Beer. What man doesn't love it? For my husband's 30th birthday I thought he "needed" to have a party but I knew that I would need to venture out from my normal kid parties and bridal/baby showers. I had to think like a man. Sharp and simple. My husband loves a good beer just as much as any man so we decided to have a Beer Tasting Party! Here are my helpful hints on how to host a successful beer tasting party.

Step 1: Invitations.

Decide on 6 categories of beer you would like to have at the beer tasting party. When you send your invites leave a blank space and assign your guests one of the 6 types of beer. This will help get a variety of different types of beer at the party. Feel strange asking your guests to bring beer? Don't! The guests took a lot of pride in selecting just the right brew to bring to wow the guests. The person who brings the winning beer also gets a prize so that is in the all the motivation your guests need. Wonder if you'll have enough beer? A 6 pack per couple is MORE than enough to go around. You will be shocked at how much beer you have leftover. Here is a sample invitation:

Step 2: Decorations.

Men like simple things. Going along with the craft beer theme I chose to do all of my decor with kraft and black paper. This kept everything simple and sleek but still tied the whole event together. A nice touch is the "Hoppy Birthday" banner with the play on words:

Banner available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Step 3: The Set Up

I labeled each tin with the type of beers the guests were asked to bring. Have at least 6 containers filled with ice ready for your guests and make sure to label each bucket so people know what type of beer they are tasting. It is also a good idea to have a few extra ice chests filled with ice ready for the extra beer that may not fit on your table. Again, you will be shocked with how much beer you have. I also had a separate table for Root Beer for any guests that chose the non alcoholic versions of beer tasting.

Step 4: Supplies

Remember.... this is a beer TASTING party which means the guests will want to sample ALL of the varieties of beer. I purchased small shot size plastic cups for the tasting. I added the stickers to dress them up a bit and the birthday boy seemed to think it was a nice touch. The customizable stickers are available in my Etsy shop. You will need quite a bit of these so I would say have at least 4 times as many cups as you have guests. A lot of the guys re-used the cups each time but you will want to make sure to have more than enough if someone uses a new one each time. Don't forget to have bottle openers ready and waiting as well!

Step 5: Keeping Score

Who doesn't like to WIN at something, right? I had these score sheets available for the beer tasters. Each guest scored the beers they were tasting with a score of 1-10. At the end of the night I tallied up all of the scores to find out which beer was the winner! Whoever brings the winning beer wins a prize! What is the prize? Beer of course! I sent home 2 bottles of each kind of beer with the winner. Trust me, the winner was very pleased to have such a lovely parting gift.

Step 6: Dessert

A sweet treat is a must for any party. My sister actually made us all of these delicious cupcakes for us so I can't take all of the credit. The cupcakes were all made with one special ingredient - beer - of course! A special Root Beer option was also available for those who don't drink. We served chocolate Guinness with candied bacon, Blue Moon and PBR. I think the chocolate stout was the biggest hit. The recipes can be found on Pinterest or the links above.

Step 7: Celebrate

I promise a beer tasting party will go down as one of your best hosting gigs! Just a few simple steps can help you achieve an unforgettable event! Cheers!

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