Beer Sampling

Not too long ago I was back at a Washington brew pub for a second visit. We'd tried two of the local brews the last time, and, by rights, I knew I really should try a couple more of the several current offerings.
But I'd really really liked one of the two I'd already tried . . .

The solution? I ordered the "taster" sample; a small 5 oz. glass of each of the six of the brewery's own brews on tap.

The tasters were accompanied by a special placemat, with a circle for each 5 oz. glass of beer, and a short description of the beer. The glasses of beer were carefully arranged in order from lightest to darkest. That's 30 ozs. of beer, a bit more than I want to drink in a sitting, and just right to share with a friend, especially at "Happy Hour," with a bite to eat on the side, and plenty of water to rinse palates between samples. The taster is enough to thoroughly taste the beer, and evaluate color and after flavors, and even to compare them with each other, and then compare your impressions with your friends— since that's even more fun than drinking the beer.

I notice that most brew pubs offer the chance to "taste" their offerings in small 3 to 5 ounce servings, and it really is both educational and a lot of fun. You could easily arrange for a small group of friends to sample a few beers over the course of an hour or so, with breaks for food and water. Alternatively, you could do your own "beer tasting." Pick several sorts of beer to taste, perhaps those of a single brewery, or of a single type or brewing style, or from a particular region, or perhaps a selection chosen for variety and range. Invite the guests, and provide each with a glass of water in addition to their beer tasting glass. Then compare notes. You might find these suggestions useful, on setting up your own tasting, and these descriptions as a few of the ways to describe the beer.

As much fun as sampling tasters—or holding your own beer tasting is, and it really is fun—there are those for whom beer tasting is work. So much work, in fact, that not only does it require professional training in order to be a beer taster, you need a professional to select the prospective beer tasters. But there are job hazards for the professional beer taster, as well as the more obvious pleasures:

A judge in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has ruled that a local brewing company must pay damages to one of its former beer tasters, after the taster alleged that his job—drinking alcohol—caused him to develop alcoholism.

In the lawsuit, the employee alleged that as part of his beer-tasting job, he was required to taste beer. Specifically, he said he typically drank between 16 and 25 small glasses of beer during each eight-hour shift, which works out to a little over three pints a day, at least five days a week, for more than a decade. (He also said he received a bottle of beer after each shift, so let's just call it four pints a day.)

Thanks, but I think I'd rather be an amateur.