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| Photo courtesy of Thirst for Knowledge. |
Make room on the event agenda for beer--the latest tasting craze. Sure we've all gone down the tutored tasting road with wine, cocktails and scotch, but a guided beer appreciation -such history, so many different styles-offers a truly eye-opening experience for a beverage whose origins date back 10,000 years.
Our appetite for beer is certainly vast: it accounts for 82% of all alcohol consumed in Canada. And, while it's one of the most comfortable, approachable drinks to socialize over, it has only been recently we've begun to recognize that the complexity and history of what's in the pint is truly worthy of elevated status.
So for a refreshing change of pace, brew up a little beer education within your event framework. Here are a few ideas to work with:
Theme It
Take a theme for both event and tasting from beer's impact on society throughout the ages-from monasteries and abbeys to the industrial revolution and prohibition. Or arrange a tasting by brewer, by style or by country to complement the event's focus-bring on England's best if doing the streets-of-London look.
Tutored Tastings & Tours
Take the guided journey, for intimate groups up to 20 to reception grand for 250 and more, where guests sample a selection of up to 12 different beers while engaged in lively discussion around the history of each beer, brewing ingredients and style and tasting/appreciation hints. And, of course, they'll learn how to pour the perfect glass!
Or take the tasting on the road to a brewery (craft breweries are popular) where they'll see the whole process in action.
Beer Dinners
Discover an upscale food-and-beer link with a multi course meal--from hors d'oeuvres to dessert--prepared and served with the appropriate beers. Round out the experience with an expert taking guests through each course and matched pairing while providing colourful insight into the history and culture of each beer (oh the stories to tell!).
Teambuilding Opportunity
Bond over beer-we've been doing it for ages! Consider a blind-tasting challenge between teams, or something more complex like designing and building a working draught system. Make beer the main focus of a culinary teambuilding event where groups prepare their menu using beer as an ingredient.
The How-to
Most of us drink it, but exactly how do you taste beer like an expert? Beer flavours are evaluated in much the same way wine is with a slight variation. Have an expert take the group through the drill: Look, smell, taste and taste again.
First, consider the clarity and colour of the liquid, note how it pours and the colour and density of the foam head in the glass. With your nose as close to the mouth of the glass as possible, draw in the aromas that are concentrated in the foamy top.
On tasting number one, roll the beer around your mouth, then swallow, evaluating for balance between bitterness and sweetness, and what lingers on the finish. On second taste, hold the beer in your mouth, coating the tongue and inhaling air to activate the olfactory glands to help pick up secondary flavours. Spit or swallow as you please.
Glassware Etiquette
Rule of thumb is similar to wines: the full-bodied complexity of ales requires a wide-mouth glass to enhance flavours, while narrower glasses help focus the nuances of beers with less full-on aromas and flavours, such as lagers, to the top of the glass. Don't miss the opportunity to brand glassware and use as takeaway gifts. 
With input and thanks to
beer expert Roger Mittag, Thirst for Knowledge, www.thirstforknowledge.ca
