TOPIC:

About once a month or so I have a beer tasting in my house. We drink water between beers and I prepare some picky food to have but no matter what, I start to suffer palate fatigue after 6 to 8 different beers.

Any ideas on what can revitalise a tired tongue apart from time? Food or drink suggestions are welcome.

Keep it clean, and no smarty-pants answers.......unless they're funny.

Crackers or bread.

Thanks for the suggestion but I've tried both with no real success.

I serve crackers, cheese and a few other bits but nothing very strong flavoured.

It doesn't fail drastically until the 10th or 12th beer sample so maybe that's normal. When I say fail I can still taste the beer, I just lose out on the subtleties, so I tend to serve bigger, bolder beers at this stage.

They best thing I have come across so far is beer like Rodenbach Grand Cru or even something Gueuze-ish, which revitalises it for a while.

I just thought I might be missing a trick.

Sorbet is what foodies use isn't it?

"johnrm":2v9gyql3 wrote: Crackers or bread.[/quote:2v9gyql3]

yep, as John says- Crackers. It's what we use when judging beer in competition.

Some people just aren't cut out for serious beer drinking <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt="" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->


Seriously though, palate fatigue happens to everyone eventually. Getting through 8 beers, even if only small glasses is pretty good going. I usually get to about 20 before it really kicks in for me but that's years of experience at tastings and judging beer. I wouldn't 100% trust my thoughts after 10 though. I would think it more like 90% accurate after 10 and by 20 that plummets down to about 50% I reckon.