Calling all beer geeks

[jldecarlo]

I have been asked to coordinate a beer tasting for the benefit of the local Catholic elementary school (I love this). The basic idea is to have about six beers for 30-35 people to try. The presumption is that the people will like beer in general but not necessarily be major craft beer drinkers (i.e. beer snobs, like my wife calls me). There will be no Bud/Miller/Coors etc but should be at least a few beers that the average Miller Lite drinker might like.

Here is my shopping list for the buyer:

1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

2. An American Wheat Beer - Harpoon UFO, Anchor Summer beer, Sierra Nevada Unfiltered Wheat, Widmer Hefeweizen or Pyriamid Hefeweizen

3. An IPA - Dogfish Head 60 min IPA, Stone IPA, Harpoon IPA

4. A Porter - Deschuttes Black Butte Porter, Sierra Nevada Porter, Redhook Porter, Anchor Porter

5. A Belgian White- Hoegaarden Wit, Celis White, Blue Moon Belgian White

6. An Oktoberfest - Paulaner Oktoberfest or any decent brand of Oktoberfest.

Maybe 1-2 bottles each of the large size (about 0.75 liter or the size of a bottle of wine) of Chimay (either Red or Blue) and Arrogant Bastard (regular or oaked).
Also, if you can't find anything in one of the six categories above, I would substitute New Belgium Fat Tire or Anchor Steam.


Not comprehensive for sure. Could use a stout or bitter or any of several German beers, but what have I left out? And what do I get rid of to keep the main list at six beers?

L

[rowlin]

Maybe Guinness?

I'd steer away from some of the hoppier, more bitter options out there.

[bergs]

Originally Posted by jldecarlo

I have been asked to coordinate a beer tasting for the benefit of the local Catholic elementary school (I love this). The basic idea is to have about six beers for 30-35 people to try. The presumption is that the people will like beer in general but not necessarily be major craft beer drinkers (i.e. beer snobs, like my wife calls me). There will be no Bud/Miller/Coors etc but should be at least a few beers that the average Miller Lite drinker might like.

Here is my shopping list for the buyer:

1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

2. An American Wheat Beer - Harpoon UFO, Anchor Summer beer, Sierra Nevada Unfiltered Wheat, Widmer Hefeweizen or Pyriamid Hefeweizen

3. An IPA - Dogfish Head 60 min IPA, Stone IPA, Harpoon IPA

4. A Porter - Deschuttes Black Butte Porter, Sierra Nevada Porter, Redhook Porter, Anchor Porter

5. A Belgian White- Hoegaarden Wit, Celis White, Blue Moon Belgian White

6. An Oktoberfest - Paulaner Oktoberfest or any decent brand of Oktoberfest.

Maybe 1-2 bottles each of the large size (about 0.75 liter or the size of a bottle of wine) of Chimay (either Red or Blue) and Arrogant Bastard (regular or oaked).
Also, if you can't find anything in one of the six categories above, I would substitute New Belgium Fat Tire or Anchor Steam.


Not comprehensive for sure. Could use a stout or bitter or any of several German beers, but what have I left out? And what do I get rid of to keep the main list at six beers?

L

Keeping in mind that all recommendations are completely subjective, I'd aim towards exposing people to very diverse types of beer and talk about how there is everything in between these...give them the extreme variants of each type and start with an IPA as the baseline as it's probably the most like your typical Bud Light / Miller Light in this list.

1) IPA.....having a pale ale and an indian pale ale is a bit redundant for this. The beers are very different, but won't taste signficantly so to non-regular beer drinkers. Recommendation: Harpoon IPA (most drinkable IPA in my opinion)

2) Stout/Porter....can't go wrong with Guinness here, but if you suspect some of these people may have tried a Guinness before, then get something they likely haven't tried, like a chocolate stout or an imperial stout. Recommendation: Guinness or Samuel Smith Imperial Stout or Oatmeal Stout.

3) Wheat...pretty straightforward, given how popular they are in the summer. Recommendation: Widmer Hefeweizen is the most common that I've seen, but I'm also not a wheat beer fan that much.

4) Trappist Ale...they've been brewing beers for hundreds of years. Recommendation: Chimay all the way. For something interesting, get small samples of the Red, White, and Blue Chimays.

5) Lager....gotta include a nice strong German lager in the mix. That said, I'm a big fan of Anchor Steam. Anything German and prevalent will do though. Find out what they serve under the beer tents and go with that

6) Flavored....show people what's possible when they the manufacturers get creative. Maybe some smaller flights within this category and people randomly get one of them. There are some fruitier beers that I've heard are quite good, but I'm a huge fan of Shipyard Pumpkinhead. Shipyard also makes a good Apple-flavored beer.

Sounds like fun!!

[mooremo]

Left Handed Milk Stout from Colorado is a great beer.

[guinness]

Many good beers are regional so being in NH its tough to suggest beers you can get in TX when so many beers up here are not in TX, so sadly I will call upon the commercial beers that hipsters would turn their noses on due to how commercial they are.

Berg hit some good points and I was about to write Smith's oatmeal stout as a glaring omission from your initial list.




Guinness is of course my favorite but I buy the hopiest IPA's out there. I don't think of IPA as a base after the horse urine beers but rather I would go with a base Ale such as Long Trail Ale. Otter Creek Copper Ale is even better. I think these will bridge the Coors/Miller folks more than the others.




