Tasting Order: DIPA and Lambic

I'd say sour then IPA. Big hoppy beers tend to kill tastebuds the fastest.

 

what are the other beers/how many are there?

In the middle of a crazy tasting, I have often found lambics/sours to be refreshing for your palate.

 

Can't answer your question myself, but I could tell you what my friendly beertender at Pizza Port Carlsbad said. I ordered one of their house IPA's and they had a lambic guest beer that I also wanted to try.

BT - are these both for you?
Me - yes??
BT - people don't normally drink ipa and lambic together.
Me - (in my head) obviously you don't know any real drinkers, as I walk away with my pint and a tulip!

 

^ love your avatar. That's one of the best beer experiences I've ever had.

But I'll concur with the Port bartender -- it's best not to drink these one after the other. Sours are good palate cleansers in many cases, but I'd structure the tasting to feature the Cantillon later as the main event, since it's likely going to be more memorable for the right reasons than the Japanese DIPA.

I'd just try to have at least one or two lighter and less complex beers as buffers in between them. And if it's a long tasting with a lot of beers, be sure to get to the Cantillon before palate fatigue sets in.

 

DIPA will linger if it's any good, so anything less hoppy that follows would be lost. I've had that happen at a couple of store tastings even with regular IPAs--the rep would put their "best" IPA first and you can't tell the rest of them apart because all you taste is the IPA. I would put Cantillon first. If you can get some cheese after it, it would serve as a decent palate cleanser, so if you have any mild beers, they would work nicely (don't think pretzels would do the job). DIPA last, unless you also have an imperial stout. But if you did, it would be a really strange tasting.

 

There's no reason you can't take a break between tastings you know?

Grab some dry water crackers, take 5, 10, minutes... have a rest... maybe throw a food pairing in there for 30 minutes. Then start up again.

Problem solved!

 

What!!? Stop drinking beer for 10 whole minutes?? Are you crazy?? Mainline that sucker! Where's that IV?

 

just stick it in my veins baby!