New part-time beer job

Well, the owner of the local beer and wine gourmet store asked me to come in and start running the beer tastings and do competitive analysis and be the general beer advocate.

One of the benefits is free beer. She carries 200 or so beers, most of which are very difficult or impossible to find regionally.

So wait a minute... you are going to PAY me to drink beer? Uh... YEA!

I'm pumped because she gets beers from breweries that most folks have never heard of (board members of HBT being the exception). Just this last week she got in some beer from a local brewery that isn't even on sale to the public yet and she asked me to review it.

Here is a question for you guys... what do you think is a good approach to running the tastings? I was considering doing a blind tasting, coach the participants on the odor, appearance, and taste following many of the guidelines established by the BJCP for judging purposes. Then roll out the beer after that and talk a little about the process and ingredients that goes into making X type of beer.

Awesome!

I guess it depends on if you're going to be doung a "lecture" or a "tasting bar".

It would be cool to do a regularly scheduled "Beer Class" where you have regular participants. Develop a curriculum that you stick to, like briefly go over the basis for newcommers and then get into the nightly topic.

Well, we are currently limited to just one or two beers, rather than a range of beers as you might find in a brewpub sampler. Oddly, she does carry corona and sells quite a bit of it, so I was thinking as using that as a base taster in addition to target beers.

I have also purchased the seibel sensory training kit for my own gratification and instruction but have yet to crack them because one vial makes a whole pitcher of bad tasting beer and I didn't want to waste it on just myself. I was considering doing a sample each evening of one each but I don't know if that will fly with her.

congrats on the beer job !

Depends on the ultimate goal and your target audience. If the idea is to sell more beer, then I'd want to taste the beer first and then be asked to try and identify what I tasted, what I liked and didn't like about it. Not many people IMO want to be lectured first about something if they can get right into it. Those that show an interest beyond first tasting can then explore more with you.

I'm with samc. A "lecture type" might be too much to be doing around new craft beer drinkers. That being said, it wouldn't be a bad idea if you were to form a sort of "tasting club" and had regular members...

Anyway, congrats on the job! Jealous, obviously.

The goal is growing an active destination for good beer purchases. COnsequently they have a very good selection of fine wines and a walk-in humidor. I don't smoke cigars but they do have a beer and cigar patio.

Yea - I wasn't leaning toward a lecture. The stores plan would be to taste first without telling them what brewery the beer was from so they don't form preconceived ideas in case they don't like beer from a particular brewery or a particular style of beer for that matter.

Your point on getting them to lead in describing what they like about the beer is a good one.

I want to coach them on the process of tasting. I am certainly not a BJCP a beer judge but I can teach most people I know how to taste a beer.

If they like a particular beer then point them towards other beers they might also enjoy.

I'd stick with an informal class sort of event each week, and probably focus on a particular style (i.e. bitters, strong ale, IPA, etc) for each course.

And I want your job.

I have done several wine tasting that focus on only two or three flavors and they pair them with chocolate or other foods to show how the pairing brings out the flavor of the wine. I always thought it would be fun to do the same thing with beers.

You could pair a belgium with fruit, an IPA with strong cheese... The combinations are endless. You can even intentionally make bad pairings to accentuate the point.

JVD_X said:

The goal is growing an active destination for good beer purchases. COnsequently they have a very good selection of fine wines and a walk-in humidor. I don't smoke cigars but they do have a beer and cigar patio.

Yea - I wasn't leaning toward a lecture. The stores plan would be to taste first without telling them what brewery the beer was from so they don't form preconceived ideas in case they don't like beer from a particular brewery or a particular style of beer for that matter.

Your point on getting them to lead in describing what they like about the beer is a good one.

I want to coach them on the process of tasting. I am certainly not a BJCP a beer judge but I can teach most people I know how to taste a beer.

If they like a particular beer then point them towards other beers they might also enjoy.

Click to expand...

I did Denny's Rye IPA recently and I give a glass to someone and ask them to identify the different aroma/flavor. I assume most of these people have never had a Rye beer. No one has guessed the ingredient but I have heard 20 different guesses that were good to amazingly weird. I really enjoy playing that little game and would have fun with your new gig, if I actually like people. LOL

Alright - my first tasting is tomorrow night and it looks to be a packed house. We are featuring the following beers:

Frog’s Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale - GOLD
Beer Advocate: B+
Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co.
Akron, OH

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale - BRONZE
Beer Advocate: A-
Rate Beer: 100/100
Stone Brewing Co.
Escondido, CA

Imperial Pumpkin Ale - BRONZE
Beer Advocate: B+
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Easton, PA

Brother Davids Double - SILVER
Beer Advocate B+
Rate Beer: 98/100
Anderson Valley Brewing Co.
Boonville, CA

Curmudgeon- SILVER
Rate Beer: 98/100
Founders Brewing Co.
Grand Rapids, MI

Steelhead Extra Pale Ale - SILVER
Mad River Brewing Co.
Blue Lake, CA

If I was going to an event like this I would like to see a style sheet and what types of flavors I should be expecting. Leave the Brewery off of the sheet though.
Other wise it sounds like you have a good plan.

Well - my first testing went very well. We sold a lot of beer... the store owner was very very happy.

Here are some obervations:

1) There were obviously some BMC drinkers that came in looking for Blue Moon. Try as I might, there is just no selling something other BMC to these folks. We don't carry that.

2) I had to take man-cards from several men because their wives were much more knowledgeable about beer then their male counterparts... and had some pretty good tastes. I think some men bought because their female counterparts simply embarrassed them. Women were in picking out all sorts of beers and curious about the flavors.

We were not able to get enough of the Frogs Hollow to feature it in the line up, so we stuck with the Weyerbacher Pumpkin and sold a TON of it.

The Curmudgeon was very popular with scotch drinkers.

The steelhead was popular all around but a little too bitter for most folks.

Only one guy out of 30 liked the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale but even he was put back that it was black... I kept hearing all night that "IPA's MUST be pale in color!!!"

The Brother Davids Double was probably the most popular of the beers but didn't sell a lot. People really liked the flavor and reminded them of dessert but didn't think it was something they could "drink all night". I coached these folks that beer should be a culinary experience so , no it isn't a type of beer you would "drink all night" but one of several different types you might enjoy over the course of the evening.

Most were floored that there were beers that has 10% alcohol (why do they always focus on that feature?) and were curious as to the 40+ % alcohol beers being produced.

Sounds like it was a hit. Congrats.