Stop Drinking Beer And Start Tasting It! Beer Tasting Basics For Beginners

When a brewer makes a beer, they put a lot of interest and love into that glass. And some of the pure joy about drinking beer is really tasting what they're trying to make for you. But how do you really start tasting beer, not just drinking it? What are the beer tasting basics? There are several techniques we can use to taste beer, from what you should drink out of, what to consider while looking at and drinking beer all the way through to what part ingredients play. This blog post will go through the beer tasting basics with you today.

Beer tasting basics 1 – Always use a glass

The first thing you need when you are beer tasting is a glass. You should always drink your beer out of a glass. Not only can you then see your beer, you'll also be opening up the aromas and flavours. That just doesn't happen when it's in a can or bottle. If you haven't got a beer glass yet, my recommendation to you is a glass called a Teku. It's got this nice kind of bowl shape so it opens up the aromas and flavours of the beer. It's got a tapered in lip - that's going to capture the head, which also helps capture the aroma. And it stemmed. That means you're not putting your hand heat on the beer and changing the temperature of it, which is quite important when we're tasting. And, most importantly, it makes you look really fancy! You might also want to look at something like small tasting glasses – with smaller glasses you can try small amounts of different beers to see how they are different. For this post I picked three beers to show you – a hop forward beer, a malt forward beer and a beer driven by fermentation. We’ll look at how each one differs as we go through our beer tasting basics.

*L-R: Fermentation forward beer, malt forward beer & hop forward beer*

Beer tasting basics 2 - Appearance

So when you're beer tasting, how do you start? Let's start by looking at our beer and taking in the appearance. As you can see from the pictures of my flight, all three of these beers look quite different. And that's going to be because of the choices that the brewer made in ingredients. The hop forward beer has got a bit of haze to it. When you're first starting out tasting, have a look at the colour. You also want to look at the clarity, meaning how clear is the beer. Is it brilliantly clear, like the malt forward beer in our flight? Or is it a little bit hazy like the hop forward beer? Is it thick and soupy? And what's the head like? Let's add a bit more to this. Has it got a nice foamy white head like this? Is the head white. Is it brown, tan or beige? Is it tinted with colour because it might have fruit in it? The appearance is really easy. Literally, take it in with your eyes describe what you are seeing - say what you see! At this stage don’t worry about expert descriptions. Does the beer look like the colour of Belle’s dress to you? Then that’s your description!

Learn more about the appearance of beer in this blog post.

Beer tasting basics 3 - Aroma

Next, we want to take in the aroma. The easiest way to do this is to swirl the beer in your glass. As you can see from the pictures, I don't have these glasses filled all the way up. That means I can do a nice swirl. Yes, just like the wine tasters do! Once you have swirled it, you need to stick your nose right in the glass and get a really good sniff. What are you getting from that beer? You might want to think in terms of food words. From our malt forward beer I'm getting lots of bread, maybe some toast, lots of bread dough. So you can use words that you already use to describe food to describe beer.

Learn more about beer aroma in this blog post.

Beer tasting basics 4 – Taste!

Finally, we get to the best part - we get to the tasting! We have to remember that what we consider flavour is actually a combination of aroma and the sensations we get in our mouth when we swallow beer. Unlike with wine, we do want to swallow. There's carbonation in our beer and by swallowing we get that sensation. It also activates what's called our retronasal action. Orthonasal is when you smell normally. Retronasal is when something passes through your mouth and past your nasal cavity and the aroma comes back up your nose. A lot of that is what we consider flavour. Also - let's get sciency - there's enzymes in your mouth. They're going to break down some of these particles and give you even more flavour.

But let's get to the tasting. Take a nice sip. Let it get all around your mouth. Swallow it. Think about what sensations you're getting. Is there lots of carbonation? Is it prickly? Is there acidity? Is it smooth, thick? oily? Is it thin and a bit watery? Then what flavours is your brain telling you you're getting? That's mainly coming from the aroma as well. Again, you can use food words to help you describe what you're tasting. I think reviewing beer is one of the most fun things about beer tasting, and about our craft beer hobby. Make some notes about the appearance, aroma and taste of your beer so you can look at it later. This will help you choose beers you like in the future.

Learn more about beer tasting in this blog post.

Beer tasting basics 5 - Flights

*With flights you can choose 3 or 4 beers to try…. or try everything on the board!*

When looking at glassware I suggested you might want to get small tasting glasses so you can try small amounts of lots of different beers. This also works when you are out at the bar or taproom. If the place you are visiting does flights of beer I highly recommend them. You can try lots of different beers and not only find out what you like but also practice your beer tasting basics! Flights are my absolute fave – next time you are at the taproom grab one for yourself and try something new.

Do you like trying a flight of beers? Let me know in the comments!

Beer tasting basics 6 – Beer Ingredients & Descriptors

In my flight of beers, I chose a hop forward beer, a malt forward beer and a beer driven by fermentation. I did this on purpose so that we are able to look at the differences ingredients play in beer and practice our beer tasting basics. In a hop forward beer you are going to get more flavours like tropical fruits and citrus fruits. You might get pine or resin, o they might be earthy or floral. Hops add bitterness, flavour and aroma so they're really important in our beers.

*Shetland Pony Pale Ale by Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing - a hop forward beer*

The malt forward beer looks quite different. It will have had different malts in it to give it an amber colour. Malt plays a big part in the colour of our beer. It also adds aroma and flavour and adds fermentable sugars to create the alcohol and carbon dioxide. So malt is a pretty important ingredient. Aromas and flavours you might find in malt forward beers are coffee or chocolate, caramel, toffee, nutty and dried fruits. Bread and baked goods are also good descriptors to use – toast, bread crust, biscuit can all be found in malt forward beers.

*Oktoberfest by Pillars Brewery - a malt forward beer*

Finally, let's have a look at our fermentation forward beer. Yeast is often a little bit forgotten in our beer but it does do amazing things. I chose a Witbier for my flight, which uses Belgian ale yeast. This type of yeast will add lots of spicy and peppery notes to our beer along with dried fruits. Another famous yeast is German Weissbier yeast. You may have had one of these beers and remember the classic banana and clove flavours – this comes from the yeast! So sometimes you might find fruity or spicy flavours in your beer, but those ingredients haven’t been added to it – it’s all coming from the magic of yeast.

*Super 8 Blanche by Haacht - a fermentation forward beer*

If you want to learn more about beer, why not listen to my podcast A Woman’s Brew? Find our latest episode here.