hosting a beer tasting this weekend - need input!!

[heferly]

so, a buddy of mine is turning 30 y/o this saturday...he's also a homebrewer, and loves to go to different tasting events, etc.

we're throwing him a party with about 20 people coming, and i'm short a couple of beers, and thinking how exactly i should order the ipa and the latter part of the tasting...so i'm asking for your help!

here's what i already bought, and the order i'm thinking...

paulander hefeweizen
stone pale ale
firestone walker ipa
stone smoked porter
hoppin' frog BORIS (oat RIS)
saison dupont
lips of faith la folie (sour brown)
lindemans kriek

i'm not sure if the sour should go at the end...i've never had it, but i hear it's a pretty sour, well sour...and i don't want to burn peoples taste buds. although me thinks the kriek will cut through anything.

i also need some input on a couple of additional beers to put up. the bday boy likes porters, stouts, and ipas, so i was thinking of a barrel aged stout, or a regular old porter or dipa or something. i can't go too crazy, though..most of the people coming will enjoy everything until the last 2, and i don't want to serve them more they wouldn't enjoy.

anyone have any ideas?? been trying to stick to some of the best of the styles (minus the kriek...can't justify 30 bucks for a style that only I might enjoy). if you can put out a brewery name to match the style, you get extra points :cross:

any ideas on the order of the tasting would be welcome, too

 

[Daybis]

Those are all big beers so I think it's a bit hard to put them in an order. Here's how I would put them into order

paulaner hefe
saison dupont
stone pale ale
smoked porter
firestone walker ipa
lips of faith la folie
lindemans kriek
hoppin' frog BORIS

Here's what I was thinking. You want to put the lighter beers up front and the biggest most intense beers in the back. You could probably get away with swapping the porter and the IPA, but I put the sours after the IPA because I would be afraid the sourness from both of those beers might mask a lot of the hop flavor and aroma. I've never had la folie, but the lindemans kriek is very sour. And I put the RIS in the back because it's the most dominant beer in the lineup. I'm no expert, but this is the order I would choose. At the end of the day, most of these are strong beers, so it's going to be difficult to choose the perfect order.

For other recommendations, Maharaja by Avery is a my favorite DIPA and is my second favorite beer. Greatdivide's oak aged yeti imperial stout might not be bad either. If you can find Choc, they make a really good gose. A DFH 120 min IPA might be an interesting experience.

Another thing, you are one hell of a friend for picking up beers like this for your friend's birthday. :rockin:

 

[Rivenin]

i almost like the way of the tasting!
however, i don't know if i would do the heff first.
IMO, i'd go
Stone pale to break into the tasting with a easier (IMO) drinking beer.
Then firestone (it's been awhile, but i remember it being a light IPA)
then the heff, then continue as you have it.

Also, the breweries i would select with beers might not be available over there, and it's hard to recall the beers that would be over there, as i haven't been over that way for a few years lol.

 

[weirdboy]

Saison Dupont is definitely in the wrong place. No way can you taste the subtle flavors in a saison after drinking an ipa, smoked porter, and imperial stout.

As a rule of thumb you generally want to go smaller to bigger and lighter to darker, at least when "darker" means "toasty"
I would do hefe, then saison or vice-versa.
A beer that is almost universally popular is a witbier. Hoegaarden is the most well known and easy to obtain. If you do that I would put it before the saison. It is also an interesting comparison to the hefe because it is essentially the same beer, only with a different yeast (and some fruit/spice) but tastes completely different.

The sours are an exception, of course because most people won't like them and you'll want those later on.

 

[heferly]

thanks so far! weirdboy, i agree...didn't think about the saison & being able to taste it...was thinking more of the tasters not liking it...but it makes way more sense to have that early. and the sours are in back just for the reason you mentioned.

yeah, the firestone ipa is a pretty tame ipa, and delicious as hell! i like the maharaja idea...that's a pretty good double.

i can get a lot of different beers here in chicago...but can't get russian river or some of the more obscure breweries.

more suggestions welcome!

 

[DannPM]

Make sure you have mild flavorless crackers (like motza) and rinse water to swish around and spit out. Having those palette cleansers between each beer will pretty much make up for any bad judgments in flight order.

 

[heferly]

forgot to ask, daybis (or anyone else), have you had the yeti?? i had a few bottles in the cart, then swapped them out for hoppin frog, since i've had the BORIS before. i like the idea of a stout w/some sort of special aging or bourbon/cherry/vanilla or something.

 

[wonderbread23]

I'd put the smoked porter last. Smoke can certainly linger. I'd do this:

paulander hefeweizen
saison dupont
stone pale ale
firestone walker ipa
lips of faith la folie (sour brown)
lindemans kriek
hoppin' frog BORIS (oat RIS)
stone smoked porter

The sour beers might be a nice cleanser between the ipas and dark beers.

 

[Daybis]

forgot to ask, daybis (or anyone else), have you had the yeti?? i had a few bottles in the cart, then swapped them out for hoppin frog, since i've had the BORIS before. i like the idea of a stout w/some sort of special aging or bourbon/cherry/vanilla or something.

I have had the Yeti. It is very delicious.