Host a beer tasting party this festive season
Denis da Silva, a trade brewer at Newlands in Capetown believes that beer is more versatile than wine because "beer is food."
Beer has many different characteristics thanks to its varied ingredients, with hundreds of malted barley varieties, yeast strains and hops.
“Beer is good, food is good, but nothing beats good food with good beer So why not host a beer tasting party this festive season,” says da Silva.
This is how:
1. CONFIRM NUMBER OF GUESTS FOR CATERING:
Da Silva suggests a six-pack of each beer for a party of 20 people. This works out to be three servings per 340ml bottle of beer.
2. THE BEER: Provide your guests with a variety of flavours. Da Silva suggests the following beers: Crisp Hop Malt Roast Fruity Flavoured
3. SERVED CHILLED: Make sure you serve chilled beers to optimise the tasting experience. Keep them in the fridge or an ice bucket until they are served.
4. WATER: In between beers, it is recommended to cleanse your palate with water.
5. GLASSWARE: Mix things up with a variety of glassware styles per beer style – standard/classic, snifter/goblet, tulip, flute, pilsner/ weizen or stange. It is best to use smaller glassware in a beer tasting as you will only be pouring the beer into a third of the glass. Remember it is a taster only.
6. SNACKS: If you are only providing snacks, then make sure you have an assortment of low flavoured foods as to not compromise your palate – such as unsalted pretzels or crackers and raw vegetables (carrot and celery sticks).
7. PLATED COURSES: If you really want to wow your guests, host your beer tasting with a food pairing. Take your time serving each dish because a beer and food pairing is best enjoyed slowly.
8. DÉCOR: Depending on your resources and style, you can have fun setting up the décor for your beer tasting party. You can label ice buckets with the various beers you will be tasting and have beer tasting key notes printed, explaining the beers you will be serving. You can even go as far as printing beer score sheets – allowing guests to score the beer tastes for themselves.
9.BLIND TASTER: If you are into party games, you could build a blind tasting into the evening’s proceedings. Away from eyeshot, pour a beer of your choice into jug and then serve to guests with the notion they need to guess what beer it is.You can even have a prize for the correct guess – a six pack of their favourite beer or dinner on you.
10. DESIGNATED DRIVERS: Because you want your guests to drink responsibly, ensure everyone has booked a driving service to get them safely home.
11. EDUTAINMENT: Encourage discussions among your guests so they are having fun while learning about the tastes of beer.
