Okay, so I pitched this idea during Expo but due to the lateness of conceiving it I got shot down. That's ok though, there's 3 weeks till ICOK.
Blind horizontal beer tasting
I will supply a selection of beers in the same or similar style which will be poured into color-coded, identical glassware. I'll supply some background information about the style, what makes it unique, how it's brewed, and so on. You'll be able to sample these beers side-by-side, compare flavor profiles, what makes them different, what makes them similar, and try and figure out what you like. You'll be able to discuss the beers with the other tasters to try and pinpoint things about them, argue the merits of the beer you prefer, and then after the beers are mostly consumed, you'll find out the brewers and names of the beers you've tasted.
Each person would get 2-3 oz of each beer, covering 5 to 6 beers, depending on how many are participating, with a hard upper limit of 6-9 people depending on what tasting option is chosen.
Technically, proper Marzen styles should've already been consumed; Oktoberfest is actually in September, and it's a style that's best fresh. One tasting that I have prepared is barrel-aged stouts and porters. We could also do a tasting of belgian quadrupels, old ales, double-IPAs, strong ales, etc. Other horizontal tastings would be doable but I'd prefer to draw from stuff I have in my cellar.
The cost would approximately $8 to $12 per person, depending on which beer style is picked and how many people want in.
First thing I need to do is gauge interest and then I'll put up a survey to help determine which style the tasting ends up being...and then it's first-paid, first-in on dibs to be at the table.
In. Totally, totally in. In like flint. And steel. Like fire to a tree.
If you're asking for preferences, I'm the type that likes to try new things. My only preference, really, is against things that are strong on the hop-y side. Conversely I really enjoy odd beers like fruit beers, chocolate stouts, banana nut beer, etc.
Of course, if you get a wide assortment of things, I wouldn't mind at all if a hoppy beer was thrown in for good taste. But I'm not very knowledgeable about the proper setup of a fine tasting, so perhaps it's more common to keep the spectrum narrow to keep the palate clean.
TL; DR version: I like anything except strong hops beers. If you elect for that, I'll have to sit out. All others, I'm in.
Of course, if you get a wide assortment of things, I wouldn't mind at all if a hoppy beer was thrown in for good taste. But I'm not very knowledgeable about the proper setup of a fine tasting, so perhaps it's more common to keep the spectrum narrow to keep the palate clean.
TL; DR version: I like anything except strong hops beers. If you elect for that, I'll have to sit out. All others, I'm in.
Depends on what kind of tasting we run. A proper horizontal tasting keeps it limited to beer in a similar style or flavor profile. A vertical tasting is the same beer in different vintages - One from 2010, 2009, 2008, etc, allowing you to compare how the same beer has improved/worsened with age.
Or we could just do a themed tasting that allows us to pull in a variety of high-end stuff you wouldn't normally get to try. "Big beers," "High ABV beers," "best in class beers," etc.
I'll put up the survey with the specific choices when I get a chance and we'll go with whatever is the most popular.
We'd definitely want to do this earlier in the night before the party gets packed and crazy, we'd need a good 45 to 90 minutes to sit with the beers and sample them together round-table style. Maybe shortly after dinner on Friday or Saturday would be good? I guess it greatly depends when people are arriving.
We'd definitely want to do this earlier in the night before the party gets packed and crazy, we'd need a good 45 to 90 minutes to sit with the beers and sample them together round-table style. Maybe shortly after dinner on Friday or Saturday would be good? I guess it greatly depends when people are arriving.
A sound plan. Especially before people start burning their tastebuds off with those damn (yet delectable) Fire Cherries and whatever other shenanigans and moonshineries people bring in.
In. <strike>But I will be HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED if we do barley wine. I don't even know how that's even considered a contender against Quadrupels.</strike> I am an idiot and am banning myself from beer discussions for the rest of the day.
Ryan, are you planning to do the beer selection pending the survey? Let me know if you need any help. We have a few shops that have a huge beer depth and assortment. I also have growlers so I can get stuff off the tap from Founders ,New Holland, and Schmohz
Depends on which option we go with; several of the tastings I could do with what I have in my cellar currently. I will definitely be tapping some of you if needed.
Andrew, did you do the survey at 8:07am or was that Wags? Someone from Grand Rapids did. Either way, whoever didn't do it yet, please do when you have a chance. I need to finalize the lists ASAP so I can figure out who needs to bring what if anything.
Depends on which option we go with; several of the tastings I could do with what I have in my cellar currently. I will definitely be tapping some of you if needed.
Andrew, did you do the survey at 8:07am or was that Wags? Someone from Grand Rapids did. Either way, whoever didn't do it yet, please do when you have a chance. I need to finalize the lists ASAP so I can figure out who needs to bring what if anything.
Okay, we've got "ins" from myself, Rootwyrm, MAGIC, WagsFTW, UPSLynx, Lincoln, Bandrik, Annes, Ryder, GQueen, and Thrax.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to call that the cutoff, based on the number of glasses I have at my disposal.
