a guide to creating a cozy winter tasting night
There’s something about winter that makes everyone want to stay home, cancel plans, and basically just eat little snacks until spring. A cold night around the holidays is the perfect time for a low-effort gathering where no one has to cook a full meal and everyone can still pretend they’re doing something fancy.
Enter: the winter tasting night.
It sounds fancy, but really it’s just friends sitting around trying things in small amounts and making confident statements like, “I’m getting a hint of… something?” Perfect.
Below are a few ideas to help you create a cozy, minimal-effort tasting night that still feels intentional.
set the tone (with minimal effort)
First: lighting. Soft lamps, candles, the warm glow of the fireplace on the TV if you, like myself, don’t have the real deal. Whatever music you like, and bonus points for putting out paper and pens for tasting notes or make your own tasting questionnaire. Will anyone use them? Maybe yes, maybe no, but they help set the tone.
And don’t clean your whole house, this season is busy enough. Just clear the surfaces and dim the lights enough that no one can judge.
a sourdough tasting
A bread tasting is cozy, unexpected, and zero-stress. You don’t need knives or special equipment. Just warm the loaves, slice them up, put out the pairings, and let people make enthusiastic noises about carbs.
If you want to make it even easier, I put together a sourdough experience box this season with four mini loaves and little pairings that work together in really fun ways. It’s basically a ready-made tasting night that fits in a box. People who have tried it keep saying things like “I didn’t know bread could taste like this” which is flattering, but also the whole point. You can make it the centre of the evening or pair it with the other tastings below.
the craft beer sampler
This is the classic one, mostly because beer people love talking about beer. You can keep it super simple:
- a dark one
- a light one
- a weird one with fruit
- a seasonal one that tastes like someone tossed a gingerbread house into the vat
Encourage everyone to jot down tasting notes like “yummy” or “confusing.” Then compare. No one will agree on anything and that’s part of the charm.
the cheese experiment
Not a cheese board. A cheese experiment.
Tell everyone to bring the most random cheese they can find. Not the fanciest one, just the one that made them stop and say, “wait… what?”
Weird goat cheeses, crumbly blues, a cheddar that claims to be extra mature but looks suspiciously youthful. Arrange them in a line and sample them from mild to dramatic. It’s surprisingly fun and usually ends with someone discovering a new favourite they previously would have avoided.
Sourdough pairs well with this, of course.
the surprisingly-good non-alcoholic tasting
This one always surprises people. There are so many good non-alcoholic options now—aperitifs, tonics, craft sodas. I’ve never met a dealcoholized wine that didn’t taste awful if I’m being honest, but there are some decent nonalcoholic beers out there.
Alternatively, a hot chocolate bar is a guaranteed crowd pleaser!
the grown-up chocolate tasting
You just buy a bunch of chocolate bars from different makers, break them into squares, and then pretend you can taste subtle differences in cacao percentage. Someone will say “this one tastes more… deep?” and everyone else will nod like they understand.
If you want to elevate it, pair the chocolate with small bites: a slice of sourdough, a sip of something warm, some random pairings from the fridge (cheese and chocolate? Weird but makes for good conversation).
wrapping it up
A winter tasting night isn’t about impressing anyone. It’s a chance to gather, snack, laugh, and enjoy each other with minimal prep work awhile enjoying the best things in life — warm bread, good cheese, a drink you didn’t expect to like. It’s a low-stakes way to bring people together when the weather is giving “absolutely not” outside.
And if you don’t want to think too hard about it, my new sourdough experience box really does make it ridiculously easy. Warm the loaves, set out the pairings, pour something to sip, and the night basically takes care of itself.