Do you consider the order of drinking?

I began the night with a sweet water happy ending, then a gueze, and then a kolsh. The sour dominated my palate, and it was very difficult to discern those nuances characteristic of a kolsh. It was really disappointing. I wasn't able to appropriately enjoy it. I've never really planned the order of my beers, but today I was forced to reconsider. Does anyone take this into consideration? Do big beers dominate future drinks for you?

 

Big drinks do dominate for me. If I plan on having several different beers, I try to order them by intensity. I start with the lighter and lower ABV beers and work my way up to darker more intense beers.

 

I do this too! If you start with a stout and end with an amber it just don't work!

 

I try to start with a lighter beer especially when eating as the bigger beers tend to fill me up and ruin my palette for the others I might try... Sometimes I lose track of dinner and the beer menu consumes me and I get that big beer that looks tasty!!

 

Yep, I do too. You gotta appreciate the flavors of all the beers you drink!

 

I've been doing it wrong. I've always started with the bigger more flavorable beers.

When I do that, I can usually taste what's not in the lighter beers.

hmm. Maybe I'll try it the opposite way.

E

 

I always try to plan my consumption according to its affect on my palette (light lower ibu beers first), but as they say... the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

 

I mainly watch IBUs, starting with the lowest. A really hoppy beer will make anything less hoppy taste very bland. I guess I'd bump a really intense stout further up the line too, especially if it was one of the coffee/bourbon/smoke/vanilla type concoctions.

This is actually one reason I tend to not do taster trays. 3 or 4 ounces of a bunch of beers just tends to confuse me and my palate. If I want to try a few, sometimes I'll order glasses (12oz) rather than pints, if that's an option.

 

Nope, I start with the most appealing beer on the menu and work from there.

 

Yes I always think about it. If I start out drinking IIPA it's going to be pretty hard to taste that witbier afterwards.

 

Unless it is a taster tray, I do this. I can't drink 3 beers without being well towards drunk, so if I go for a second on a regular night it probably wasn't planned.

 

Generally I try and start with weaker, paler beers, working up to the stronger and darker. But what happens when I have a dark mild at 3.5% and an IPA at 6%? Start with the paler one, or the weaker one?

 

That's truly a predicament!

 

I never thought about it too much, but I guess I do that. If I'm tasting multiple beers I will more than likely start with the maltiest and work my way to the IPA's otherwise I'll blow out my taste buds on the hops. And if I'm having any strong beers like Barleywines or Belgian Tripels or Quads they will get saved til later in the session since they're higher grav, I'd rather not get full or blotzed early on.

 

If I'm out at a normal dinner, I usually get whatever looks good, be it an Ipa, stout, esb or whatever. If I have a second beer, it's either the same, a different beer but same style, or something cheap and cold. I wouldn't order a stout and then a kolsch, but I'd order a stout and then a Budweiser.

 

Some beers are quaff-able. Most lighter ales, most lagers do this. As soon as a beer starts getting overwhelming alcohol content with strong roasted or burnt flavors, I'll refrain from drinking them until I'm eating.

I wont drink barley wine anymore without eating a full meal. No worries, I eat every day, sometimes three times! With sour beers, I learned early on that eating a sweet food inbetween each sip helps compliment the sourness, and make it even more enjoyable. One food in particular that I could eat with a sour all day long are candied nuts from Trader Joes. Any kind of sweet nuts work though- that carmelly roasted nutty flavor is great inbetween sour sips.

 

i know the most expensive ones seem to be on my tab later in the night- my drunker i get, the fatter my wallet is... i know that much

 

I always go malty to hoppy, or lightest in flavor to strongest. The hop flavors will actually stick to your tastebuds for quite a while.

Sometimes it's hard when homebrewers get together and you have a nice IPA and then someone wants you to try a wit or blonde. It's impossible.

 

I don't usually mix it up but when I do, I most certainly consider the progression of beer. If I'm drinking a pale ale or an IPA, I'll usually stick with that throughout the night.