With craft beers being so popular I thought it would be fun to design a beer tasting for all those beer loving dads—even though my own dad isn’t really a beer fan, he’d much prefer an Ice Cream Tasting! However, I know a lot of dads who would enjoy this so let’s have a “Hoppy” Father’s Day and provide some “Hops for Pops.” Puns intended!
Keep in mind, you could do these details for any Beer Tasting Party, just don’t use the “Hops for Pops” sign.
Creating Your Beer Flight
Pick your beers. You’ll want to pick at least four beers. Choose one light, medium, amber and dark beer. With craft beer so popular, be sure to include a couple local beers. I picked a couple local beers as well as a few beers I knew I liked. If wondering what beer you should buy, there are lots of Beer Tasting Tips on Pinterest, just search “Beer Tasting” and lots of beer charts will come up explaining the types of beers.
Label your beer bottles. I labeled each bottle with wood labels numbered from 1-4. I then placed the empty bottles down the center of the table so everyone could reference what beer they were drinking. To make the wood labels, start with a small wood slices (I got mine from Oriental Trading). Drill a small hole in each circle and then paint an inner black chalkboard circle on each one. Add a number with a white chalk pen and attach to each bottle using twine.
Create a “tray” at each place setting. I originally wanted to have DIY concrete trays; however, my first attempt at making the tray failed and I ran out of time to try it again so instead I created a much easier idea. I set the table using black chalkboard paper and then using a white chalk pen I created a rectangle “tray” outline at each place setting. Easy peasy. Adjust the size of your rectangle based on the size and number of glasses you use in your beer flight. I recommend doing four glasses, but of course you can do more or less depending on your needs.
Label your glasses. I got the small beer can glasses from Oriental Trading. I thought the shape was so charming and the 8 oz. size was perfect for a beer tasting. For each flight I used four glasses so we could have a light beer, an IPA, an Amber beer and a porter or stout. You basically want to provide a range of beer types from light to dark. Label each glass from 1-4.
Use my free print-it-yourself labels. I created a free print-it-yourself Beer Flight Printable that included numbered beer bottle labels. Download the free file then printed on nice paper or cardstock. Cut out the beer bottles and label each glass using Glue Dots or double-sided tape.
Provide a score sheet. While this is not necessary, I thought it could be nice to track which beers you liked so I created a free Printable Score Sheet. Download the print-it-yourself file and print as many copies as you need.
Set each place setting. Each place setting got four glasses, a score sheet and a pencil or pen. Pour beer half way in each glass. This may seem obvious, but be sure to pour the right beer in each glass. So the beer labeled one goes in glass one, the beer labeled two goes in glass two, and so on. Also, remember to label your beers from lightest to darkest.
Some Additional Beer Tasting Details
Create a centerpiece. Frankly, this has nothing to do with your tasting, but a table always looks better with a centerpiece. One option is to plant flowers in galvanized pots (I found mine on Oriental Trading). I placed five pots down the center of the table. Then using a simple clothespin, I attached a “Hops for Pops” sign to each pot. This detail is what makes this tasting “Father’s Day” specific; however, if you’re not doing your tasting for Father’s Day just eliminate this tag and everything else is event neutral.
Provide “bar food.” No party is complete without some food. I kept it in the beer theme and did brats and fries served in cool Kraft paper cones from Oriental Trading. I mean, what guy really wants to deal with plates or silverware. I love the casual feel of eating right out of the cone and everything spilling on to the table. So manly, right?! You can serve burgers, hot dogs, wings, BLTs, onion rings, pretzels, soft pretzels… Should I keep going? Basically anything that isn’t good for the waist line.
Enjoy! It’s really an easy and charming set up thanks to the finds at Oriental Trading and the free printables I created.
Download the Free Print-It-Yourself Files From this Post
Hops for Pops Sign and Beer Flight Labels
Beer Flight Score Sheet
And if you like all of this, but simply don’t want to set up a tasting, be sure to check out my simple Father’s Day Gift Idea, it stays right in this theme!
A special thank you to Oriental Trading for sending me products to use in this post. I had a lot of fun shopping on their site and creating this party using the items I found.
