Are beer tasters common? Yum!

[gordon taylor]

We went to a local pub for a drink tonight, for the first time in years.

It is run/owned? by Titanic Breweries of Stoke. Page Title

For £5 we had a tray of five 1/3 pint glasses, each with a different Titanic Ale - all in engraved glasses on a coaster thing with the names of each. A bowl of cheese and pickle was included. (Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom)

By Heck. That was good. What a civilised way to find your favourite beer.
Is this common in other parts of the drinking world?

My favourite was "White Star." Mrs G preferred "Steerage," so we had pints of each.
The "Wreckage" ale was too strong for both of us.

Fantastic. We'll be back soon to the Royal Exchange in Stone.  

[border-rider]

There was a real ale festival in the Wetherspoons in Monmouth a couple of weeks ago  - they had tasters too, but the beer (and it was good) was only £1.29 a pint anyway

[MSeries]

Leeds Brewery Co does it. A good pub will give you a taster for free so long as you don't take the piss.

[Wowbagger]

I'm not common. I'm very high clarse.

[Basil]

That's £3 a pint, man!

You'd probably been able to buy 5 halves for £5

(Or am I being spoilt in Brum?  Most real ales around £2.50)

[Mrs Pingu]

Join CAMRA, and volunteer to be a bar manager at a beer festival. Then you have to quality control every beer on your bar, for free. S'wot Pingu does

[John Henry]

Leeds Brewery Co does it. A good pub will give you a taster for free so long as you don't take the piss.

By 'take the piss' do you mean choose the Fosters instead?

Offering a taster isn't uncommon at good pubs. Some pubs I've been to will put out a small glass of each next to the pumps so you can see the colour of the beer - generally gives you a clue as to the general style and taste.

I like the option of a third of a pint - I'm a lightweight, I like strong beers and I like to sample several.

My Mum is chairing her local CAMRA's 'pub of the year' sub-committee. I was forced to join her in some gruelling fact-finding tours of the shortlisted pubs last weekend. It was hell.

JH

[Andrew Br]

So far, I've never been refused when I've asked for a taste of a beer that I'm not familiar with.
Quite often though, I get 2 halfs when I'm faced with a large choice of beers that I don't know.
In my local I ask for a taste of the guest beer and then order a pint of Ginger Marble anyway  

When I was in brewpub heaven on holiday recently in Oregon/Seattle, tasters of all the beers were usually offered.
We got one of those between us the first time we visited any new pub and then ordered our favourites after that. It's a great idea 

[Pingu]

There was a real ale festival in the Wetherspoons in Monmouth a couple of weeks ago  - they had tasters too, but the beer (and it was good) was only £1.29 a pint anyway

Festival's still on 

[Bledlow]

A good pub will give you a taster for free so long as you don't take the piss.

There are a couple around here that will offer (or even pour & hand over, nothing being said) tasters if they see someone dithering.

[citoyen]

A good pub will give you a taster for free so long as you don't take the piss.

There are a couple around here that will offer (or even pour & hand over, nothing being said) tasters if they see someone dithering.

Most good pubs will offer a sample if they have a range of real ales and you can't choose between them, but that's slightly different from what Gordy's talking about - this is like a tasting menu in a restaurant where you get, say, seven or eight small dishes rather than a full-size starter, main course and dessert.

I've heard of the Titanic sampler selection but never been in a Titanic pub so never seen it in action.
It is specific to that brewery and I don't know if other breweries do anything similar. Though, as chocolatebike says, it's quite common in US brewpubs. And it is a great idea.

And Titanic's beers are excellent - I love the Stout and the White Star. I've not tried the Steerage AFAICR.