The Best Strategy To Try Out Lots Of New Beers When Traveling

Whether you crave tap beer as soon as your feet hit the tarmac or prefer to keep things classy with an ice-cold fine-dining accompaniment, there's no denying the allure of a holiday brew. Part of that excitement is trying out new beer varieties; it's a cultural experience. Inevitably, you'll want to try out the biggest range possible, so there's a strategy to remember: look for pubs serving smaller pours. 

A smaller pour is simply lower in volume; a smaller serving. With the lower volume per glass, it's easier to try a wider diversity of beverages (without being unceremoniously escorted out the door and into a taxi). You try more varieties without increasing your alcohol consumption. For instance, an average tasting flight has four to six beer types, each containing just three to five ounces. In comparison, a typical pint contains 16 ounces — this trick could help you sample up to six beers for the alcohol content of one. 

The best places to find these servings are at quality breweries and artisan brew pubs, so you'll want to research opening times before you arrive. Bonus points if you're already visiting one of the best U.S. cities for beer lovers in 2024.

Even with smaller pours, it's still easy to fall victim to olfactory fatigue, where your senses become so overloaded that you can no longer differentiate between odors and, therefore, taste. It's something you definitely want to avoid on a tasting spree. A simple solution is to regularly clean your palate: sniffing coffee grounds, alternating beer with water, or enjoying plain crackers. If you opt for another food type to keep your taste buds refreshed, the blander, the better.

There's likely more flexibility in beer servings than you originally thought; it's wise to prepare palate cleansers with so much swapping and changing. For instance, do you know why American beers are served in small portions? It actually dates back to pre-Prohibition exportation preferences, when 12 ounce containers were easier to transport. There's the clever reason craft beer comes in larger sizes too (predominantly to capture customer curiosity as part of marketing strategies), and country-by-country differences — like the 15 ounce Australian schooner.

With so many types and serving sizes, the way to broaden your tasting capabilities is to keep glasses small and your palate refreshed. A pocket full of crackers might be your secret weapon when trying new beers abroad.