Dark Beer Tasting: Help?

I certainly don't want to discourage you here, but if your friends don't know much about beer, why would you have them drinking these very polarizing, high alcohol, high flavor and aroma examples? From my experience, this is a recipe for failure.

If you're REALLY wanting to do this, you NEED something substantial to eat, like chili or sloppy joes or burgers, AND have food to eat while drinking like crackers, cheeses, and dried/cured meats.

Water. Water is your best bet. Not more beer.

Like I said, I'd recommend not doing this unless your friends, who don't know much about beer, all really like stouts and/or all the flavors associated with them. I know that sounds like I'm bursting your bubble, but I'd rather do that than hear a story about what an epic failure your tasting was.

 

I think the most important factor is what is considered "dark" beer.

To them, maybe anything other than macro straw is dark. So i would maybe even venture on a red to dark black color spectrum. But that's just thinking ahead on trying lower ABV beers in conjunction with some of those beasts.

I'd personally include the deeper red ales and your milk or oatmeal stouts before going for the big home run hitters.

If these friends have no basis for the style, I would even introduce a beer like Guinness into the mix to show a full contrast in flavor and ABV compared to say BCBS

 

I would recommend some more traditional stouts and maybe some dark Belgian beers too (depending on how wide ranging you're looking to go). If you're looking to be more instructional I don't know that you need the BCBS vertical plus 4 other barrel aged beers. Where are the American stouts, RIS, maybe even Irish dry stouts? What about a stout fermented with Belgian yeast like Allagash Black or Weyerbacher Tiny?

As much as i love things from the BW side like Stickee Monkey maybe that confuses matters. Again it's a question of are you trying to instruct on dark beer styles or blow palates out with massive barrel aged booze and sugar bombs?

I like the idea of starting with Obisidian and then maybe do an imperial stout without adjuncts like Old Rasputin or something of that order. I'd love to come to your tasting as constituted above but for more beginner craft drinkers it might be too much. I'd also shy away from beer-based palate cleansing to keep overall alcohol consumption a little lower. Plainer crackers, water (maybe seltzer), some mild cheese perhaps to snack on? Just my .02 cents!

 

Can I come??? Please???

 

So they like these styles, but aren't aware of everyone who makes them and which beers those breweries make?

Sure . . . fire away. Eat a decent sized meal beforehand, keep hydrated, and pace yourself. Good luck!

Not surprisingly, I find that nuts and dark chocolate go well with these types of tastings.

 

I agree with initial response post and would suggest you include more lower ABV (truer to style) examples. Of all the beers you are including the only true to style beer is Black Butte or Obsidian. The others are all highly amped departures from the norm.

Say that your friends like some of the beers you are sampling and get excited to find a new favorite beer. Then they find out the hoops they have to jump through to keep them on hand...what's the point?

There are plenty of easily obtainable, excellent beers that will give them an idea of what to expect from high quality standards of the offered styles.

You could include a few low ABV porters/stouts, oatmeal stouts, cream stouts, robust porters, Baltic porters, Schwarzbier (a great style IMHO), scotch ales, winter warmers, etc. Then throw in an Imperial Stout and ne or two of your big beers to show them the possibilities. Just my $.02.

 

Ha! Oh ye, of little faith!

You've got some nice beers lined up here, OP. I'm gonna be honest...I'd probably start a group who's 'not very knowledgeable' with a tour of some easily obtained pilsners, hefeweizens, maibocks, doppels, etc. Save the big stuff for some buddies who you know are 'in it' as much as you are...

 

First of all, you have the makings of a porter/stout tasting here, so I would say that instead of "dark beer." Call a spade a spade, because there are many other styles with dark-colored beer and you don't want to give your guests the wrong impression of all "dark" beer.

If you are doing this for people who aren't very knowledgeable about beer they may not get much out of a 3 year BCBS vertical tasting. It's very generous of you to offer, but I doubt it will be as appreciated as you hope. Personally, I'd limit barreled beers to two: a lightly barreled example (something like Abyss) and a heavily barreled example (something like BCBS).

Your list doesn't include milk stouts and Irish Dry Stouts, which often go over well newbies. The styles tend to be lower alcohol too, which benefits pacing a tasting event.

Also, consider this.... What if your guests really like some of the beers on your list and want to get some for themselves, but then they learn it's $20+ per bottle or it's discontinued. That can take the wind out of a newcomer's excitement really quickly.

In short, know your audience. Maybe you do, in which case, my opinions are irrelevant.

Personally, for a group of relative newbies to craft beer I would stick with your "dark beer" theme, but scrap most of your list to really open the styles to all darker colored beers (e.g. black lagers, bocks, rauchbiers, brown ales, cascadian [or black] IPA, Belgian Strong Dark Ales, dubbels, Barleywines, Quads, dark milds, a dark sour, etc.). Many newbies have assumptions of beers with any color darker yellow/gold, and I would want to blow those stereotypes out of the water. Your list is a mostly imperial stout tasting, which could actually reinforce many of the "dark beer" stereotypes.

 

So this is a cellar clearance, as well? Even more reason to do it.

 

For this kind of tasting pick only 5-6 beers for sampling. Order them from least to most impact on the palate. Have only about 3-4 oz per sample per person.

For palate changers use only unsalted crackers and/or unsalted pretzels plus have lots of water.

Save all other food for after the tasting to wind up the evening with folks having something to eat (especially those who do not have a designated driver). (If people are not bringing beer have a pot-luck of choices for them to bring instead.)

For each beer be sure folks have a pencil and paper to write a few notes about their reactions to the beer--aromas, flavors, etc. Then after the samples are finished and while serving the crackers and water have a brief discussion and sharing of what each thought of the beer. Then move on to the next sample.

After all beers have been sampled spend some time discussing which beer folks liked best and why.

Any beer left after doing the samples can be left on the table with the food so that folks can revisit a favorite while chatting and eating.

 

Salt affects taste perception.

 

Salt changes the tastebuds rather than cleanses them. If you want your guests to experience the full range of flavors in the beer at it's best to avoid things that have a carry over effect on flavors. (That's also where taking some time between samples can be helpful as it helps reduce any carry over effects from the prior strong flavors.)

 

They certainly make you want to drink more.

They, however, do not help you properly evaluate the beverage(s) at hand. Fine if you're just out to have some pints and get something to eat. Problematic if you're trying to be as objective as possible.

 

One can pair beer with a variety of various foods and those pairings can create some enjoyable combinations, but the experience is still going to be a mixed one not that of just the beer or the food alone.

Salty foods will change the beer experience and for some folks that enhances it, but if what you want to taste is beer all by itself then avoid the salt and other foods. One of the things the beer brings to things like the burgers and fries is that the carbonation helps get rid of the fats so the next bite of burger becomes much more like the first one than not.

Think of your taste buds as being like muscles. Hold a book out at arms length resting on the palm of your hand until it falls from your hand. Notice that your hand/arm will rise up as the unstressted muscles take command. Much the same happens with flavors, so if you follow a nice bitter IPA by one with lots of rich malt flavors it can well taste too sweet to you. Hence the idea of ordering your tasting from least to most impact on the palate.

 

No.