How to Host a Home Brew Braai Tasting
Good beer, a hot braai and a few mates — you don't need much more to turn an ordinary Saturday afternoon into your own home brew tasting.
The idea isn't to make it formal. Put a few different beers on the table, taste them together and see which one disappears first.
Keep the Beer Line-Up Interesting
Aim for 4–6 different beers rather than trying to taste everything in the fridge. Start lighter and work towards the stronger or hoppier beers.
A great line-up could be:
Blonde Ale • Wheat Beer • Pale Ale • Pilsner • IPA • Stout
If everyone home brews, ask each person to bring one beer. You'll quickly end up with a very interesting tasting table.
Don't Pour Full Glasses
This is a tasting, not six full beers before the wors hits the braai.
Pour around 100–150 ml per beer. That's enough to properly taste the colour, aroma, flavour and finish without overdoing it.
Small identical glasses are ideal if you have them.
Serve Them in the Right Order
The order makes a bigger difference than many people realise.
Start: Light & crisp → Then: Wheat & fruity → Next: Pale & hoppy → Finish: Dark, rich & strong
If you start with a big IPA or strong stout, the more delicate beers that follow can taste almost flavourless.
Don't Serve Everything Ice Cold
A freezing-cold beer can hide both good and bad flavours.
As a simple guide:
Lagers & Pilsners: 4–7°C • Wheat Beers: 5–8°C • Pale Ales & IPAs: 7–10°C • Dark & Strong Beers: 10–13°C
Take stronger beers out of the fridge a little earlier and you'll often notice far more aroma and flavour.
Make It a Blind Tasting
This is where things become interesting.
Number the bottles or jugs instead of telling everyone what they're drinking. Give each person a piece of paper and ask them to score each beer out of 10.
Keep it simple:
Aroma: /10 • Flavour: /10 • Drinkability: /10 • Overall Favourite: ✓
You'll often be surprised which beer wins when nobody knows who brewed it.
Match the Beer to the Braai
Beer and braai food work brilliantly together.
Pilsner: Boerewors & chicken • Wheat Beer: Chicken & seafood • Pale Ale: Burgers & chops • IPA: Spicy food & ribs • Stout: Steak & something sweet afterwards
There's no need to make the food complicated. The whole point is to see how different beers work with familiar braai favourites.
Add a People's Choice
Put five jars or glasses on the table — one for each beer — and give everyone a marble, bottle cap or token.
At the end of the afternoon everyone drops their vote into the container belonging to their favourite beer.
Most votes wins.
No complicated judging sheets. No arguments about beer styles. Just the beer people enjoyed drinking most.
Braai Tasting Tip
Have plenty of cold water available and something plain such as crackers or bread between beers.
It cleans the palate and makes comparing the next beer much easier.
And write down which beer won. Six months later you'll wish you had.
Final Pour
A home brew tasting isn't about finding faults in someone's beer. It's about tasting different styles, comparing recipes and learning from what everyone has brewed.
You might discover a new favourite style, a hop you've never tried or simply realise that the uncomplicated beer in the middle of the table is the one everyone keeps going back to.