What's your beer flight serving preference?

I think the ideal experience is 3-5 beers in 4-5 oz servings, so close to a pint in total volume of beer. I find anymore than that and you'll start getting tipsy enough that it's hard to appreciate nuances between beers, especially if you're getting two of the same style in the flight.

 

San Luis brewing in Alamosa served me 12 samples in their flight. It was overwhelming, and most of the beers fell out of memory quickly. I prefer 4 or 5 4oz tasters in a flight. I had lunch at a pizza place in Estes Park that did flights of their commercial taps. It was the first time I had seen that option at a restaurant, and quite enjoyed it.

 

When at a taproom, my favorite preference is to by a full 12oz/pint beer of something I've either had before or pretty sure I'll enjoy, then have 1-2 4oz or 5oz samplers (whatever their size offer is) of something that intrigues me that is new. I don't like the few places that have a mandatory "flight only" for the small pours. Usually when I get a full flight somewhere I have more buzz than I want.

 

Did you hit up Rambo's Liquor Store while you were at Estes? One of the best beer stores I've been to anywhere in the US and customer service was great.

 

I prefer flights to come in the form of two to three full pints. I can't accurately judge a beer by only drinking four ounces of it, and I highly question whether anyone else can.

 

My preference is 4 small glasses of a flight at a brewery that is new to me. I then order a pint of the beer I enjoyed the most of that flight.

Very large flights (e.g., 12, 24 samples) make no sense to me. Those beers would get too warm for my personal enjoyment. If I wanted to sample 12 beers it would be three iterations of a flight of 4.

Cheers!

 

I always thought if I ever had a brewery, I would do something similar to this. No flights. Get a taster by itself or along with a pint. There’s nothing more frustrating than it being even two-deep at the bar and some numbskull asks for “splashes” or two sets of flights for everyone in their party.

I rarely get tasters unless it’s super high ABV. Otherwise, I just go big with a full serving of something new I want to try.

 

If "accurately judging a beer" is the goal, then flights are obviously not a perfect choice. Having said that, I'd also question how much someone can really get to know a beer after having a single 9-16 oz glass in between having glasses of other beers while out at a bar. I think the person buying a case a year for home consumption gets to know that beer better. I only say this because flights get vilified around here for this reason. Drinking a "full pour" of a few different beers while out is better but it isn't radically different. Not saying you are doing any of this, I'm just using your post to continue the conversation. Cheers.

Sounds similar to Russian River which sells a flight of everything they have on tap. You can see their tray of 18 in the pic below, but when I was there, they provided extra glasses on the side for the beers that didn't fit on the tray. It was 21 in total when I was there. Continuing the thoughts above related to the @KarlHungus post, any sense of "understanding" these beers goes out the window really quickly. If someone ordered this to understand these beers they've made the wrong choice. Ordering full pours of 21 beers wouldn't result in any understanding either. I ordered the flight because it was fun and the only chance I'd ever have of doing such a thing. It fulfilled that goal nicely. In this case, I prefer that kind of experience over getting to know one of their beers much better. I save that experience for buying multiple bottles of the same Russian River beer and drinking them at home over different days.

 

The largest sampler set I ever saw was at a brewpub in Hot Springs, Arkansas (18 small glasses). This couple seemed to have 'done the trick':

 

My preferred flights are in airplanes.


Fuck taster trays.

 

It took 2 people to finish less than 5 pints?

 

I would imagine that some of those beers were non-optimum for the consumers so the fact that could 'power through' and not waste any liquid is something IMO.

 

My preference is about glassware, i love the breweries that will pour a 4 ish oz bpour into a normal size tulip type glass, alas Jester King, Bow & Arrow, and anyone else who does that.

 

F**k flights!

I'm not contributing anything, I'll see myself out.

But srsly, less ABV -> big ABV or alternately, less IBU ->big IBU

 

I did not. Estes is local enough that there arent bottles there that I haven't found closer to me. If we stay at the YMCA of the Rockies again I will keep them in mind for take beers to take back to the cabin.

 

Don't have a beer flight preference, just give me a pint and I'm good