How to Taste A Beer
Techniques and Tricks to Get the Most From Your Brew
Even if you’ve never set out to formally taste beer, if you’ve had more than one or two varieties and have decided on a favorite, you’ve rated beer. Tasting beer is really nothing more than examining the appearance, the aroma, and the flavor of a beer. If you become interested in the increasing numbers of brands and styles available, and begin trying them out, you’ve become an amateur beer rater. Easy enough, isn’t it?
Decant Your Brew
The first tip for the taster is to never rate a beer directly from the can or a bottle. Drink from them all you’d like, but if you want to truly taste a beer, drink only from a clean glass. Different styles of beers sometimes call for different styles of glassware (think of the difference between a wine goblet and a champagne flute), but in general, the basic pint pub glass is suitable for most beers. A chalice is better for most Belgian ales, and for a lambic beer, the champagne flute is ideal.
The second tip is to be sure your beer is at the recommended temperature. Most Americans have been raised with the notion that colder is better, but this is not always the case. The nose and mouth don’t work as well, and you may miss a great deal of the aroma and taste of the beer. Beers also will simply taste different cold than they do as they warm up, and there are many flavors that are much more noticeable at a slightly higher temperature.
As a side note, although many of us are used to the idea of a “frosty cold mug,” it’s not recommended to freeze the glass. The extreme cold can freeze the water out of the beer, and that can drastically change the flavor and texture, probably not for the better.
When pouring the beer, it’s not actually the goal to avoid having any head or foam in the glass. In fact, the size and appearance of the head are part of the characteristics of each beer style. There’s no hard and fast rule, but generally, when pouring from a can or bottle into a pint glass, it seems to work well with most beers if you pour from about an inch from the top of the glass, straight down into the bottom.
The Nose Knows
Before tasting, take a moment to look at and to smell the beer. Is it clear or cloudy? What color is it? Does it smell sweet, sour, flowery, fruity? At first, it may be difficult to distinguish individual aromas, but with practice, you’ll be able to sniff them out with the best.
Last, it’s time to taste. Take a small sip, and let it wash throughout your mouth. If you remember high school science class, you may remember that the tongue is more sensitive to different flavors in different locations – the tip of the tongue is sensitive to sweet flavors, the sides towards the front are receptive to salt. The sides towards the back of the mouth are more attuned to sour and acidic flavors, which is why very sour foods cause the “pucker factor”. The back of the tongue and the tissues are the back of the mouth are sensitive to bitter flavors. As you let the beer flow over different sections of your tongue, you’ll notice different flavors take over.
One advantage to tasting beer over tasting wine, by the way, is that while wine tasters are expected to spit out their beverage, beer tasters are supposed to swallow! It’s the only way to get the beer to the back of the mouth to the areas that pick up bitterness, and the degree of bitterness is one of the characteristics of beer.
If you’re planning to taste several beers, it’s best to start with the lighter beers and work your way through to the darker or richer beers. Also keep alcohol content in mind, since higher alcohol contents will affect your taste buds more. Start with clean glass for each beer, and take a break between each style so that your taste buds can recover. If you’d like, a few sips of plain water, or a few bites of plain bread between beers may be helpful, but remember that bread or crackers will also affect your taste buds. A rest for your mouth will be more helpful.
