Wine and liquor tastings are fun, but I am more of a beer person. I want to have a beer tasting party, but I'm not sure how to organize the beers. I'd like to do a blind taste test (double blind if I can fool myself), where the beers are revealed at the end. It would be awesome to have a bunch of taps, but then I'd need a pony keg for each beer, and a few hundred people. Realistically, I'm probably looking at bottled beer wrapped tight in paper bags, with people pouring tastes into their own drinking glass. If not too much trouble, I'd get people to take notes or rate them. The set of beers seems key. I could see focusing on one region or type of beer (american ales, stouts, etc). For the first beer tasting party, maybe I should aim at the less educated beer drinkers, and help them figure out what kind of beer they like? If nothing else, I'll do Texas beers. Thoughts?
Here's an idea: Ask everybody to bring a 6-pack of their favorite beer and then do a blind taste test of them all, having everyone pick their favorite, and then reveal the choices at the end. Or if you are feeling large, you could buy the beer yourself. It works best in multiples of 6 people, plus a designated pourer to keep it secret and keep track.
No idea if they would, but I would think that the Gingerman or Flying Saucer might actually arrange that for you. They would just be sure they would pour 16 oz of each or sell them by the 4 oz glass to you.
A few hundred? That's called "Eeyore's". You might need to set your sights a bit lower. Maybe 20-30 people. Good beer is expensive. Start out with American Amber ales, like Fat Tire, etc. Move up to Pilsners. Blue Paddle, Prima Pils, Budvar, Pilsner Urquell. From there, maybe throw in a curve with some good German bocks, Spaten, Ayinger, Paulaner, etc. Take a break and do some weizens before you blow the palate away with Porters...Anchor, Sierra Nevada Porter, etc. Do some stouts, then finish off with a massive barleywine or some strong ale like Arrogant Bastard. Buuuurp.
