, or is it like 5 of you taking these to the dome and passing out where you stand? I only ask because that many bottles at a share seems prohibitive to me. Either you have enough people to handle them all responsibly but everyone only gets a very small amount of each, or you have a smaller number of people and holy shit if you get through everything, you wake up feeling like death the next day. It's always intrigued me about how people approach it.
I don't have 15-20 people i do however have 12 and i did tell people to plan a sober ride home. My tastings the beer may not all get drank if fewer people show up but I do it for my passion for the industry.
I've just always wondered how people approach these shares with a large number of bottles like that. Good on you for telling people to plan a ride home! Might as well get a big bowl and tell everyone they can't drink until they put their keys in haha.
Planning for a couple bombers per person doesn't seem out of line for a share. So even 8 people can take down 16 or so bombers and each person gets about 3 oz of each beer. 5 people doing 19-20 bottles is definitely a situation where you're likely to be pretty drunk, but most shares I've been to have involved food and other stuff, so it's not like you're just chugging beer the whole time. Drinking a couple of bombers over 3-4 hours while eating a meal shouldn't leave you fall down drunk.
Please take into account that @mrpeterandthepuffers has a drinking problem. He doesn't see it as a problem when he has 2 bombers, but he doesn't have to hang out with him! I'd say most people would be good with 2 bombers in several houses. As for him, I'd suggest 1 and then go home! Of course, you are planning on doing opening wrestling later in the night.... Make sure you have plenty of water to drink and rinse glasses.
