Tasting Tips

[Bax]

I had a quick look but can't seem to find a thread like this.

For those that love beer, I mean love beer. Could you please pass on some information about tasting, reviewing beer.

It's one thing to knock back half a cold stubby on a hot day, but it's another to actually pick up the flavours, the florals, the fruits, the esters, the malts.

I'm an absolute newcomer to tasting beer. Long time drinker, but only very recently have I been trying to explain what I'm tasting.

Looking for tips, from anyone that's been to a beer/wine tasting course. What to look out for, how do you begin to explain what you're tasting and smelling?

 

[manticle]

It's a big question but you can find some ideas reading more about beer judging.

This page on the BJCP website ( http://www.bjcp.org/examcenter.php ) has a few decent links especially the zymurgy article (so you want to be a beerjudge) and the tasting and troubleshooting sections of the exam study guide.

Best thing though without any formal judging shenanigans is just to learn to recognise flavours and explain why. You taste biscuit? Maybe it's a ssociated with malt. Which malt?

Taste roses? Learn to associate that flavour with a particular cause (probably an ester) relating to a process. Above all though - just develop a descriptive palate in which you have confidence. Everyone's palate is different so it's not a case of being RIGHT. It's a case of learning to describe the sensation on your tongue and up your nose in a meaningful way.

No different from eating or drinking anything.

Look up common beer off flavours and look up descriptions of malt flavours, hop flavours, yeast flavours and brew with them and try and discern the differences and similarities. Cascade - is it orange or grapefruit citrus character? Is that fruit hop or yeast derived? Does that bready character become more pronounced when you use Munich malt, etc.

 

[Bax]

Thanks will definitely look into it.

I think the biggest thing for me personally is recognising and being able to name what I'm tasting and smelling. For 20 odd years I've been describing my favourite meals and beers as 'nice' and now I have to relearn that it smells of certain things. My guess is that this is definitely a long process, one that never really reaches a peak.

Thanks again, I shall continue my pursuit of describing the good and bad smells and tastes with as high of a level of detail as possible.

 

[Adr_0]

Does that help?

http://www.bear-flavored.com/2012/05/what-beer-tastes-like-glossary-of-beer.html

Not sure about 'bear' though...

My partner has a good laugh at wine connoisseurs that rave about the "late-picked Spanish mandarin, complemented by Lincoln rose, lightly charred Argentinian oak and Cuban tobacco" - basically says they're full of 5hit.

Some flavours, when presented plainly to you and you then actively look for them, you recognise - try 'passionfruit' and Stone and Wood's Pacific Ale. I don't know where to find a good resource that can point out great examples of specific flavours sorry. Crystal and roast malts are great and start from a very light sweetness and go through caramel, toffee, burnt toffee and sometimes through to raisins/plums/blackcurrant and of course light and burnt coffee and chocolate... if you really believe all that.

You've probably read that a lot of hops have different flavours too - woody or earthy, mint, marmalade, all sorts of fruits. I think some descriptions go a bit over the top and draw a long bow, and while that depends on your palate it's also a good starting point and again something to look for in a specific beer that you know is hopped with a specific hop.

BABB's in Brisbane ran a few 'taint' jugs a couple of months ago, with a taint capture - oxidised taint, diacetyl (butter), acetaldehyde and another one - each in a jug of fairly plain lager and about 2-3x the tasting threshold so that you could really notice. Really awesome exercise.

 

[Bax]

Yeah that definitely helps thank you.

 

[thedragon]

Bax this doesn't necessarily answer your question, however I felt that a "beer flavour wheel" helped when I started wanting to think about what I was actually tasting, rather than just whether i liked it or not.

Here's the first one that came up in google: http://www.beerflavorwheel.com

I also recall reading a number of articles about the process of tasting: appearance, smell, mouthfeel, taste, finish (sorry if I've stuffed up the language). Something like this, combined with a beer flavour wheel, may be a good starting point:
http://beer.about.com/od/howtotastebeer/ht/HowToTasteBeer.htm
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/taste

 

[Truman42]

Good post Bax and some great replies. I'm in the same boat as you Bax. I often cannot detect or describe what it is I'm tasting or smelling in a beer. Often I ask my missus what she can smell or taste. Once she's said its pine or citrus or it's licorice then I can pick up on that taste but it's usually not until she tells me what she can taste.

I've found that joining a Brew club has helped a bit too. On competition nights you have a bunch of guys describing what they can smell and taste so it's interesting to see if I detect the same thing. I know many people say that it's very subjective and a stout that you detect molasses I might detect licorice, and neither of us is wrong.
But I still think that some people have a better taste sense than others. My missus can taste and smell everything in a beer and I can't.

 

[Not For Horses]

It's fairly important to make your decision on the taste and smell fairly quickly as you can fairly easily trick both these senses.
Just like your other senses, your brain manipulates the data it receives from the sensors. Your brain has a map of tastes and smells that you have encountered in your life. When a particular molecule hits a sensor in your palate or nasal cavity, your brain tries to match that against what it already knows. It just so happens that it is very easily confused and also subject to input from other senses. This is why things like Hestons meat fruit and the like are so difficult for your brain to process. If you expect a particular taste or smell, your brain is powerful enough to make it so. This is also why Truman finds it much easier to detect flavours and smells once his missus has pointed them out.
On another slightly ickier note, women have a much better sense of smell and taste when they are ovulating.

 

[contrarian]

I'm pretty early on I'm beer appreciation but have done a wine course and the instructor basically said the only reason to learn to describe the flavours is so you know what you like. That's how I approach tasting beer and pretty much everything. So I would echo the sentiment above that having your own system where you know what you're tasting and what creates that taste, you will know what kinds of beer you enjoy more.

 

[Adr_0]

On another slightly ickier note, women have a much better sense of smell and taste when they are ovulating.

Does the same apply for men?

 

[Not For Horses]

Does the same apply for men?

Ahh, do you ovulate? I'd get that checked out. Maybe get a breast exam while you're there.

 

[Forever Wort]

I can't offer tips as I am new at this myself.

However, I can offer my enthusiasm ... since I started this whole shebang a few months ago I have really come to appreciate beer on a whole other level to the "it's beer, it makes me drunk" that typified the first twelve years of my drinking. The flavours are the same, but I am coming to notice the patterns and synergies that are present in certain beers, and - fortunately or unfortunately- I am becoming a more discerning drinker. I can definitely see a time coming when I could even refuse a beer based on its taste.

What is the world coming to?