5 tips for how to choose beer you will love
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When you look at a beer board in your favourite beer bar, do you sometimes get overwhelmed with the choice? Or are you just over IPAs, but don't know what else to choose? Let me give you my top tips for how to choose beer. There is such a wide choice of beer out there. There's different styles, there's different ways of brewing it. There's different ingredients, there's new things popping up all the time, like what even is Kviek? What does that do to the beer?! It can be a minefield, especially when some of these beers are quite expensive and you don't know if you want to put your hard-earned cash into them. So if you're not sure how to pick the next beer you should be loving, or if you're new to the scene and you're not sure what all of these different things mean, here are my top tips for how to pick your next favourite beer.
How to choose beer tip 1 - Don’t look at the name!
Tip number one, don't look at the beer name. Names like Old Willie's Fog Horn beer, or Karen From finance (I've seen beers with these names!) don’t tell you anything about the beer that is in the can or is going to come out on draught when you buy it. Let me tell you a little story about a brewery that I was talking to. They have some really interesting names for their beers. There was one that's got a Sooty Show reference. If you're in the UK, you'll know I'm talking about the little yellow bear. If you're not from the UK, search for Sooty and Friends, you'll see what I mean. One of their beers is named after Sooty and I asked ‘why have you got a beer named after Sooty?’ They pick their names based on conversations that the staff have around the brewery, the name has absolutely no recognition of what's happening in the beer. So, don’t look at the name, instead, you are going to look at descriptions of the beer that's in the can or bottle. Or if you are a beer bar, I want you to go up to the bartender and ask them what it's all about. If there isn't a description on the board, they should be able to tell you a little bit about what's in there, especially if you're in a really good bar or taproom.
How to choose beer tip 2 - What flavours do you like?
My second tip, think about flavours. What flavours do you like drinking in beer or in other beverages? This will help you think about how to choose beer. Do you like citrusy notes? Do you like coffee and chocolate? Do you like a little bit of bitterness? Or would you rather it be really, really fruity? Do you like it really boozy? Or do you want something light and refreshing? If you know what flavours you want to drink, you can put that across to someone to help you pick what you want. Next, speak to your beertender. Or if you're in a bottle shop, ask the people working there, they usually have a really good idea of the stock they've got because they may have tested it before they brought it in. They should be able to help you pick something that you'd like. Or speak to some of your other beer friends, they can recommend what they've had from the flavours that you tell them.
How to choose beer tip 3 - What beer styles have you had before?
Is there one beer styles you like? These are all stouts
Tip three for how to choose beer is a little bit more advanced and maybe for if you've been drinking beer for a little bit. What other beer styles have you drunk before and enjoyed? There are hundreds of beer styles and new ones are being created all the time. Brewers like to experiment and see what craziness they can make. If you know that you've had a pale ale before, see if you can find another pale ale. If you've had a fruit lambic before, have a look, see if you can find another one of those. Beer styles are there to categorise beers and though there are some crossovers and some differences with experimentation from brewers, generally, others of that beer style will have similar characteristics that you may love.
How to choose beer tip 4 - Are there hops you like?
Check the can or bottle for the hops in beers you enjoy - keep a list in your beer journal.
Again, with tip 4, we're getting a little bit advanced. Think about hops that you've enjoyed before. Now you can find out the hops that are in the beers that you're drinking by looking on the can. Some of my favourite beer cans and bottles have amazing information from the breweries on them. Sometimes they don't have a lot. Maybe look on Untapped or the website for the brewery if you're at home. Or you could ask the beertender if you're at a bar or taproom to see what hops are in the beer that you enjoy. Then make a little list of these. Keep it on your phone or keep it in your beer journal, and you can find beers with those hops in again. Generally, hops are going to recreate the same flavours time and again.
What flavours can you get from hops though? Check out my introduction to hops here.
How to choose beer tip 5 - Select beer from the same brewery
Pick beers from a brewery you have had before.
My last top tip for how to choose a beer that you will love is to look at breweries that you have drunk before. Now, breweries can produce a wide range of beer styles and types. But if you found one that you've enjoyed before, you may well find that the rest of their beers are also to your liking. And it also means that you are supporting an independent business and brewery and helping to move along our craft beer community.
Here are some breweries that I recommend if you are looking to try someone new.
One thing that's important about this and how to choose beer that you're going to love is to be able to describe and understand what you like in a beer. And a way to do that is to have a beer vocabulary. You can say that this beer brings you wonderful memories of your grandma's perfume, but no one else knows what your grandma's perfume is like. It may be floral and remind you of lilies. If you can use words that everyone will understand, then you have more of a chance of finding beers that you are going to enjoy. So you need to develop your beer vocabulary. My vocabulary cheat sheet 50 Words To Make You Sound Like A Beer Expert can be downloaded now for free. It has a list of words to get you started on your beer expert journey – go download it now and let me know what you think!
