Hosting a beer tasting, need ideas/recommendations...

I'm not sure which producers you are using, so it may be difficult to put the line-up together without knowing. This is how I would structure the tasting

1) Something from Asia or Africa (Typically light style lagers)

2) German Pils (as long as the hops aren't over powering)

3) British Brown

4) American Brown

5) French Saison

6) British IPA (This is the only would that might fail in the tasting, since malts or hops are massive in english IPAs)

7) American IPA

8) Lambic (Depending on how sour or fruity this style is, this could vary quite a bit on where you put it - So i'm putting this towards the end.)

Hope this helps

 

Your best bet for availability of quality Asian or African beer is probably going to be Japanese microbrews. Most places with a good selection should have a bottle from Hitachino Nest or if you are lucky you could score some Baird.

 

If you're nervous about having a really hoppy beer in the lineup, I would suggest working in a yeasty Belgian like Triple Karmeliet instead. A beer like that always surprises non-craft beer drinkers with its complex and flavorful characteristics.

Have fun!

 

I would do this style-wise instead of simply by country or region, as most Asian/African beers will be German, Belgian, or British styles anyway...I would do:
-Belgian pale ale (this could include a saison as well)
-Belgian dark ale
-Lambic
-British stout or IPA or brown
-American stout or IPA
-German lager

 

Take care with the availability of the snacks. Remember that the strongly flavored food you eat before or with a beer can alter the flavor of the beer quite a bit.

One possibility you might think about is to have lots of water and unsalted crackers to start off and between individual beers for the first half of your line up and then take a "food/snack" break and let folks re-sample the first set of beers as they prefer. After you finish the food/snack break, go back to the second half of your line up of beers with crackers and water only between beers. You can then finish the evening off with another food/snack time where folks get to revisit/resample any of the beers and food before ending the evening. (You want to encourage them to have a good bit of water between beers and you want them leaving your event with food in their stomach and hopefully limited effects of the alcohol on their ability to drive, etc.)

 

I love Hitachino Nest's milk stout. I'm not so sure the BA community has the same feeling, but yeah, that;s the only Japanese micros I've found.

 

Not sure about MA, but in Chicago/Chicago area it's fairly easy to find both Hitachino Nest and Baird.