A beer flight is a selection of small beer samples served together so you can compare them. At a brewery, it lets you explore the tap list before choosing a favorite. At home, it turns a few bottles or cans into a shared tasting, with everyone trying the same beers and comparing notes.
A flight is a chance to explore new beers, discover unfamiliar flavors and try styles you might otherwise pass over. Include something you already enjoy alongside a few beers you’ve never tried, and see where your tastes take you. You might find a new favorite in a style you hadn’t considered before.
Here’s how to choose your beers, work out the pour sizes and get more out of each glass.
How many beers are in a flight?#
There is no fixed number. BrewTogether describes a typical flight as four to six samples, often around 90–150 ml (3–5 US fl oz) each. The brewery’s menu determines what you actually receive, so check both the number of glasses and the amount in each. BrewTogether’s beer flight guide
For a short flight at home, start with four beers. For a full tasting, our recommendation is six beers, within the beer tasting calculator’s suggested range of five to eight. Six gives you room to explore several styles or compare different versions of one style, with smaller pours than a four-beer flight.
A flight can also be one round within a longer tasting. If you are planning a full event, our guide to how many beers to include in a beer tasting covers larger lineups. Use our beer tasting calculator to choose pour sizes and work out how many cans or bottles to buy for your group.
How much beer is in a beer flight?#
Multiply the number of samples by the size of each pour. Four little glasses can add up to quite different amounts:
| Pour per glass | Four-glass flight |
|---|---|
| 90 ml (3 US fl oz) | 360 ml (12 US fl oz) |
| 120 ml (4 US fl oz) | 480 ml (16 US fl oz) |
| 150 ml (5 US fl oz) | 600 ml (20 US fl oz) |
Actual brewery servings vary. For example, Rosko’s Brew House describes a flight of four 150 ml (5 US fl oz) samples, as well as a larger format. That is why “one flight” doesn’t tell you the total quantity. Rosko’s flight sizes
Check the alcohol by volume, or ABV, too: equal amounts of beers with different strengths contain different amounts of alcohol. Use smaller samples when appropriate, and make finishing every glass optional. Our tasting pour-size chart helps you plan measured servings.
Our recommended beer flight sizes#
Our beer tasting calculator adjusts the suggested pour to the number of beers in your lineup. Use these starting points when none of the beers is 8% ABV or above:
| Number of beers | Suggested pour per beer | Total beer per guest |
|---|---|---|
| 4 — short flight | 180 ml (6.1 US fl oz) | 720 ml (24.3 US fl oz) |
| 5 | 145 ml (4.9 US fl oz) | 725 ml (24.5 US fl oz) |
| 6 — our standard tasting | 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) | 720 ml (24.3 US fl oz) |
| 8 — longer lineup | 90 ml (3.0 US fl oz) | 720 ml (24.3 US fl oz) |
Choose four beers at 180 ml (6.1 US fl oz) each for a short lineup with more of each beer to explore, or six beers at 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) each for greater variety. Both plans have the same total volume. With its default timing, the calculator allows roughly an hour for either, including pouring and the reveal. You can reduce the pours to suit your group.
Enter the ABV of your beers before finalizing the plan. If any beer is entered at 8% ABV or above, the calculator lowers its overall volume recommendation and recalculates the pours. For example, a four-beer lineup then changes from 180 ml (6.1 US fl oz) to 100 ml (3.4 US fl oz) per beer, totaling 400 ml (13.5 US fl oz) per guest. You can also adjust individual beers separately when you want a smaller sample of a particular beer.
How to order a beer flight at a brewery#
Start with what you want to discover. “I usually drink lager and want to try something new” gives the server more to work with than “Pick anything.”
For a flight you can choose yourself, try this approach:
- Choose a familiar reference. Include a beer or style you already enjoy.
- Ask for a nearby alternative. Find something that shares a quality you like, with a different flavor to explore.
- Add a contrast. Ask for something noticeably different from your first two choices.
- Use the last slot for curiosity. Pick the beer you keep looking at on the menu, or ask which beer best represents the brewery.
You could say: “I like crisp lager, but I’m curious about darker beer. Could you help me build a four-beer flight without anything very sour?”
Before ordering, confirm the pour size, price and any beers excluded from flights. Some venues sell a fixed flight; others price samples individually or offer a selection chosen by the brewery. BrewTogether’s ordering guide
What order should you drink a beer flight in?#
Start with the gentler flavors and move toward the more intense beers. Color alone is an unreliable guide: a pale beer can be strong and intensely hoppy, while a dark beer can be relatively mild. Consider bitterness, alcohol strength and overall flavor, and ask the server which order suits the actual beers. BC Ale Trail’s tasting advice
For your own lineup, write down the proposed order before pouring. If one beer is especially smoky or aggressively hoppy, reserve it for later; beer educator Randy Mosher highlights these as flavors that can overwhelm the beers that follow. How to Conduct a Beer Flight
Treat the order as a starting point. Leave a little in each glass if you want to revisit an earlier beer and compare it with the next one.
