Ideas on hosting a Holiday tasting

I love big tastings because you get to try a ton of fantastic beers and quite often are pleasantly surprised to see some major wants.

Have a few rinse/dump buckets around, ask everyone to bring 3+ bottles, and let people have access to multiple small tasting glasses. For most beers, people are okay with just having an ounce or two because there are so many bottles to open.

I like to post a spreadsheet where people can list their name, what they're bringing, and any wants. It's fun to bring someone's highly wanted bottles for them to try.

 

Here's an example of the spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JtICl_TCwO0QUdRDghhUjloqyWSKzvEoqPU0XlNTAzc/edit#gid=0

Here's a pic, video, and list of bottles opened. It was pretty epic.

https://www.facebook.com/BeerPorn/p...42329.206550792789154/548543078589922/?type=1

 

Couple of things not addressed yet.

If you plan on serving food save it till mid-way into the tasting or towards the end when folks are starting to revisit some of the beers they particularly liked. During the early part of the tasting/bottle sharing have available lots of water (I prefer unchlorinated spring water if possible) and unsalted crackers and/or pretzels. (Water helps with both hydration and with rinsing the palate. Use unsalted snacks because salt is a palate changer but not a palate cleanser and so has an effect on the flavors of what follows.)

If you've space, etc. have some paper and something to write with for those who want to take notes and some might even want to do ratings to have a discussion. If you want to introduce some sort of break mid way to give people some time to take a mini-break from the tasting you could have some people talk a bit about what they are finding in the beer. (eg., this a pretty good way for the more experienced tasters to help the novices learn a bit about how to descibe the flavors and/or spot the complexities in some of the beers.)

Have several extra bottle stoppers on hand so you are able to store partly used bottles for a few days if needed. Or folks could be offered their pick of something to take home (might need some sort of a lottery system to set an order of picking something...)

Personally I'd do all the tasting part first and then serve a good bit of food. You can have others bring something to share there as well. I always do this for three reasons. First, it helps impove the social aspects and de-emphaize the drinking a bit as it gives folks more chances to mingle, etc. Second, it gets some folks into talking about pairing beer and food. Third, PA has what's known as a "Dram Shop" law in place. Under this type of law if someone provides alcohol to a person who is visible intoxicated and then that person goes off and has an accident while under the influence the individual providing the alcohol can also a target of legal action for damages, etc. Many think this applies only to bars, but in PA at least it also applies to people providing alcohol at private parties.

Have fun!

 

Would it be too trite to hold a white elephant exchange (beer exchange obviously) as well?