I believe I still need survey responses from Wags, Annes, and Thrax. Then I'll be able to pick which tasting we go with, finalize the beer lists, and get the exact dollar amount figured out.
If any seats open up once the beer option and pricing are revealed then I'll be able to take some additional peeps.
Okay, we've got "ins" from myself, Rootwyrm, MAGIC, WagsFTW, UPSLynx, Lincoln, Bandrik, Annes, Ryder, GQueen, and Thrax.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to call that the cutoff, based on the number of glasses I have at my disposal.
I believe I still need survey responses from Wags, Annes, and Thrax. Then I'll be able to pick which tasting we go with, finalize the beer lists, and get the exact dollar amount figured out.
If any seats open up once the beer option and pricing are revealed then I'll be able to take some additional peeps.
The beer availability is the biggest issue. If I've got 6 beers in mind but I can't get sufficient quantities of all 6, it's a no-go. Right now I know that for at least a couple options in those tastings, I can get at least 1 bomber or 2 12oz bottles of some pretty specific beers. 24oz/22oz/25.4oz - Split that 11 ways and you've got a nice 2 ounce and change sample that's sufficient to really taste the beer. Add any more people in there and the samples just get too small.
The results are in folks! Minus Thrax who is sadly without Internet, all participants have responded.
My methodology is simple - Ranking a choice as 1 gave it 6 points, ranking it as 2 gave it 5 points, and so on down to 1 point for a 6 ranking. It turns out that the same tasting would've won based on pure popular vote for 1st place, but in the odd chance that wasn't the case I wanted to allow for support at lower rankings to factor in. That way if a tasting had broad support as a second or third choice it would be a viable possibility.
Drums please!
As you can see, Barrel-aged dark ales took the cake. It earned 5 votes for 1st choice, and got some nice nudges as a backup choice. Abt/Quadrupels came in a VERY close second, and I'm glad it came in second. Actually, I'm glad both of those were the top 2 choices, and I'll tell you why.
I've been amassing a nice selection of barrel-aged dark ales for a while now. I've got one rare selection that could never be bought in stores and will probably never be bottled again. I've got some anniversary ales that are only released once a year. And I've got some nice vintages of some older stuff. All in all, this is the tasting that I've got the best supply of on-hand and ready to pour. It'll also be the most diverse while still fitting within the horizontal label; yeah, the beers aren't all exactly the same style, but they're similar enough to allow for some very good comparing and contrasting.
I'm very excited about this one.
I'm glad quads came in second because while I have a good lineup of quads I've been accumulating, the great white whale known as the Westy 12 is still something I don't have yet. Westy 12 is renowned to be THE best beer in the world by many beer fans and different rating methods. I think it'd be disappointing to do a quad tasting if I didn't try my darndest to put that into the mix, just so we could all judge for ourselves, without bias, if it really is a cut above other contenders like Rochefort 10 and St Bernardus 12.
Anyways, here's the final details:
At around 6:30 or 7:00pm on Saturday, October 30th, we'll be sampling at minimum 6 beers. They'll hail from as far away as California to New York and back to Michigan. They're porters, stouts, and imperial stouts, aged in either oak barrels or bourbon barrels. With 11 tasters, the sample size will be at least 2.2 oz per beer. The minimum ABV on these beers is 7% but the average of all 6 is 10.7%. I can guarantee you that you will be trying some new stuff.
Cost per seat is $12, payable day of. I'd rather avoid paypal because those assholes are taking money out of all transactions these days.
Comments
Blind horizontal beer tasting
I will supply a selection of beers in the same or similar style which will be poured into color-coded, identical glassware. I'll supply some background information about the style, what makes it unique, how it's brewed, and so on. You'll be able to sample these beers side-by-side, compare flavor profiles, what makes them different, what makes them similar, and try and figure out what you like. You'll be able to discuss the beers with the other tasters to try and pinpoint things about them, argue the merits of the beer you prefer, and then after the beers are mostly consumed, you'll find out the brewers and names of the beers you've tasted.
Each person would get 2-3 oz of each beer, covering 5 to 6 beers, depending on how many are participating, with a hard upper limit of 6-9 people depending on what tasting option is chosen.
Technically, proper Marzen styles should've already been consumed; Oktoberfest is actually in September, and it's a style that's best fresh. One tasting that I have prepared is barrel-aged stouts and porters. We could also do a tasting of belgian quadrupels, old ales, double-IPAs, strong ales, etc. Other horizontal tastings would be doable but I'd prefer to draw from stuff I have in my cellar.
The cost would approximately $8 to $12 per person, depending on which beer style is picked and how many people want in.
First thing I need to do is gauge interest and then I'll put up a survey to help determine which style the tasting ends up being...and then it's first-paid, first-in on dibs to be at the table.
What say ye?
In. Totally, totally in. In like flint. And steel. Like fire to a tree.