Three beer flight ideas for home#
Choose one question for the group to explore. These suggested lineups are easy to adapt to the beers available locally; arrange the specific bottles by intensity once you have chosen them. The three-beer comparisons below are smaller exercises; enter your final lineup and ABVs in the calculator to choose the pours.
1. The brewery introduction
Choose four beers from one brewery: a lager, an amber ale, a pale ale and a porter, or the closest available alternatives.
Use the four-beer recommendation above, with smaller pours if the lineup includes a strong beer. For our standard six-beer tasting, add two more beers from the brewery’s range and use the six-beer recommendation instead.
Give each guest three choices to make: a personal favorite, a beer they would recommend to a newcomer, and the biggest surprise. Those answers may point to three different glasses.
Before comparing choices, ask everyone to complete this sentence: “I expected to prefer [beer], but I would buy [beer].” You now have something more interesting to discuss than a list of scores.
2. Three breweries, one style
Choose three pilsners, pale ales or another style your group enjoys, each from a different brewery. For a closer comparison, choose beers with similar ABVs and avoid mixing an ordinary version with a heavily flavored specialty release.
Give the glasses numbers and keep the cans out of sight. Ask everyone to choose their favorite and write one reason before showing the labels. Then compare the result with what people expected from the brands.
Your question for this flight: “What makes one version of this style my favorite?”
3. The familiar favorite challenge
Ask one guest to nominate their usual beer. Buy that beer and two alternatives they have been meaning to try, then have someone else pour and label the samples A, B and C.
First, everyone ranks the samples. Next, the guest tries to identify their usual choice. Finally, reveal the beers and compare the two answers: recognizing a favorite and preferring it in this lineup are separate questions.
Repeat the format at another gathering with a different person’s pick. The shopping list changes, but everyone already knows how to participate.
How to taste and compare the beers#
Take a moment with each glass before looking at anyone else’s notes. Observe the appearance, smell the beer, then take a small sip and notice its flavor, texture and finish. You can describe what you experience in ordinary words: crisp, creamy, toasty, fruity or bitter. BC Ale Trail’s guide to tasting beer
Try these three prompts:
- What stands out first?
- How does this compare with the previous glass?
- What would make me choose this beer again?
“More bitter than glass one, but I like the finish” is a useful tasting note. You don’t need to identify a particular fruit or know the hop variety.
Copy this sheet for each guest. It has room for eight beers and uses the five categories from TasteParty’s Beer Judge set:
| Beer | Appearance (1–5) | Aroma (1–5) | Mouthfeel (1–5) | Taste (1–5) | Overall score (1–5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 |
Give each category a score from 1 to 5. Use Overall score for your personal enjoyment: 1 means you wouldn’t choose it again; 5 means it is a favorite. A low preference score doesn’t establish that a beer is poorly made. Once everyone has written something, compare the reasons behind the ratings.
If you’d like a tried-and-tested system to guide your group through the tasting, TasteParty is here to help. Set up your beer lineup, invite guests to join on their phones, and give everyone a place to rate each beer and share their impressions. Compare the group’s favorites as you go. Create your free TasteParty account.
Set up a beer flight at home#
You need beer, clean glasses, labels and somewhere to record your impressions. A wooden flight paddle is optional; a numbered place mat can keep glasses in order.
For preparation, Mosher recommends checking beer freshness, leaving space in the glass for aroma and pouring close to tasting time. If you have limited glassware, you can alternate between two glasses and rinse between beers. Mosher’s flight preparation guide
For a side-by-side comparison, set out one glass per beer for each guest. Put matching numbers on the glasses and your beer list. For a blind flight, keep that list with the person pouring until the reveal.
Here is an example shopping calculation using the calculator’s recommendation for six guests, four beers below 8% ABV and 180 ml (6.1 US fl oz) per sample:
- Each beer needs 6 × 180 ml (6.1 US fl oz) = 1,080 ml (36.5 US fl oz).
- Four 330 ml (11.2 US fl oz) cans of each beer provide 1,320 ml (44.6 US fl oz), leaving 240 ml (8.1 US fl oz) for pouring variation.
- Across four beers, buy 16 cans in total.
- The planned servings total 720 ml (24.3 US fl oz) per guest; spare beer is separate from those servings.
For six guests and six beers at 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) each, you need 720 ml (24.3 US fl oz) of each beer: three 330 ml (11.2 US fl oz) cans per beer, or 18 cans in total. Round up separately for each beer, because spare lager cannot make up for a shortage of porter.
Use the beer tasting calculator to adjust the guest count, ABVs, pour sizes and containers, then print your shopping list. Have water available, welcome guests who skip a sample, and arrange transport before drinking.
Compare your flight with TasteParty#
For a group flight, TasteParty gives everyone a place to rate the beers and share comments. Guests join on their phones through a QR code, with no app download, and you can see the group’s preferences emerge.
Choose one of the lineups above, add your beers and finish the tasting with a question for the table: Which beer would you choose again, and what made the difference?
Featured photo: Tom Davis on Pexels, used under the Pexels License.