Tuesday 24 November 2009

Christmas Excitement


I’m getting excited about the flavour panel Christmas tasting. Every year I do a tutored tasting for the panel of a few of my favourite beers. I explain the technical aspects of how the beer is made and how this shapes how the beer tastes. This year I have added an extra twist to the tasting by choosing pairs of beers with similar characteristics/ABV from Belgium and USA.

The idea is not really to decide which brewing nation is the greatest but to illustrate the differences in attitude between the two. I’m sure however that panelists' preferences will come out on the night! The primary reason for the tasting of course is to educate the palate of the tasters. I have only ordered enough beer for tasting on day. Most of the bottles have already arrived at the brewery so I am trying desperately to resist the temptation to sample a few before event.

The beers are as follows, some are a fairer comparison than others:


Abbye de Rocs Blanche de Honelles Vs Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Orval Vs Goose Island Pere Jaques
Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux Vs Odell St Lupulin
Morgaat Maredsous Tripel Vs Flying Dog Kerberos Triple
Struise Pannepot Vs Stone Double Bastard
Bush 12 Vs Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron


I’ll update the blog with the findings of the tasting after the event. If I can remember that is.

3 comments:

thyme said...

Blimey, that is quite a high octane list :)

Stuart Howe said...

All beer will be sampled in the context of moderate consumption. It is Christmas so the decimal point in 2.0-4.0 units per day shifts along one.

thyme said...

Ah, I'd always intuitively acted on the point shift principle, it's good to get scientific confirmation.

Post a Comment