The Naked Pint (55 page)

—EDGAR ALLAN POE

N
ow it’s time to share the love! The craft beer movement is thriving because of a kind of grassroots movement. It’s simple economics. The more people know about craft beer, the more they will demand it in fine restaurants, bars, and gastropubs, and thus the more it will be supplied by distributors and importers alike! It’s time for you to become an active participant in this grassroots movement, a beer activist if you will. Invite your friends and colleagues into your newly adjusted craft beer friendly home and blow their minds. Use the beer recipes, brew up some beer, get the cheese pairings together, open up the beer cellar, and share your beer knowledge wealth with some of your favorite people.

B
eer tastings have been going on in the craft beer world for years, but they had little impact on the outside world until very recently. Craft beer is finally catching on in hipster circles and is becoming the latest greatest tipple in the fast and furious foodie world. Specialty and gourmet foods have become more available and popular with the rise of the celebrity chef and the advent of the Food Network and shows like
Top Chef
and
Hell’s Kitchen
. On the coattails of this foodie revolution rides craft beer. Now people young and old are seeking out great craft beer to entertain with, and this outside-the-box thinking is leading to altogether new and creative ways of entertaining. People are starting to throw beer-tasting parties the same way that they were hosting wine tastings 10 years ago.

We know this because people are hiring us to help them host these parties. We’re not here to write ourselves out of a job, but we are here to tell you that you can do it on your own! Have no fear, we’ll show you how to do it from start to finish. Instead of having to hire us, you can cut out the middleman and have a truly unique party for your friends. Just follow a few simple steps.

Entertaining with craft beer can be challenging because of its lack of availability. So we suggest that before you decide on a theme for your tasting or food to cook or pairings to make, you actually see what beers are available to you. Although there is a smattering of specialty beer shops popping up here and there, the best place to find rare artisanal and craft beer is at boutique wine shops. These shop owners have been on the cutting edge of craft beer since the revolution began and often know as much about the beer as they do wine. Some are even employing beer experts and buyers (love that). As a matter of fact, our local Whole Foods Market has created a beer specialist position and has an amazing selection of craft and artisanal beers.

Craft beer bars are also a great resource. Not only are the beers available at local craft beer bars a good representation of what you’ll be able to get in the area but, we hope, the bartenders and managers are knowledgeable enough and friendly enough to give you good information about what beers are coming soon, what beers are going away, what beers are rare in the area, what beers were a once off (a one-time sale), what beers are seasonal, and so on. If for some bizarre reason the staff isn’t in the know or isn’t friendly (they bloody well should be, but if they aren’t), craft beer bars are also a Mecca for beer-geeks who
love
to talk about the latest and greatest secrets in craft beer (and from whom we’ve received many great tips). So sit down at the bar, see what’s in stock, have some beers, and talk to the people there. Sounds like some grueling research, no?

Now that you’ve researched and evaluated the available beers, you can start thinking about a tasting. Use the criteria you now know and start thinking about how the beers could work in a lineup. Think about which beers are very different from each other and which beers are similar. Think about which ones are true to style and which ones taste much different from what you had expected based on the name, style, or color. Sometimes we pick beers based on a theme of a special event or the time of year, but we always try to pick a wide variety of different beer flavors. You won’t be able to please everybody all the time. But if you have a nice selection that covers many different flavor profiles, you will be able to suit many different palates.

Here are some examples of themes that we’ve done for beer tastings:

When we do beer tastings, we usually pick 8 to 10 different kinds that will challenge our guests’ perceptions of beer. The order in which these beers are tasted is of the utmost importance. It’s essential that the beers be tasted from least intense to most intense. The last thing you want to do to your guests when you want them to experience every nuance of the beer is to kill their delicate palates. When you taste a subtle beer after a super-hoppy beer, you can barely taste it. For instance, if you were to taste the Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA and then a light-bodied Reissdorf Kölsch directly afterward, the Kölsch would taste like Pellegrino (The Horror!).

Once you’ve made a list of the beers that you want for the tasting, it’s time to go and get them. Even though we’ve gone through this process many times, there has never been a single time that we’ve been able to get every beer on our researched list. It’s frustrating to be sure, but that’s where the surprises and the fun come in. Say there was an article written in
USA Today
about Unibroue’s Blanche de Chambly Witbier, and now you can’t find it anywhere. Try picking out a different label of the same style; no big whoop. Remember that this is craft beer. It’s coveted and it’s rare, and sometimes it’s a “you snooze, you lose” world. Just stay fluid and you’ll be okay. Your beer-tasting party won’t suffer one iota.

You also might be wondering how much beer to buy. Really it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. A beer-
drinking
party and a beer-
tasting
party are two different animals. Obviously, if you are planning a beer-drinking blowout, get as much as you think you need (be careful with the ABV). But if you are hosting a beer-tasting party, conservatively you will need to buy no more than four ounces per person, per beer. Actually, we will pour only two to three ounces of each beer, but we buy enough to accommodate four ounces to mitigate any agitation, carbonation, or foaming issues.

Make sure that your guests have everything they need. Each person should have a good, clean glass so he or she can swirl and aerate the beer and enhance the aromatics. If you don’t have specific beer glassware, that’s fine. Burgundy or Pinot Noir wineglasses work great for beer tastings (see Chapter 7). Make sure that you have a water pitcher set out. This water isn’t just for staying hydrated. When a beer is particularly strong or unique, you will need to rinse out the glassware to avoid corrupting the next beer.