How to ‘Taste’ Beer

Did you know there are well over 200 ‘official’ styles of beer as outlined by BJCP – Beer Judge Certification Program?  It is becoming increasingly more and more of a challenge to the novice to differentiate and confirm which style of beer one is drinking.   It has been said that over 85% of what we describe as "flavor" is actually aroma. Hence, the smell of a beer plays a very big part in your overall experience.

Although most of us will never spend the time to become beer aficionados, I thought I’d grab a few pointers from the well-respected Ray Daniels, a former Chicago home-brewer expert who runs Cicerone, one of the country's only beer sommelier certification programs.  One large challenge for us mere mortals is the basic complexity of malt, hops, yeast and even the water used. Unfortunately, our mouths can handle just five basic tastes: sour, sweet, salty, and bitter  …. and most of us have a problem telling one from the other!

Beer aficionados are taught to swirl, sniff, sip and swish the brews around their mouths, breathing back in as they swallow. That's to get what Daniels call retro nasal smelling, the technical term for the aromas that you can only pick up at the back of your nose and throat.  Surely, you and I can swirl and sniff (I know I can sip) so we too can look the part!  However, here comes the challenge - pay attention to what you're smelling and tasting and feeling. Also, characteristics from beer color ("is it brick or tawny brown?"); to flavor ("is it tart and crisp?"); to characteristics of malt (toasty, caramels) and hops (pine, citrus/grapefruit, oregano) to mouth feel (silky, oily, airy, hollow).  These are all important attributes when one must describe a beer (much less identify a style!).

One of the biggest sins we common beer drinkers are accused of is drinking out of the can or bottle. Ray Daniels may ask (and rightfully so) would you drink wine from the bottle?   All beer drinkers need to pour your beer into glass, and not just any glass (more on this subject on another blog – for now refer to list of proper glassware at BeerAdvocate.com and a discussion of  the proper beer temperatures on RateBeer.com.)

The beer geeks might tell you that the beer not poured correctly into a proper glass could be too cold and absolutely all the aroma is trapped inside a bottle, and therefore, most of what you perceive as taste is not free to float into your nose!   SO, if you wish to ‘look the part’ always pour your beer into a glass! Also, swirl, sniff, sip and swish.

The final advice we offer here on this Nor’easter Brewing Blog is to attempt to isolate one flavor characteristic at a time.  Many craft beers are ‘complex’ which means there is a lot going on – from a variety of malted barleys, to a combination of hops, to an unique strain of yeast, to elements and different tastes found in the water.  

Clearly the important part is to enjoy your beer, but with all the hard efforts a micro craft brewer spent of hand crafting your beer, it is nice to spend the time evaluating it.