Badges of summer: How to host your own backyard beer tasting
Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images filesDon't wait till the pomp, costume and noise of Oktoberfest to hold your own beer tasting — it's best to do it in a quiet, controlled environment for the best sensory experience.
Our Scouts-styled series of the things you need to do to squeeze the most out of summer continues with a guide to classing up that six-pack. Check out the previous badges here!
Drinking cold beer outside — on docks and patios, around campfires, card tables and baseball diamonds, on rooftops, in parks and at backyard barbecues — is about the most effortless summer activity there is. The pop, the crack, the pour, that first big sip; but why not challenge yourself to go one or two gulps further?
With new beer varieties being introduced to the Canadian marketplace practically every week (hello, Mill St. 100th Meridian Organic Amber Lager), the best way to keep up is to host regular tastings with friends and argue over which brews are the best ones. But like any semi-organized outdoor sport, arguing about beer is better when you have a broad idea of the rules of the game. Enter Mirella Amato, certified master cicerone and author of the newly released Beerology. Amato’s book is a beer nerd’s dream, with a glossary of brewing terms, flavour guides and lots of great information on individual styles told in a casual, well-organized way. Plus there’s a beginning-to-end list of directions on setting up your first at-home tasting.
Some of her tips? Taste the lowest alcohol and lightest beers first; pick a space with fewer sensory disruptions such as loud noise and strong-smelling foods; and take a few notes as you go, as you’ll inevitably forget if it was Lager No. 1 or Ale No. 4 that really, truly quenched your thirst.
Oh, and that friend in the back complaining that you’re taking a humble beverage too seriously? Get her to wear the blindfold and sample everything first. If that fails, remind her that most brewers have some background in chemistry and/or biology, and that the history of beer dates to Mesopotamia and the beginning of written history. And then have a drink.
Even if everyone who comes to your tasting just ends up a bit tipsy, chances are you’ll learn a little more about what you — and they — prefer to drink, and that just makes hosting the next party easier.
Extra credit: Brew beer of your own and throw that into the mix alongside some craft, to see if it stands up.
No comments:
Post a Comment