Fall gatherings are some of my favorites. It is the season of delicious one pot meals and with bikinis safely packed away for a few months, there is room to indulge. At home we tend to make simple stews and open a bottle of wine, sitting around the table for hours just talking. I love this relaxed approach to entertaining, but I also like mixing it up and making an effort to engage with friends and family in a new way.
In this spirit we recently enjoyed a “liquid lunch” here at S&G HQ with soup and a beer tasting. Some of the team are avid and knowledgeable beer drinkers and some don’t care for it one bit, and in all honesty I fall in the latter category. In an effort to expand our horizons we tasted three very different beers writing down what we saw, smelled and tasted as we went. Whether expert or novice, putting a little structure around the beer drinking made for a lot of fun. Focusing together on identifying the different tastes and scents was a truly novel way to gather as a group. It was interesting to hear what others were finding that otherwise I may not have been able to articulate. We printed up these tasting vocabulary cards to help us identify the unique characteristics of each beer. This was a big help and I highly recommend something like this for any kind of tasting.
Here are a few things we did to make the afternoon a little more special:
The vocabulary and tasting cards are printed on our Hatch Imprintables, which we’ve just added to the shop. Ginkgo wrapping paper was used to make simple placemats and napkin bands. The number labels for cups and bottles were printed on 1.25 inch circle labels.
Downloads:
Vocabulary Card | Tasting Card | Cup & Bottle Numbers
