One of my big challenges for my Year of Beer is going to be learning how to actually taste and review beer.  I am a complete novice at this and could be wrong but it seems to me that if you can’t taste and evaluate beer; if you can’t pick out which flavors are supposed to be there and the ones that aren’t, you can only go so far as a home brewer.  I want to go further than that.  I want to be able to pick out those flavors, rate my beer and improve on it with some idea on exactly what flavors inside that particular beer that I don’t care for.

This may be the beginning of my year of beer but I am not a novice to drinking beer.  With that said, I don’t have a clue as to how I would or should properly evaluate beer.  I have been listening to a lot of beer podcasts since I started this project and reading a lot of reviews.  I have been hearing and reading all these really in-depth reviews and flavor profiles and it just amazes me.  I am not sure if I am ever going to get to the point where I can do what these other guys are doing but I am going to try.  I can taste the really obvious things but beyond that, I am clueless as to what it is I am tasting, what caused it to taste that way and if it’s supposed to be that way or not.  I am really excited about seeing what I can learn and how far I can take it.

I have learned a few basics so far.  I also just bought two books, Evaluating Beer by a collection of authors and Tasting Beer: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher.  I haven’t received them yet but I hope they will take me to the next level in this particular lesson.  I will update you as I go but here is what I know (or think I know) so far:

Appearance

The appearance of the beer is important but what to look out for is going to vary based on the style.  With some beers I have been told to hold it up and put my hand behind the glass.  The beer should be clear and without impurities but the same test can’t be applied to a stout or wheat beer.  Pay attention to the head, you don’t want too much head but not enough isn’t good either, it helps to trap the aromas and flavors in your glass so good head retention is important.

Agitate

When you see people tasting wine, you always see them moving the glass about and swooshing the wine around.  They aren’t doing this to look cool, the are doing it to help release flavors and aromatics.  The same thing holds true for beer.  Don’t fill your glass all the way when you are tasting a beer for the first time.  Agitate it and pay attention to the aroma.

Smell

Amazingly, according to the things I have read 90% – 95% of what you experience when you are tasting any food or drink is being experienced through your sense of smell.  I still find that number hard to believe and hope I have it right.  Still, whether the percentage is that high or not, there is no doubt that the sense of smell is very important when tasting anything.  This certainly explains why they recommend you not drink beer out of the bottle but rather pour it into the glass first.  If it’s in the bottle, you can’t smell it while you are drinking it.  I was told that before you taste the beer, inhale through your nose with 2 quick sniffs, then do it again with your mouth open, then do it a final time with only your mouth.

Tasting

Finally, the best part, the drinking!  Don’t chug the beer down, take a sip.  Resist the temptation to swallow it down, let it wander around your mouth and hit all of your taste buds before slowly swallowing the beer.  Different parts of your mouth and tongue taste different aspects of food and drink.  While tasting, try breathing out, it will help release flavors that are trapped in your mouth.

Personally, I intend on working really hard on tasting new beers and identifying flavors.  I know, it’s going to be a tough job, I am going to have to drink a lot of beer if I want to be good at this but I am up for the challenge.

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   September 11th, 2009 at 9:31 am

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