Idea Submissions for Online Tasting Events (2025)

Styles that could be fun:

-dark lager
-old ale
-smoked beer

Assuming some of these, if not all, have been done in years past. Cheers!!

 

Thank you @sulldaddy for coordinating the 2025 tasting planning thread. Thanks also to everyone who agrees to host this season, and to the gracious hosts in 2024.

I'll try to pick up a Baltic Porter or two for the 18th.I can't host this tasting, but will try to volunteer later this year for a style I have more experience with (and time to host). I like the first two suggestions beyond Baltic Porter, Smoked Beers and Grodziskie could be a good pairing sometime later this year.

Also love Rye beers, perhaps can combine with Roggenbier most do not have regular access to and rye wines to broad available contributions / selections.

 

@ChicagoJ didn't we discuss an Old Rasputin tasting in the early months of 2025? @Resistance88 ?

I'm willing to set aside a hundy or so to buy 4 packs & mail out singles to anyone who can't find this beer in their home market (US only, I'm not filling out customs paperwork).

Most underappreciated beer in the the game right now.

 

we did but about ~40% of members here can't get it

 

Great memory!

Old Rasputin Day is celebrated on January 22nd of every year, to toast Grigori Rasputin’s Birthday. Since the Baltic Porter Day is also a single day, we should host two tastings that week (1/18 Baltic Porters and 1/22 North Coast Old Rasputin).

https://northcoastbrewing.com/celeb...-fans-of-old-rasputin-russian-imperial-stout/

Would you or @resistence like to host / create the planning/tasting thread? For these single beer / day tastings, we historically had one single thread (planning and day of event combined).

I'll try to also sneak one in on February 2nd to celebrate Wayne Fontes' Birthday!

 

@ChicagoJ - a Ryewine / rye beer tasting would be awesome.

Also, probably too specific but a BA vanilla imperial stout or BA coconut imperial stout or coffee stout tasting would be fun. Guess we could set it where it could be barrel-aged or non-BA took. I know those aren’t individual styles but certainly most or all (hopefully) BA’ers would have access to that type of beer. Cheers!!

 

I'd like to see a Barleywine tasting. In the past year, I overcame my distaste for them, finding I really like BBA English Barleywines.

That said, it makes sense to do Baltic Porters on the 18th, though any porter should be allowed since Baltics are scarce for some. But we won't get into Stouts being Stout Porters.

 

Isn’t a BW tasting just every day of your life

 

One of my favorite BA memories was during Covid when we had Ken Grossman join us for a virtual SNPA tasting. Fascinating, engaging, tons of fun.

I am less interested in doing a random themed tasting, than I am with someone that can give the history, context, and story behind a beer.

Would be great if we could get another founder or brewmaster to participate. Ideally for a beer that is reasonably easy to get.

 

Even though I don’t always get to partake, I love the tasting threats. In terms of themes this year, I do think that Cellruary and the holiday beers tasting events should be yearly locks. Other than that, I’d like to see a couple outside the box. For example, one could be a misnomers beer tasting, where styles or even label titles don’t align with the actual products. This stems from some discussion on beer advocate, but things like English barley wine brewed in America, or a Czech Pilsner from a brewery in Germany, etc. maybe even an Old Ale with a very recent bottle on date, or a fresh hopped ale that’s been sitting in the back of the fridge for a year. Quirky stuff like that could be fun.

My other thought is an overrated ( or perhaps underrated) beer tasting. Where people would be encouraged to go back and look at their own personal ratings and pick out the outliers where one reviewed either notably higher or notably lower than the BA average. Could be a good excuse to revisit and re-rate some of those beers that were outliers to see if one’s opinions changed.

 

Two suggestions:

First, being in the minority of the "dry" bucket (and I'm sure there's more people like me whose health required them to go dry after a more alcohol lessened life style) it would be nice to have one NA/AF event especially if you can highlight some of the stuff micro-breweries are doing with low and no alcohol beers.

Second, maybe a tasting event where lesser available states get to rep their beer. Maybe highlight some of the states that don't get too much love, but have a strong local micro-brewery scene. Especially ones that go in the whole terroir thing using local ingredients and yeasts whether that be spontaneous fermentation or cultivation of a local yeast.

You'd probably need boxes for these two, but either way it could be interesting.