Another glaring omission is a brown ale. Newcastle is probably the highest seller aka most likely to be at your house. Brooklyn Brown Ale would be better to truly represent a brown ale.

For a different kind of beer you can show Magic Hat #9. All the hippies drink it and all the kids think there is weed in it. Of course there isn't but its yet another Vermont beer and it doesn't taste like others.

[mooremo]

Good call, didn't even think about the possibility of not being able to get a beer in your area. I have ran into in Florida so maybe it will make it up there.
Didn't mean to offend your sensabilities. If you ever make it to Texas, I will be buy the first and second rounds.

[opengun]

Women like fruit beer so maybe a raspberry ale would be in order.

[Nicolas M]

For the oktoberfest category I would suggest the Paulaner weissbier.
It's a wheat beer that you can order at a moving carousel during the oktoberfest. It's my favorite attraction of the fest, and the beer is great. Drinking while spinning 360° can be a bit tricky after a few pints though.

Other beers I have in mind :

A lambic one, like the Kriek (cherry flavored) or the Faro (candy flavored). It's a very particular kind of beer, perfect for a degustation.
For the abbey beer, I'll go with Chimay too, but the Leffe triple might be worth a shot.

[Schmendr1ck]

Assuming the attendees are most familiar with American pale lagers (Budweiser and brethren), I'd try for a selection that will introduce new-but-accessible styles. It's tough to narrow it down to just six, but I'll try.

1) Belgian Wheat: I think a hefe is a little easier to jump into for a beer noob, but the popularity of Blue Moon and Shock Top are out there to prove me wrong. My favorite hefe is Weihenstephaner, though Franziskaner is also very good. If you go with a witbier instead, I love Hoegaarden, but Blue Moon and Shock Top are generally easier to find and might be more accessible for folks at the tasting.

2) Oatmeal or Chocolate Stout: This is a somewhat "extreme" style for those who are used to American lagers, but I think it's a style that many of those drinkers will embrace. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is a great one (as guinness pointed out) and is easy to find everywhere.

3) India Pale Ale: This is a tough one, because the high bitterness will scare off a lot of folks, but it's also an important style that you should have on hand. I'd go with something balanced and not too extreme - Two Hearted Ale is a good one. I love Southern Tier 2XIPA, but this is higher ABV, very citrusy, and may not be appropriate for this type of tasting.

4) Amber/Vienna Lager: Most folks will know the American pale lager. Give them something in a similar style but more reflective of what a lager should be - all-malt (no corn or rice) for better body and clean flavor. Samuel Adams Boston Lager definitely works here - it's not the absolute best of this style but is quite good and very easy to find.

5) Belgian Tripel: This style really showcases how complex an ale can be. If you go with this style, it has to be La Fin du Monde. I can drink that stuff by the case - tons of fruit and spice, strong but not heavy and very drinkable.

6) American Brown Ale: A good middle-of-the-road style for drinkers who want more flavor and body than Budweiser but don't want to fill up on a heavier style like a porter or stout. Smuttynose Old Dog Brown is a good one that is widely available.

[guinness]

Schmendr1ck is reminding me of one awesome and one not so awesome story.

Originally Posted by Schmendr1ck

Smuttynose Old Dog Brown is a good one that is widely available.

Smuttynose is here in NH and one cool experience I had with them was about 12-13 years ago when they weren't really distributed wide yet. We were living here in our house which is far from civilization. I picked up a six pack of Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale but that night when I was settling down, I poured the first one in a glass and it was Old Dog Brown. At the time I couldn't stand this beer (Brown Dog). Anyways, using my trusty modem, I wrote an email to Smuttynose about it. I was surprised to get an email from the CEO the next day asking for the serial number on the bottle. They traced it down to like 6 cases or so that left with the wrong labeling! He took my address and had a sales representative drive to my house in the boondocks and deliver 2 free cases of Shoals Pale Ale. I've been loyal to them since.

Originally Posted by Schmendr1ck

I love Southern Tier 2XIPA, but this is higher ABV, very citrusy, and may not be appropriate for this type of tasting.

You had to bring it up. I'm coaching TBall this year and 3 weeks ago we had our first (dinnertime) practice. Afterwards, I decided to take the other coach out to our local watering hole that is 2 miles from my house. They had 2X IPA on tap and I never had it. Seven 20oz'ers within ~2hours and we were out of there to get home. For the first time, I got more hammered after arriving home by not even drinking. 8.25% Alcohol and its catching up to me. I fell asleep on the living room floor. I wake up in the morning naked in my bedroom and my wife starts chewing me out. Apparently I woke up from the living room floor, stood up, unzipped my pants and pissed all over myself and the rug while she was lying on the couch with her eyes open in disbelief. She then yelled at me to go upstairs after stripping me down, then "police taped" the scene for me to cleanup the next day. I was basically on a socioeconomic level between Busto Railbird and Train Car Hobo. More towards the latter. Tough night but my wife is always a champ about these things. I drink. I drink alot. However 140 ounzes of 8.25% Alc in 2 hours was a bit challenging.

Originally Posted by mooremo

Left Handed Milk Stout from Colorado is a great beer.

This sounds delicious. Have not seen this one locally but Colorado puts out so many good beers that its tough to export all of them.