Hosting my first tasting tomorow

GRG1313 · May 6, 2013

GRG1313 said: ↑

There are no rules. Whatever you are comfortable with and whatever your friends are comfortable with. I have put on dozens of beer tastings for organizations, clubs, beer and wine groups, charities and several at home. I go to lots of beer tastings - just be clear with your expectations.

1. If you don't have sufficient tasting glasses, tell your friends to bring a glass - this is not inappropriate;
2. If you don't want to or can't provide all the food (if there's even going to be food instead of just "beer snacks) tell your friends to "bring a dish" and make sure everyone brings something different. (OR, just have people bring snacks or you provide snacks.) OR, you can send out for food (pizza) or bring things in - burritos, chicken, whatever. There are no rules, just make expectations clear.
3. Make sure you have lots of water. This is what many people forget.
4. Don't be afraid to make it up as you go along - again, there are no rules.

Now, having said that, here's what I do for my personal tastings and somethoughts based on experience: (And, I'm having about a 20 person tasting this Sunday and will likely follow my own guidelines).

Beer - I generally do tastings from my cellar, mostly because I want to taste things I've just gotten fresh and before I think about "aging" or buying more bottles. So, I generally provide beer. This is not a general rule and most tastings in which I participate are really more "bottle shares." So, figure out how you're going to provide beer and stick them in the fridge/cooler in advance. (This was something I used to neglect since I like "cool to room temp" beer. However, I am in the minority and I now chill all bottles in advance of tastings.

Glasses - I purchased 100 tasting glasses at an outlet store once at a crazy deal. (Some break at every tasting or in the wash and I'm down to about 70). They are perfect for tastings since the general pour that "most" people take is about an ounce or two. Yes, people on this site want everyone to take 4 oz minimum for a "decent" taste. I think that's nonsense. I can taste and evaluate perfectly fine from a one ounce pour although unless there are a large number of people most pours are a bit more. I suspect at my tasting this Sunday most pours will be 1 to 1.5 ounces and everyone will be just delighted and more than happy. Of course, we generally open over 50 bottles so we must, necessarily, be conservative with pours. Obviously, bottle count enters into "the pours" and the quantity one drinks. If you don't have a lot of glasses, again, just tell people to bring their own. Some will bring one; some will bring two or three.

Snacks - potato chips, pretzels and the like are fine. Crackers, nuts and general "beer snacks" are always good and will always be eaten. Salty stuff goes over well.

You can end with above. However,. . . .

Food - I initially prepared lots of food for my large tastings; chicken, roast beef, leg of lamb, hell, once I even made a porcetta! Everyone really appreciates it and will generally eat! HOWEVER, without question, hands down the single biggest suggestion I can give you is just use sausages! I get a large selection of different sausages and/or hot dogs, the good kind, boil them up and generally serve them piled up on trays with a huge basket of sliced french bread or baguette with lots of different mustards. Charcuterie plates are great. People go throught pounds and pounds! It always get's eaten up - people will eat the sausages and charcuterie and cheese much more than more elegant food. I've now done it long enough and have sufficient empirical evidence where the conclusion, in my opinion, is valid. People use their fingers and do not like using forks, spoons, etc at a beer tasting. Oh, they might come in and make a plate of food if there's macaroni and cheese, or chili or BBQ etc. And, those are all good choices for a beer tasting. But, sausages/hot dog styles go over very well --- always! (We sometimes get fancy and grill, or make tacos etc. Again,. . .no rules.

If you're going to have vegetarians, make sure you have food for them. I've had fun in the past making nice food spreads and my friends have always appreciated it. (We even do breakfast/brunch tastings where I make eggs, french toast and the like before a tasting! It's all good). General conclusion: Make it easy on yourself. Whatever you serve or put out will likely be eaten and appreciated.

Water - lots! I put out cases of water for a group of 20. We will go through two cases, at least.

Dump buckets - always a good idea. People should be able to dump without criticism and/or judgment.

Napkins/towels - have available; they are always needed.

Biggest hint, let the tasting "run itself." It will take on a life of its own. I like to open bottles fast at my tastings. However, I go to tastings where the bottles are opened slower and in more relaxed fashion. Generally, the pacing develops on its own. (Or, you can set up a game plan!)

Random opening - I am a wine guy and we always take care about drinking wines that are old v. young and stronger v weaker in a certain order. I suppose some people do that with beer as well. Our group does not! We go all over the board opening saisons, wild ales, then stouts, then back to saisons, etc. etc. It works for us and generally keeps peoples interest and somehow actually keeps our palates "fresher." The water, of course, also really helps between bottles. I was very surprised at the random opening when I first started tasting with "our group." However, I've come to really like it and I truly believe it's "a best way" to taste. (Hell, more like going to a beer fest anyway!)

Paper/pens - sometimes I'll make a list of all the beers and people can take notes. This is real optional but everyone seems to appreciate it when I do it. I always leave lots of blanks so that we can add the large number of bottles that always seem to get added.

I'm sure there's lots more and perhaps people will fill in or disagree. However, the above are some of my "general rules and procedures" and experiences. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...

We finished up a 150 bottle tasting yesterday AND I MUST MODIFY THE ABOVE based on this tasting. This was the 5th or 6th large tasting at my house the past few years and the above "procedure" always was great. It is still great, and worked, with the following modifications which I now strongly urge: Namely,

We started at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday. This start time and day really works for us. It went on for seven (7) hours although technically only scheduled for 4 hours.

I served eggs, bacon, breakfast potatos, bagels and cream cheese when people first got there. Everyone made a plate of food and sat and ate for about 15 minutes and we then started opening beer.

I put out the "regular" tasting food around noon/12:15 p.m.

I put out the pizzas periodically from about 3 to 5 or 6.

People also "grazed" on the sausages and other food (chips, salsa, etc.) all during the tasting.

1. People still eat almost all sausages and "good" hot dogs you put out - especially kilbasah - these salty large sausages, cut into pieces and piled up continue to go. However, regular mustard and ketchup went almost untouched. The large bowl of spicey brown mustard was almost gone.

2. Macaroni and cheese (large Stauffers or the like) was heated up from frozen in under an hour. One very large tray was consumed in, for real....under 2 minutes. (Next time - more macaroni and cheese!)

3. Frozen pizzas! Throught out the tasting I continued to put out frozen pizza - the thin kind that are inexpensive and heat up nicely in under 10 minutes. They were eaten as fast as I could make them.

4. We did not go through 2 cases of water. We went through more like 4-5 cases of water, if not more.

I'm modifiying my procedures per above for my future tastings. I also made sure to give everyone a chance to just hang out after drinking to make sure people could drive, and provided everyone with lots of water when they left. Also, I made sure to have some food for people to eat AFTER drinking and before they go in cars.

cigarchitect · May 6, 2013

My group is very competitive. So we have developed a way to win a tasting. Everyone is assigned a style of beer that pairs well with the food being served. Then we take an informal vote, (number of empty bottles) and decide who brought the best beer and therefore conquered the event. The winner gets the prestige of victory and it usually pushes people to reach deep in their cellars or wallets at the next tasting.

Hosting my first tasting tomorow

GRG1313 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,974) Jan 15, 2009 California
BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

cigarchitect Initiate (0) May 12, 2010 Massachusetts

About

Contribute

Fun

Boring

Hosting my first tasting tomorow

GRG1313 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,974) Jan 15, 2009 California BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

cigarchitect Initiate (0) May 12, 2010 Massachusetts

GRG1313 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,974) Jan 15, 2009 California
BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader