Things You'll Need:
- Selection of quality beers
- Selection of quality friends
- Hors d'oeuvres
- Pens and paper
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Step 1
Pick a theme. While it's perfectly fine to pick a selection of widely varied styles, it can often be a little overwhelming, especially if several of the guests are recent converts to the delights of quality beers. For such beer novices, a selection of fine European pilsners or fruity wheat ales might be the way to go.For more seasoned drinkers, you can mix up the styles more, but it's sometimes nice to go with a theme: say, comparing several British traditional bitter ales and IPAs, to an array of American examples of the style. Another might be to sample a selection of some of the magnificent beers of Belgium.In the end though, there are no rules. Picking quality brews to sample and appreciate with good friends should be a joy, regardless of the styles you pick.
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Step 2
Store the beers at their ideal serving temperatures. Lagers and pilsners can be served quite cold (about 45 º F or so), but ales such as IPAs, stouts and good old English bitter ales fare better at around 50ºF -55ºF. For the high alcohol strong ales and barleywines, optimum serving temperature is often between 55ºF and 60ºF.
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Step 3
Serve water and bread or crackers, and maybe even a selection of mild cheeses between beers. As well as cleansing the palate in readiness for the next beer sample, it can also help guests avoid inebriation. Serve more hearty fare if you'd like, but be careful not to choose pungent, heavily spiced and salty foods; they can often overpower your taste buds and compromise the tasting experience.
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Step 4
Serve the beer. It's nice, if not a little expensive, to be able to drink from a beer glass specifically designed for each brand of beer you're drinking, but it's not really essential at a tasting, since you're only pouring each guest a sample of the beer. Any glass will do. Just make sure that it's spotlessly clean; a dirty glass can have a negative effect on the flavor, and can affect the head formation of the beer.
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Step 5
Taste the beer. Encourage your guests to take their time and really savor the flavors of each one. Have them make notes about their observations and share them with everyone else. Sometimes, having someone suggest flavors, say coffee, caramel or citrus, for example, might be all that it takes for someone else to appreciate and become attuned to complex flavors in a beer that may have eluded them otherwise. After a while, they'll become more sensitive to these flavors and more able to readily identify them.
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Step 6
Rate each beer. Give each beer a rating based on appearance, texture, flavor and overall impression. Total up the scores after all the beers have been sampled to see which beers scored the highest.
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Step 7
Try some of the beers again at a later date. Sometimes revisiting a beer can be a revelation. Many beers are an acquired taste that might only be fully appreciated after repeated samplings. Refer back to the notes that were made during the evening, and try and learn from the observations of others. It may lead you to a new favorite beer.
