The Legend Takes Flight – Beer

The cure for being slow to make a choice?

When it comes to tasting whisky, beer, tequila or wine?

A tasting flight.

Picking a flight is the perfect opportunity for me to try a favorite or something new. I can relax, taste a few or taste them all.

And there have definitely been times where I’ve tasted everything on the menu.

Everything.

I didn’t regret it one bit.

In this series, I’ll talk about how I go about selecting each item in a beer, wine, whisky, or tequila flight.

Life is too short to drink bad beer

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Let’s start with beer.

Ah beer.

My appreciation for beer evolved during a summer in Munich, Germany. Bavarian country brews some of the best, if not the best, in the world.

To say that there are many interpretations of the styles of beer is an understatement. There are new breweries popping up every day with their take on the basics, pilsners, IPAs, wheats, lagers and stouts. And there are many more craft breweries where that came from.

So with the many choices staring you in the face, how does one choose a flight?

After tasting many many many beers, I have come to use 3 key guidelines in selecting a flight of beer.

Know the different styles of beer
Know what you like
Be open to trying something new

Know the different styles beer

As I mentioned earlier, almost every brewery is going to put out their best interpretations of five main styles of beer: pilsner, IPA, wheat, lager and stout. There is another category that has gained some popularity and that is the sour. I’ll go into more detail about each of these styles of beer in a later post.

Unless a brewery specializes in any one of these categories, you know you’re going to have each of these styles on the menu.

I like to try at least one in each style to get a feel for the taste and see if maybe the brewer is doing something a little different with their interpretation, i.e. a light white chocolate stout (never thought this would be good, but it surprisingly was).

Know what you like

Knowing what you like makes it easier to choose what will dominate your flight.

I know I lean more towards beers with a high level complexity and flavor like IPAs, wheat beers and sours. Those are definitely going into my flight if I am having just one or will dominate my subsequent flights.

Be open to trying something new

Be adventurous.

I always leave a spot open for a beer in a style that’s not really high on my like list. Just because the style is not high on my list doesn’t mean I won’t find a beer in the style that I might love. I. remember it was that way for me with IPAs. I used to not like IPAs until I tasted a blood orange IPA that blew my mind with its complexity. IPAs have been high on my selection list ever since. No two are the same.

If you know the different styles of beer, know which ones you like, and are open to new interpretations of the styles of beer, you’ll pick the perfect flight for you almost every time.

Let me know in comments how you pick your beer flights.

In the next part of this series, I’ll cover how to pick a wine flight.