There is no way to pack so much excitement into a single beer purchase as with a brewery sampler pack. Featuring four to six different beers, usually spanning the entire spectrum from light to dark, a 12-pack of beer and a handful of friends can quickly become your very own beer-tasting party.
Short of physically going to the brewery where the beer is made (also highly recommended), sampler packs are by far the most efficient way to taste an entire line of beer. Many distant breweries ship only variety packs to Gainesville, and sometimes you can even find a bottle or two of limited-release or seasonal beer tossed in with the standard fare.
For maximum visual appeal, pour half a glass of every style so you can see the color range from light to dark. The aroma will be best in these bigger glasses, so even if you don’t share the glasses to drink, let everyone smell the beer in a big glass. Drink an ounce or two of each down the line in the same order (light to dark) to get a general feel for any beers that you particularly like, and then focus in on your favorites in larger quantities.
In the end, think of it as a three-step process: Buy the sampler pack, drink the sampler pack and profit. My methodology is only a suggestion; however, with a few close friends and a variety of beers to choose from, I guarantee that you are going to have a good time.
The best place in Gainesville to find variety packs is Ward’s Supermarket, located at 515 NW 23rd Ave.
Tommyknocker Brewery
Idaho Springs, Colo.
Flagship Brew: Pick Axe Pale Ale
Tommyknocker delivers six quality beers in its "Mother Lode Sampler," including two "Miner's Pick," seasonal beers that are different in every pack. Pick Axe Pale Ale is an incredibly refreshing pale ale that makes you think "ice cold" when you drink it. Maple Nut Brown is the real standout though, an insanely rich, sweet beer with lots of honest to goodness maple flavor and nuttiness.
Fort Collins Brewery
Fort Collins, Colo.
Flagship Brew: Retro Red (amber ale)
Out of its six beers, Fort Collins Brewery's "Brewers Lunchbox" boasts four truly excellent selections. Retro Red is the brewery's most popular brew and is indeed a delicious amber ale. The Kidd is almost jet black in appearance, but drinks like a medium bodied lager. With a sweet, chocolatey aroma, Chocolate Stout is sure to please drinkers of dark beer. The most interesting beer from Fort Collins, however, is Z, a German-style Rauchbier. Z uses malt smoked over an open fire, giving it a deep, rich smokey aroma and flavor. You may recognize it from last semester, here:
Smuttynose Brewery
Portsmouth, NH
Flagship Brew: Shoal's Pale Ale
All four beers in the Smuttynose Sampler Pack are a feast both for your mouth and your eyes. The bottle art is enough to distract you from drinking, especially the beautiful dog on Old Brown Dog, an American Brown Ale (you'll see what I mean). It might be hard to beat the IPA in flavor and body. Every beer is gorgeous in a glass, and IPA and Shoal's Pale Ale have unparalleled head retention.
Dundee Brewery
Rochester, NY
Flagship Brew: Honey Brown
For the most part, Dundee is a good baby step in the direction towards craft beer. If you don't like strong flavors and bitterness, but you still want variety and quality, Dundee is the best choice for you. Honey Brown is pretty interesting, and if you like it enough it is even available in individual six packs. Robust Porter is the real standout from Dundee, with big, bold, smokey porter flavor.
Sweetwater Brewery
Atlanta, GA
Flagship Brew: 420 Extra Pale Ale
Sweetwater's "Tacklebox" leans towards the lighter beers, with a few very good beers like an IPA or the slightly blueberry-tasting Sweetwater Blue. The most exciting thing in the Tacklebox is the "Dank Tank" beer. Some Sweetwater variety packs feature a few bottles of beer from the multicolored experimental fermentation tank at the brewery, known as the "Dank Tank." There is no other way to try these unique beers, and the bottle could contain absolutely anything you can imagine.
