How to host a beer tasting party
Living in Charlotte, you can’t help but notice the ever-growing brewery scene. Each brewery has its own unique branding and its own selection of craft brews. Some have rooftops while others have beer gardens. Some run their own kitchen while others rely on rotating food trucks. Brewery events are popular offering everything from outdoor vendor markets to yoga classes. The one thing they all have in common is the offering of a “beer flight”. A beer flight consists of several 3-5 ounce pours so that you can try a sampling of what the brewery offers. It’s for those of us who are indecisive or just want to be adventurous. Wouldn’t it be fun to try the same beer tasting at home? We thought so!
Know your guest list
When planning your beer tasting at home, you start with your guest list. This may seem obvious, but you want to invite your friends that like beer! The more they know about beer, the better, but to have a couple of beer tasting beginners is fun too. There needs to be enough space for everyone to participate at the same time and enough glasses for everyone to try at least 4 samples in each round. The right number of guests falls between 6 to 12. We invited 3 other couples and it was the perfect size.
The set up
Before we get to the beer selection, here are a couple of other things to think about. There are all different kinds of beer paddles to display the beers on. Garret knocked off a style we had at one of our favorite breweries. They are usually made of wood and have 4 spots for glasses. In the center or along the side there is usually a place to either label the name of the beers or number the beers. I bought cardboard coasters from Amazon to use for labeling that fit into the middle of the paddle. This time I would label them with numbers (because the choices were secret) but in the future may use them differently.
In addition to the paddles, I made a sign to describe the different things to think about when doing a beer tasting. We also thought it would be fun to score them (before revealing their names), so I created some score sheets for each round. Both can be easily created on Canva, and you can add your own personal touches. We call our townhouse rooftop the “Widows Peak”, so I added that to the score cards.
Learn about your beer
It’s kind of amazing how many types of beer there are. When it comes to craft beer, even two beers in the same category can taste very different. Craft beers range in color, alcohol content as well as in hoppiness and maltiness. It’s fun to offer selections from different categories for your beer tasting. Use the chart to the right for some guidance. We tried to use local beers from North Carolina for our tasting (because there are so many) but picking beer from different places in the world would be fun too. After doing a little research we went with two lighter beers and two darker beers for each round. Another helpful hint is that you should taste the light ones first and move to the dark ones last.
The Food
Who doesn’t want food while drinking beer? If for no other reason, its important to cleanse your palate in between samples. Making pretzel necklaces for everyone was simple and easy but offering small bowls is just as good. We planned on eating dinner after the tasting, so I just made a charcuterie plate to snack off in between rounds. It also gave everyone something to do while we rinsed and refilled the sample glasses for the next round.
the takeaway
This was our first attempt at the beer tasting at home and so we learned some things we would maybe do different next time. We ended up doing three rounds which may have been one too many with my husband’s healthy pours! The first two rounds were beers chosen by us, which ended up being a total of eight beers! Our final round was one beer brought by each of the couples which was probably my favorite round. In the future, maybe each couple does their own flight? We also probably need to mainstream the rinsing and refilling process. All in all, it was a blast and I think we all walked away knowing a little more about which craft beers we like!
