The MN Craft Lager Fest is happening in Alexandria, MN this Saturday, June 4. Most beer-tasting events have an admission price and in Minnesota, are limited to 4 hours. Here are some tips to maximize your brew-tasting experience.
CHOOSE A SAMPLING FOCUS
Most tasting events offer well over a hundred beers to sample, so it’s impossible to sample them all. You’ll enjoy your time more if you have a goal in mind to drive your sample selections.
- Find a new favorite brewery to visit. For this, select 10-20 breweries you can reasonably visit and sample 2-3 beers from each to gain a sense of overall quality and consistency from these brewers.
- Find a new style of beer to enjoy. If you normally drink only IPAs, focus your sampling on two non-IPA styles, like lagers and sours, and sample one of each from a variety of brewers.
- Do a deep dive into your preferred brew. For instance, if lagers are your thing (and if you’re coming to Lager Fest, they probably are) concentrate on sampling only beers from one of the five main types of lagers:
- Light: such as Pilsners & Helles (which means pale)
- Amber: such as Vienna or Oktoberfest
- Bock: Maibock, Doppelbock
- Dark Lagers: Schwartzbier, Black Lager
- Specialty Lagers: With additions of herbs, spices, fruit, honey, coffee or smoke.
- Experience new brewing techniques. Curious about decoction mash, lambics, Kveik yeast or barrel sours? Sample your way through brews made with a technique you’re unfamiliar with, or that you want to learn more about. Ask questions and go away with new-found knowledge!
PACE YOURSELF
Arrive early in the tasting, and plan to stay until the end. Spread your sampling evenly throughout your visit, and alternate with plenty of water and food. Use a sampling focus to guide your selections. Take your time with each sample. Swirl the beer in your glass and get your nose right in there to sniff. Hold it up to the light and check out the color. Sniff again. Sip just enough to coat your mouth. When you swallow, keep your mouth closed and exhale through your nose. Now enjoy!
USE THE DUMP BUCKETS!
While swirl, sniff, swish, and spit has long been standard practice at wine tastings, some beer festival attendees still see dumping & spitting beer as a “rookie moves”. However, sophisticated beer aficionados, who are looking to seriously evaluate the beers they sample, realize that dumping is the only way to extend their tasting palettes beyond a handful of beers. So, after you’ve evaluated a sample, feel free to dump the rest. And if you really want to play the long tasting game, spit instead of sip. A trick I use for more discreet spitting is to bring along a plastic, opaque, “spit” cup. Instead of swallowing a sample, hold the spit cup to your lips and do a reverse sip. Be careful not to confuse your sampling & spitting cups!
TAKE NOTES
Even if you only sample 6 beers (and we all know you’ll sample more) you’ll remember their finer and not so finer points better if you take some notes. Use the “Notes” feature on your phone to record the brewery, brew, and what you liked or didn’t like.
Ready to put these tips to use? Get your MN Craft Lager Fest tickets for this Saturday, June 4 and enjoy! And don’t forget about our first-ever Lager Fest weekend concert with The 4onthefloor after the festival.
