One of my greatest passions is, of course, for craft/micro beers. I feel very fortunate that I've had the opportunity to experience as many different beers as I have and I look forward to trying many, many more. Some people aren't as lucky though. Some people haven't had the chance to try very many. I've found that it's for many reasons, too. Not enough money to buy more expensive beer, unfamiliarity with the many styles of beer, fear of buying a whole case of something new and not liking it, or just a lack of desire to try something new.
Since I realized that some of my friends fall into this unfortunate category, my wife and I decided to take it upon ourselves to change that.
Last night, we hosted a Halloween slash Beer Tasting Party. The idea was to have everyone attending bring a 6 or 12 pack of their favorite craft beer to share. Everyone got a custom made, "Fall-Back Beer Fest", 4 oz. tasting glass (thanks to my inability to do things simply). Then we started to drink.
Each beer was opened, explained a little, then shared by everyone. We ended up having almost twenty different beers. We had lagers, English and German ales, pugilist ales, pale ales, ESAs, IPAs, porters, stouts, wheat ales, lambics, and a few more. It was fantastic.
By the end of the night, many of our friends told us that they never realized how great craft beers are. They all found new favorites and an appreciation for new styles. It was definitely a success and its something we're planning to do many more times.
