What I'm realizing about myself

As I continue further in this hobby and in life in general, I'm discovering that I really do not have a refined palette at all. I'm not somebody who can detect "subtle top-notes" or am totally put off by "off flavors". Most beers I've had, I really enjoy. I proudly lived the "High Life" until fairly recently, and therefore never really developed beer snobbery. Certainly, I can taste the difference between stouts, lagers, IPA's, etc. But I don't think I'll know which strand of hops a beer has, or if I'm drinking a commercial brew that had a high pH that day.

It will be really interesting to see if homebrewing changes any of that. I think the advantage of not having keen taste buds, is that I will be able to enjoy most everything I make and won't have to obsess about my batch being too warm for a day, or overpitching yeast, etc. The downside is, is that I will probably never be a "great" brewer as I won't detect what needs refinement. I'll probably never win any homebrew medals except by accident. But I think I'm okay with just enjoying something I made myself.

you'll get as much out of it as you want to. You can't pick out different hop varieties because you never knew what went into them. I've been brewing 3 years and still couldn't pick out varieties, but I don't care to pay attention.

Amen fellow brewer! I have brewed beers I lilke and beers I don't. So what if someone else can detect a hint of "something or other". Maybe one day my pallet will be refined enough to pick these things out, but in the meantime, I am just going to enjoy what I enjoy and dump what I don't!

Not relating to homebrew specifically, a couple months ago my wife got six different IPAs from a local supermarket that carries a crapload of craft-brewed beers and lets you build your own 6-pack, and a friend brought over a seventh. Now, these are all really hoppy American-style IPAs, and being a total hophead, that's my favorite thing to drink. I expected them all to be pretty similar -- oh sure, some will be more floral, and the character of the different hops should come through somewhat, but these seven beers were all very similar in style, and I figured they'd all just taste "really hoppy" to me, since I would describe my own palette much the same as yours.

Nope.

We did the taste-test "blind" (we weren't actually blindfolded, but only my wife knew which was which, and the colors were similar enough that it would have been tough to tell based on that alone). All three of us were blown away by how different they all tasted back-to-back like that.

I felt somewhat validated that, even doing the taste test blind, the one that I previously thought was my favorite turned out to actually be my favorite. On the flip-side, my second favorite when tasted blind was one that beforehand I actually would have rated lower, a "Well yeah it's my favorite type of beer, but for the style it's just okay." Very fascinating.

Anyway, your palette may surprise you. I have found I am very poor at describing what I taste in terms of "notes", etc., or in relating others' descriptions to what I taste. But I guess I still taste it!

Learning the ingredients and how they taste is very similar to learning to cook. Once you know what something tastes like then you can pick up those flavors in the food.

I have a very simple Pale ale recipe that I have been brewing using differnet hops, either by themselves or in certain combos. I am getting a good feel what each diffferent hop tastes like. This is great because pale ales are pretty much my go to beer and they all have been good beers but different.

Learning the flavors will come with time.

beergolf said:

Learning the ingredients and how they taste is very similar to learning to cook. Once you know what something tastes like then you can pick up those flavors in the food.

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When I cook, I always taste the raw ingredients, even if they are disgusting (well, unless they are potentially bad for you, like raw chicken...) Did you know that almond extract tastes so strongly of almond that it's almost spicy?

I have been doing the same thing with homebrew as I learn. Though, if you are about to RDWHAHB, I would not recommend tasting a hop pellet, as all HB and CB will taste like crap for the next half hour or so. heh...

Like it or not you will develop better discrimination between tastes given enough time. At some point you will develop a "funny taste" in a beer and you'll be forced to taste and attempt to discern what it is you are tasting so that you can fix it for next time.

I still enjoy High Life! But I also enjoy many, many kinds of other beers now too.

Well I have been brewing since January and I am am becoming a beer snob! I mean before this year the thought of drinking a stout or an IPA was just crazy, but now the thought of living the high life just does nothing for me. I get to enjoy what I drink and get the buzz that the Mass Prod. Beers give. I also get that buzz quicker.

As far as palette goes, I think the longer you brew the better your pallet will get. You may never be a certified tasting judge, but you will know good beer when you taste it.

LONG LIVE HOME BREW!!!!