How to host a craft beer tasting night

14 July 2022
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Alright beer lovers, time to get the squad around  for a beer tasting sesh. (You need an excuse to get everyone together anyway!) We’ve put together this guide to the ultimate craft beer tasting night, from glassware to the goods you’ll be sipping, read on for tips to hosting a beer tasting.

1. Have a theme

Organisation stations! It’s time to think of a theme for the night. This makes your mission possible - and keeps everyone on task. Whether it’s Australian Craft, Belgian beers, Winter beers (brown ales, porter's, stouts), IPA's from a certain nation, or type of hop combination, everyone loves a theme. Need some inspiration? See all beer to get you started.

2. Choose no more than six beers

Why put a cap on it? You want to enjoy the tasting and make sure everyone remembers the night! If you’re tasting beers with high ABV you may like to have a spit bucket available so those who need it can still drive home.

3. Have tasting notes available for guests

This means printing them in advance or saving the descriptions and reading them out, MC style. This not only brings memorability and star-quality to your tastings, but also ensures your guests are informed - and who knows, they might learn something new! Download our tasting sheet here.

4. Use appropriate glassware

Depending on your theme - you’ll want to have the best glassware to taste your beers.

Take us seriously when we say that a good glass can transform your beer experience.

IPAs:
You’ll need the Ballistic IPA glass: designed to highlight the hop-forward complexity of IPA aromas.

Lagers:
Our Oxford Pint glass makes any brew taste great!

Stouts:
The Luigi Bormiolli is a glass specifically designed to take the aroma, flavour and mouthfeel of Ballistic Stouts to the next level.

Cider:
If lager or cider is your beverage of choice, then our Stemmed Munique should be your glass of choice.

Want more beer glassware? Shop our range here.


5. A selection of Ballistic beers

This wouldn’t be a tasting without great beer! Pick your craft beer varieties from one of our locations or have them delivered. Hot tip: Arranging the beers from lightest to darkest is important, and make sure you leave anything sour to the end.

6. Snacks

Ensuring your guests are well fed throughout your tasting means no one gets blotto, just enjoys bloody good beers. Whether you pop on the basics like a cheese plate and crackers, to going all-out with wings or a barbeque, the best thing about beer is that it basically goes with everything!  

7. The perfect soundtrack

Beer tunes in the background ensure your beer tasting night delivers on vibes. And we’ve done the hard work for you - check out some of our favourite beer-drinking playlists here.

Got any more craft beer tasting night tips to add? Show us your tasting nights by tagging us @ballisticbeer on socials. We’d love to see your set up!


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