We cruised over to Blind Lady Ale House on Thursday night for a flight of pilsners from American craft brewers. Lee Chase of Automatic Brewing Co. (and 11 in ’11 member) teamed up with Doug Hasker, brewmaster at Mission Valley’s Gordon Biersch, to guide the group through six 5oz. tasters: Victory’s Braumeister Pils, Victory’s Prima Pils, Green Flash Brewing Co’s Fizzy Yellow Beer, Sudwerk’s Pilsner, Gordon Biersch’s Pilsner, and Avery’s Joe’s Pils
These types of events are a great way for craft beer newcomers and regular devotees alike to figure out what’s going on with the beers they drink. As we’ve heard many times from Home Brew Mart‘s GM Colby Chandler, “We all have the tools necessary to decide whether we like a beer or not. From there it’s just about learning the vocabulary to express what you’re tasting.” Having Lee and Doug available to field questions and voice their own opinions was a great way to learn more about the flavors we loved (or hated). Similarly, it was no surprise to find that a beer one person loved was hated by someone else, and vice-versa. Expect guided tastings like these to become more popular in 2011.