So, I'm going to invite a few friends over for a tasting. They all drink beer and have been to fests with me but aren't hardcore BA's. Some questions: These are the 3 themes I'm leaning towards - anyone have another idea or opinion? Stouts. I have KBS, BCBS, BBPTF and Black Note to open. Should I limit it to these 4, or expand to include a few more like Very Angry Beast? Should I keep it to barrel aged only? Quads I've been wanting to do a blind taste of Westy/Roche/St. Bern for a while, and have all these, but I also have others like Pannepot, The Perfect Crime, and a few US ones like Baby Tree, Blasphemy. Include these or stick to fewer? Old Ales. This is probably my last choice just b/c I'm not sure what I have easy access to include. I have Bois, BB4D, and 1x Adam right now. Rating I think it would be fun to do a rating system for whatever theme we do, any tips for a simple one? Temperature. This is more of a general question, but how do you guys serve a beer at 50-55 degrees? My cellar is around 65, my fridge 40 ish I guess? Just go from the cellar to 10-15 minutes in the fridge? any other tips?
Be careful about going with too many heavy beers all at once. Just be careful about going too big. So many high gravity beers all in one sitting can be a bit much. And be careful about "saving the best for last" type of tastings in scenarios like this because you may find people are kind of winding down by the time you want to get to the real treasures, or their opinions will be less reliable due to the altered moods from the heavy beers. I did a big pumpkin blind tasting once and man, people were so sick of pumpkin by the end of it. I still haven't quite enjoyed a pumpkin beer the same since. A BA Stout tasting could potentially do the same if it's too ambitious. My rating systems are usually 1-10, with .5s included. And then we average each. One thing I would also suggest for added fun, throw some "peons" in the mix to test just how much you're affected by the mystique. I have done several blind IPA tastings with really rare shit and then threw a Two Hearted or Stone in there to show just how differently we really feel about beers when we're trying them blind. Toss a BA Boris into your tasting and watch as people rank a mere mortal above these mythical beers that everyone loves so much.
Lotsa water, unbuttered and unsalted popcorn, place to sleep for all involved, are my 3 biggest tips. The beers and what order is a matter of personal taste. We try to go lightest to darkest, lowest ABV to highest, non barreled to barreled.
thanks, so some quick q's: if there are 5 guys, and I have 5 12 oz bottles (one each of KBS, BCBS, BBPT5, Black Note, and something else) does that seem like the right amount of beer and varieties? more or less? (just for the actual tasting, after that I think we'll move onto just hanging out/drinking regular stuff) you guys recommend going blind or not? most of these guys have no opinions about these beers anyways.
You'll be fine with that amount and can probably add even a little more. That's basically one per person, which isn't much at all. And I definitely have to echo having plenty of water, a neutral flavored munchie, and a place for everyone to crash. Also, space the rounds out. Give each a good amount of time. I prefer the blind tasting because every time I do one, there's something new we all learn. I mean, if they don't know the beers and have no dispositions prior, then maybe it's not a big deal. But many times, I've found that the "OMG this beer is in the BA Top 20, it's going to dominate!!" type beers wind up losing to "lesser" beers. It's interesting. I'm constantly wrong about what I go in thinking is going to be my favorite. I think other people on here would find this as well. Pliny did downright poorly in several of the DIPA blinds we did, but it did much better in the non-blinds (losing only to Heady).
Also, see the following threads: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/tasting-order-suggestions.118808/ http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-tasting-help.112230/ http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-tasting-and-managing-glassware.119719/
You know these folks talk to them before hand and have them decide on what they want to do. Its your party. Still IF you want my opinion. If this is a taste test to JUDGE beer, then its needs to be done right.IMHO Also I would ask myself are these the right group to do that? Then again it really depends on how serious a test this is. If its just a fun thing to do while drinking beer, who cares then? See this is ALL about personally, me while I think its just beer, If I am ranking my much LOVED quads, then I want a group of like minded folks to do it. Then again if they were supplying the beer they could do anyway they wanted too.. Still I am too poor to share any beer anymore, but home brewed beer. I be damned if I giving away my 7 dollar bottle of Rochefort 10 to anyone. lol mine, all mine....
thanks for those. so it seems like some are in the camp of mixing up styles (don't serve too many similar beers) and others like to keep homogenous. any ideas? personally I'm definitely interested to see which of a particular style I like the best...so I'm not really interested in going from saisons to IPA's to stouts for instance
