‍Spain is the fifth top dominating country in craft beer innovation according to Mintel reports.

Barcelona, of course, is well-known for its amazing selection of craft beer. However, in this new era of social distancing, you probably find yourself missing meeting up with your pals at CocoVail for your weekly beer fix. The solution? Get the gang together for a virtual beer tasting.

Organizing the Beer Tasting Event

With everyone looking for ways to pass time in lockdown, a virtual beer tasting is the perfect activity for beer lovers. It’s a fun way to stay positive and social without compromising safety or sanity in these uncertain times. To organise your beer tasting, everyone will need to have an online video conferencing tool, such as, Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, or FaceTime. Set a time and make sure everyone can stay for at least one to two hours. The beer tasting itself can be as simple and casual or complex and educational as you want.

You may want to organise a blind tasting, which means no one knows the specific beer they’re tasting until after they’ve sampled it. Simply have all participants hide the beer labels by wrapping the bottles in paper and then numbering them. Also make sure everyone has snacks, clear plastic cups (which allow you to see the colour of the beer), and water to cleanse the palate.    

Rating the Beer

Every participant needs a pen and paper on hand to take notes throughout the tasting — you may want to make printouts to send to everyone beforehand. Each beer can be rated for separate categories like aroma, flavour, mouthfeel, and general impressions. Simply taking the time to form opinions and articulate your thoughts is a great way to learn about beer and your own tastes. Once everyone’s sampled the beer, compare and contrast your notes. Everyone will interpret the same beers a little differently. You’ll even find your friends will notice things you didn’t pick up on the first time round. The resulting discussion is often even more fun than the tasting itself.

Fun Beers to Try

Your virtual beer tasting session is the perfect chance to sample some of the best craft beer Barcelona has to offer (make sure everyone has access to the same beer beforehand). For example, Espiga’s Blonde Ale — Spain’s first ever gluten-free craft beer — is a crowd pleaser. It’s light-bodied with a pungent aroma and fruity notes of citrus, grape, and melon. The sweetness, however, is offset by a bitter finish.

Alternatively, Dumbstruck by Jakobsland Brewers is an American Pale Ale with a fresh and hoppy aroma. Flavour notes include tropical fruits like passion fruit and mango with a bitter and malty finish. Castanya by Companyia Cervesera del Montseny is a brown ale made with toasted chestnuts sourced from the nearby Montseny mountains. This beer has satisfying nutty, malty flavours with a bittersweet smokey chestnut finish.

A virtual beer tasting is lots of fun and a great way to sample different delicious beers. So, why not round up your friends for a virtual beer tasting session as soon as you can this lockdown?

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