Idea's for BJCP Style discussion parties?

[FuzzeWuzze]

So basically I am looking at doing something similar to what they do on the Jamil show podcast on a somewhat regular basis.

For those not familiar...
Get some of my friends who drink beer over and may be very ignorant to other styles they may like so they just stick with what they know(IPA) and try to get some insight into the various styles and learn a bit more about beer tasting in the process.

Luckily living in Oregon there are two shops within 40 mins of here that carry bottles of a ton of imports, just searching through the BJCP guidelines for some Pils and other beer's the bjcp's listed classic examples are mostly available to varying degree's. So the idea would be to get say 3-4 examples of German pils the BJCP match the style, and try them all out and compare the differences.

My question is if anyone has done something like this what are some interesting things to do other than just drink? Obviously thats the highlight, but i was hoping for some of the beer's to find the breweries description and or basic ingredients list when available to match up against what people perceived...

 

[Teromous]

You could pick up a copy of Brewing Classic Styles (if you don't have it already) to help accompany the styles you are learning about. That way if you don't have the specific recipe for the beer you are drinking, you could at least see something that is comparable. An alternative would be to look at the book Clone Brews as there are quite a few commercial beers in that book. I haven't looked through my copy to see how many are listed in the BJCP guidelines as examples...you might have to do the leg work on that one. You could also try printing off some of the AHA winning recipes for the style over the last few years, then compare them and analyze the recipe. You could discuss the ingredients and percentages that they used, etc. Beer is obviously more than a recipe, but it's a good place to start.

I don't know how often you will be doing this, but it would be ideal if you and your friends could brew something for the get together...even a small 1 gallon batch, then compare. If any of you are BJCP certified it would help out a lot, so that judge could answer questions or make recommendations. Even if none of you are certified it's still a great idea to get example beers listed in the BJCP guidelines.

Another recommendation is to find BYO Style Guideline articles. Jamil also writes these, and I find that he goes more in-depth on the style in his articles than he does in Brewing Classic Styles. Sometimes his examples go beyond BJCP guidelines, because a particular example might be outside of the limit of what would normally be acceptable but is still a perfect example of the style.

 

[kombat]

So basically I am looking at doing something similar to what they do on the Jamil show podcast on a somewhat regular basis.

Make sure you include lots of loud, obnoxious burping and plenty of juvenile sexual double-entendres. You know, if you want it to be authentic. :cross:

 

[Calichusetts]

We have our own "beer club" that regularly do this. We did saison night, barrel-aged night, etc. We try to guess ingredients and use untappd to rate the beers. We just make fun of each other and tell stories, talk the latest beer news, etc.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

You could pick up a copy of Brewing Classic Styles (if you don't have it already) to help accompany the styles you are learning about. That way if you don't have the specific recipe for the beer you are drinking, you could at least see something that is comparable. An alternative would be to look at the book Clone Brews as there are quite a few commercial beers in that book. I haven't looked through my copy to see how many are listed in the BJCP guidelines as examples...you might have to do the leg work on that one. You could also try printing off some of the AHA winning recipes for the style over the last few years, then compare them and analyze the recipe. You could discuss the ingredients and percentages that they used, etc. Beer is obviously more than a recipe, but it's a good place to start.

I don't know how often you will be doing this, but it would be ideal if you and your friends could brew something for the get together...even a small 1 gallon batch, then compare. If any of you are BJCP certified it would help out a lot, so that judge could answer questions or make recommendations. Even if none of you are certified it's still a great idea to get example beers listed in the BJCP guidelines.

Another recommendation is to find BYO Style Guideline articles. Jamil also writes these, and I find that he goes more in-depth on the style in his articles than he does in Brewing Classic Styles. Sometimes his examples go beyond BJCP guidelines, because a particular example might be outside of the limit of what would normally be acceptable but is still a perfect example of the style.

Good points, i do have Clone Brews and Brewing Classic styles which should both help.

 

[POAS]

I used to be in a wine club and would do this regularly, but with one difference. We would blind taste all of the wines first and everyone would write notes on each, discuss them, etc. At the end of tasting all of them, we would reveal each one. Lots of discussion this way and a lot of fun. You could probably try to have the bottle descriptions on the side and try to match them, maybe. I always found the blind tasting to generate a good conversation and it also makes you really think about what you are tasting instead of being influenced by what's written on the bottle.

Good luck! Sounds like fun.

 

[timrox1212]

My homebrew club has been doing this at our meetings. We started with category 1 and have been going in order from there. We try 3-4 of the listed examples for every style and sub style. It's been great to try so many new beers


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Flipadelphia]

also make sure you talk about a bunch of crap that nobody cares about for the first 5-10 minutes of your event.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Lol, well im thinking a much more intimate thing, maybe 6-8 people including us with a few of my friends who brew beer.

I want to keep it smallish so it stays about the beer, and doesnt turn into a giant kegger where im buying expensive ass bottles of imported German beer.

 

[Calichusetts]

Lol, well im thinking a much more intimate thing, maybe 6-8 people including us with a few of my friends who brew beer.

I want to keep it smallish so it stays about the beer, and doesnt turn into a giant kegger where im buying expensive ass bottles of imported German beer.

You shouldn't be buying more than 2-3 bombers. Everyone should bring one style/type and enough that everyone has a 6 oz pour. That is fair. We do this fairly often. Start a mass email/text so there are no overlaps in a style, or even assign each person a beer. 2 bombers will cover 6 people.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

You shouldn't be buying more than 2-3 bombers. Everyone should bring one style/type and enough that everyone has a 6 oz pour. That is fair. We do this fairly often. Start a mass email/text so there are no overlaps in a style, or even assign each person a beer. 2 bombers will cover 6 people.

Well the purpose is for everything to be one style..as in every beer we taste is a Belgian Trippel...for getting imports there's reallly only one or two shops that sell those imports...i suppose i can have people bring other standard local Trippels to compare against good examples the BJCP lists.

 

[Calichusetts]

Well the purpose is for everything to be one style..as in every beer we taste is a Belgian Trippel...for getting imports there's reallly only one or two shops that sell those imports...i suppose i can have people bring other standard local Trippels to compare against good examples the BJCP lists.

Thats actually the best part...start with the two or three known great examples of the style, then get into some locals or other well known versions and note the difference. What does the yeast add to this? The malt bill? How is the finish different? What hops are in this?

To put it in perspective, I did a saison night that was literally all over the place. Hay, funk, citrus, pepper, etc. So many styles and so many variations. But in the end, it trained my palette far better than just tasting 1-3 of the "standards" of the style