How to evaluate beer. Tasting beer with a purpose.

August 26, 7:55 PMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

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I’ve lived my life evaluating beer and often work late.  There are lots of reasons why I assess beer’s personality when having a beer.  pay attention when I’m taste beer with a purpose.  I want to share with you a few ways I get to know my beer better, while enhancing my enjoyment.

Observe the beer -  Pour your beer in a glass and look at it.   What color is it?  Is it clear?  Doe it have yeast enhanced cloudiness?   Is there a hop infused haze?  What color is the head?  What is the quality of the head?  Do the bubbles cling to the side of the glass?   From these observations I anticipate sweetness, roast and malt character (color).  Yeast in the bottle may indicate natural fermentation in the bottle and an advance expectation of certain desirable flavor and aromatic characters.  Foam quality and cling may indicate brewmaster’s care to detail and subsequent all around quality.  

Smell the beer – Swirl the beer and release the bubble carrying aroma.  Malt sweet, hop floral, grainy, vegetal, fruity, spicy, caramel, toffee, cocoa, coffee, herbal, yeasty, acidic, butterscotch, bread-like, toasted.   The aroma is a release of volatile flavor molecules and indicate a lot about beer character.   Both positive and personally undesirable attributes emerge in the aroma.  More often than not aroma is indicative of what will emerge in the flavor.

Taste the beer – But before I do, I pause to inhale the aroma as I pour it into my mouth.  Breathe in as I tilt my glass of beer into my mouth.    I taste the beer by swirling the beer all over the entire surface of my tongue.  I’m subtle and not being a geek about it.   I’m noting the different taste sensations.  Sweet at the front of the mouth.  Bitter concentrated at the rear of the tongue.  Salt and sour concentrated on the sides of your tongue. Fruitiness of ale fermentation; berry, banana, apple, pear, etc.  What do the different tastes remind you of?   The words I use to describe beer taste is the language of communicating my enjoyment.   Beer doesn’t simply just taste like beer.  It has complexity, layers, balance.

Feel the beer  -  That’s right I feel the beer.  I’m not talking about the transcendental, but the actual way the beer feels in my mouth.  Heat of alcohol.  Quenching of hop bitterness.  Intensity of carbonation.  Is the beer pleasantly or excessively astringent (dry pucker sensation),  If it’s too cold do I note more bitterness than I expected?  If it’s warmer do I note that malt sweetness is enhanced?

Notice the aftertaste – After I have swallowed, I’m noting what tastes emerge and flee as the memory of the beer wanes.   

Now that I’ve made the effort to notice the character of the beer I’m drinking, it’s time to put away the mental notebook and dive in.  Enjoying the experience knowing that I’ve just made a friend.