I would agree with you about the importance of what you combine your brew with. In fact, as I sat in a very popular Pittsburgh bar last night which boasts 40-odd taps and 100s of bottles, I realized that beers, like the good mix tapes of yesteryear, need to be enjoyed in well-thought out combination.

If you are going to try several beers throughout the night you need to consider not just how tasty a beer is, but how well it would combine with the beer you had before, and the beer you want next. Needless to say, I would not have come to this conclusion if it had been done well on my part last night.