Five Flavorful Ideas For Your New Year's Beer Flights

Customize your own beer flights for your New Year's gathering, or when you simply want to sample some great beer with a few friends. You don't need anything fancy to create a beer flight, just some glassware and your beers. As far as the type of beer to serve, there are some amazing and wildly unique craft beers that would make flavorful flights based on your own distinct tastes and personal preferences. 

Five suggestions for your New Year's beer flights include these favorites:

Serve something stout. Stouts are the strongest of the craft beers, and they contain the highest amount of alcohol. These beers are noted for being dark and heavy, usually frothy, and are best served at room temperature for a comforting holiday brew.

Serve something spicy. Spices such as ginger, clove, and vanilla bean can add a layer of depth to the flavor of a good craft beer. This includes the seasonal brews that come out around the holidays, and may highlight pumpkin, ginger, cranberries, or apples.

Serve something pale. You rarely can go wrong with a pale ale, and there is a wide range available to suit most palates. These are a great go-to beer that will please a wide range of tasters at your party. 

Serve something sweet. It may seem odd to think of beer as being sweet, but it can be. A rich, full-bodied glass of warm Guinness can seem frothy and sweet, almost like a dessert.

Serve something unusual. You may want to add something from an iconic brewer or a specialty brew to your beer flight. Try to find a craft beer that may have limited availability to give guests a treat. 

Other tips for creating your New Year's beer flights include:

• The best size glass for your flight is between two and six-ounces, depending on how many different varieties you are offering. More beers merit smaller serving sizes.
• A beer flight should feature at least three different types of craft beer, but no more than six.
• Elect a theme for your New Year's beer flights, such as local brews, organic varieties, or unique flavored beers.
• Label the beers on your flights so that tasters can make a note and purchase those beers that they enjoyed most later on. Don't have a fancy label-maker? Use a permanent marker and a handful of plastic poker chips to write the beer names on and slide under or beside each glass. 

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