If you're asking for preferences, I'm the type that likes to try new things. My only preference, really, is against things that are strong on the hop-y side. Conversely I really enjoy odd beers like fruit beers, chocolate stouts, banana nut beer, etc.
Of course, if you get a wide assortment of things, I wouldn't mind at all if a hoppy beer was thrown in for good taste. But I'm not very knowledgeable about the proper setup of a fine tasting, so perhaps it's more common to keep the spectrum narrow to keep the palate clean.
TL; DR version: I like anything except strong hops beers. If you elect for that, I'll have to sit out. All others, I'm in.
Depends on what kind of tasting we run. A proper horizontal tasting keeps it limited to beer in a similar style or flavor profile. A vertical tasting is the same beer in different vintages - One from 2010, 2009, 2008, etc, allowing you to compare how the same beer has improved/worsened with age.
Or we could just do a themed tasting that allows us to pull in a variety of high-end stuff you wouldn't normally get to try. "Big beers," "High ABV beers," "best in class beers," etc.
I'll put up the survey with the specific choices when I get a chance and we'll go with whatever is the most popular.
We'd definitely want to do this earlier in the night before the party gets packed and crazy, we'd need a good 45 to 90 minutes to sit with the beers and sample them together round-table style. Maybe shortly after dinner on Friday or Saturday would be good? I guess it greatly depends when people are arriving.
A sound plan. Especially before people start burning their tastebuds off with those damn (yet delectable) Fire Cherries and whatever other shenanigans and moonshineries people bring in.
Also, I have figured out my costume. Many attendees will be quite pleased.
Thrax, are you going as a giant bottle of Nova Schin?
I mean, come on... I expected greater things from you. Like Box Owl, perhaps. Or at least a Mountie, eh?
(throw in a Flemish to fuck with people
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TBVLLNS
Yeah. Right. Like I'm going to miss this. BAHAHAHAHA.
SO TOTALLY IN.
Andrew, did you do the survey at 8:07am or was that Wags? Someone from Grand Rapids did. Either way, whoever didn't do it yet, please do when you have a chance. I need to finalize the lists ASAP so I can figure out who needs to bring what if anything.
http://bit.ly/asDDOJ
Mmmm... growlers...
I did it.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to call that the cutoff, based on the number of glasses I have at my disposal.
I believe I still need survey responses from Wags, Annes, and Thrax. Then I'll be able to pick which tasting we go with, finalize the beer lists, and get the exact dollar amount figured out.
If any seats open up once the beer option and pricing are revealed then I'll be able to take some additional peeps.
Survey! Please!
I figured as much, I was just curious what you had in mind.
Ill bring my own glass if that allows for another person to be able to participate.
My methodology is simple - Ranking a choice as 1 gave it 6 points, ranking it as 2 gave it 5 points, and so on down to 1 point for a 6 ranking. It turns out that the same tasting would've won based on pure popular vote for 1st place, but in the odd chance that wasn't the case I wanted to allow for support at lower rankings to factor in. That way if a tasting had broad support as a second or third choice it would be a viable possibility.
Drums please!
As you can see, Barrel-aged dark ales took the cake. It earned 5 votes for 1st choice, and got some nice nudges as a backup choice. Abt/Quadrupels came in a VERY close second, and I'm glad it came in second. Actually, I'm glad both of those were the top 2 choices, and I'll tell you why.
I've been amassing a nice selection of barrel-aged dark ales for a while now. I've got one rare selection that could never be bought in stores and will probably never be bottled again. I've got some anniversary ales that are only released once a year. And I've got some nice vintages of some older stuff. All in all, this is the tasting that I've got the best supply of on-hand and ready to pour. It'll also be the most diverse while still fitting within the horizontal label; yeah, the beers aren't all exactly the same style, but they're similar enough to allow for some very good comparing and contrasting.
I'm very excited about this one.
I'm glad quads came in second because while I have a good lineup of quads I've been accumulating, the great white whale known as the Westy 12 is still something I don't have yet. Westy 12 is renowned to be THE best beer in the world by many beer fans and different rating methods. I think it'd be disappointing to do a quad tasting if I didn't try my darndest to put that into the mix, just so we could all judge for ourselves, without bias, if it really is a cut above other contenders like Rochefort 10 and St Bernardus 12.
Anyways, here's the final details:
At around 6:30 or 7:00pm on Saturday, October 30th, we'll be sampling at minimum 6 beers. They'll hail from as far away as California to New York and back to Michigan. They're porters, stouts, and imperial stouts, aged in either oak barrels or bourbon barrels. With 11 tasters, the sample size will be at least 2.2 oz per beer. The minimum ABV on these beers is 7% but the average of all 6 is 10.7%. I can guarantee you that you will be trying some new stuff.
Cost per seat is $12, payable day of. I'd rather avoid paypal because those assholes are taking money out of all transactions these days.
Cheers guys!