Beer tasting order

[Rushell070]

Hi all, my husband is hosting a "Master Beer Challenge", where all of his brewing friends will be judging each other's beer in a blind tasting. Organizing the tasting has fallen to me, and I'm trying to work out the tasting order - this is where I need help. Obviously I know we want to go lightest to darkest, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Can anyone help me put the following beers in the most palatable order?
1. A hoppy stout
2. An "intensely bitter" IPA (brewer recommends I put this near the end)
3. A moderately bitter saison
4. Dark coffee ale
5. Little creatures-style pale ale
6. British Raj style IPA
7. Rye IPA

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hobanon]

Pale ale
Saison
British IPA
Rye IPA
Hoppy stout
Coffee ale
Bitter IPA

^makes the most sense to me, but I've only ever been the taster - not the organizer.

 

[cobrem]

I agree with the above. Light to dark isn't necessarily the best criteria. Strength of flavor probably is better - the heavily hopped stuff will fatigue the palette and should be towards the end, where the more subtle flavored beers should be first.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I might do a slightly different order, but +1 to what hobanon and cobrem are saying, color isn't the determining factor. I'd swap the Saison and Pale, the coffee and stout, then move the rye to after the stout. That's quite the variety too...hopefully they don't know what each other is bringing. If they do, it's not going,to be so blind.

Saison
Pale ale
British IPA
Coffee ale
Hoppy stout
Rye IPA
Bitter IPA