Training my palate

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Brewsmack

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I'm new to brewing and have an interest in learning to discern flavors of my beers. I know a good beer when I taste it, but how does one learn to taste all the different subtle flavors? In my opinion, when I buy commercial brews say Sierra Nevada, I don't taste malt. I taste hops.
 
Take notes. Record what you taste - not just what you know you taste, but using whatever adjectives make sense to you.

A flavour wheel will give you and idea of what causes some of the different tastes.
http://www.tableandvine.com/the_beer_flavor_wheel.html

If you have an LHBS or brewery that is open to it, try chewing different malts.

If you have the chance, take a brewer's course where you are given samples spiked with flavours - both desirable and undesirable- and then the cause of the flavour is revealed. Our local microbrewery offers this once a year - don't know about elsewhere.

Try different beers. And foods, for that matter. Train your palate by never backing down from a new taste!
 
BorealBrewer said:
Take notes. Record what you taste - not just what you know you taste, but using whatever adjectives make sense to you.

A flavour wheel will give you and idea of what causes some of the different tastes.
http://www.tableandvine.com/the_beer_flavor_wheel.html

If you have an LHBS or brewery that is open to it, try chewing different malts.

If you have the chance, take a brewer's course where you are given samples spiked with flavours - both desirable and undesirable- and then the cause of the flavour is revealed. Our local microbrewery offers this once a year - don't know about elsewhere.

Try different beers. And foods, for that matter. Train your palate by never backing down from a new taste!

Flavor wheel is interesting, will be using that in the future. My background is in food and I can pick out spices, sauces, etc in food.... I think that comes from repetition over the years, just can't do it yet with brew. The flavor wheel looks like an organized, systematic tool. Thanks for the input!
 
What helped me really taste malt was to go to the local homebrew store and sample the different types of malts. Once you taste it once you will never forget that wonderful sweet taste.
 
histo320 said:
What helped me really taste malt was to go to the local homebrew store and sample the different types of malts. Once you taste it once you will never forget that wonderful sweet taste.

I agree with this. I'm doing all grain and I've been tasting the grains as I make mash. I started with a batch of all 2 row us, next batch was a 2 row with crystal 60, next was chocolate malt and so on simply trying to understand the different flavor profiles.
 
But watch out. Chewing malts is a little addictive. I keep finding myself dipping into my 2-row and other malts during the weighing out of the grains. and the grind. and the mash. and the boil.

I think I may have a problem.
 
In my opinion, when I buy commercial brews say Sierra Nevada, I don't taste malt. I taste hops.

It comes with experience and the sampling of many beers. Flavor memorization and growth of the palate so to speak.

Here's an experiment for you:

Get yourself some Bear Republic Racer 5 or Lagunitas Hop Stoopid... along with some more Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Open either one of the former and enjoy half of it. Then... crack open the SNPA. Upon your first sip, I bet you'll taste a malt bomb :mug:
 
I once visited a winery in California that used a version of a wine tasting kit that included vials with flavors and aromas found in wine. You can buy these types of kits for wine:
http://www.wineenthusiast.com/the-c...CCODE=PGGL10&gclid=CKuz1PXU27QCFUid4AodOW4ANw

Does anyone know if they have anything similar for beer? I managed to find kits that have samples of various hops but not much else. From my experience with wine, these are very helpful. After sniffing the various aromas and sampling the flavor, you can immediately pick them out in the wine you taste.
 
1.
Play the aroma/taste game:

Get a few friends....pour your sample beer. Everyone takes turns just smelling the beer and saying one thing they smell. You keep going around as long as everyone agrees. Stop when you can't get anymore. Now try it with tasting. Its really fun and helps to pick up what smell or taste you might detect but can't name. I did this on New Years with a 2007 Utopia and the game lasted for nearly 30 minutes. We even played again with the empty glasses there were so many new aromas.

2.
Already said...get the flavor wheel out.

3.
Try to do more tastings and take them seriously. This has been my downfall and I am working hard this year to really do a tasting.

4.
Take notes and compare them to online reviews and even the brewery itself. Did you detect the same flavors and aromas? Did you detect it but couldn't identify it? Its a nice check

5.
Finally, do a real tasting. Get a few beers...get some reviews and go to the brewery to see what is suppose to be in there. Put together plates or bowls of said ingredients to actually taste next to the beer. Its very hard to people to distinguish between peach or mango if they haven't had them in a long time. Even more rare ingredients (currants for example) are harder to identify without a tasting of them. Plus, you get to eat and drink and get better at this skill.
 
bobbrews said:
It comes with experience and the sampling of many beers. Flavor memorization and growth of the palate so to speak.

Here's an experiment for you:

Get yourself some Bear Republic Racer 5 or Lagunitas Hop Stoopid... along with some more Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Open either one of the former and enjoy half of it. Then... crack open the SNPA. Upon your first sip, I bet you'll taste a malt bomb :mug:

I like that suggestion, but this is a small town and I'm not sure I can find those specific beers. I see alot of Sam Adams, shock top, Sierra of course, turbo dog and used to see Pete's wicked ale but it seems to have vanished. Any good styles you can suggest in the event I don't find these?
 
Go to beeradvocate and look at the reviews/ratings for IPAs, Double IPAs, Pale Ales, Pale Wheat Ales... these are hoppy styles and vary in intensity and hop focus. The point is that if you're comparing two hoppy beers, and one is much hoppier or more bitter than the other, you will definitely notice it. And you'll find that your tastes change over time. I went from preferring Belgians and despising American IPAs to now loving AIPAs and drinking less Belgians by far, but not exactly despising them. There's a time and place for every style of beer.
 
I like that suggestion, but this is a small town and I'm not sure I can find those specific beers. I see alot of Sam Adams, shock top, Sierra of course, turbo dog and used to see Pete's wicked ale but it seems to have vanished. Any good styles you can suggest in the event I don't find these?

What town are you from?
 
DrunkleJon said:
But watch out. Chewing malts is a little addictive. I keep finding myself dipping into my 2-row and other malts during the weighing out of the grains. and the grind. and the mash. and the boil.

I think I may have a problem.

Lol, got a good snicker out of me. :) "keep chewing"
 
Yeah i agree with the above post about racer 5 and SN.

Even SN torpedo has a more malt backbone.

Im woundering about my pallet too, but it seems everything I taste I love expecially* if it has the more hops.
 
bobbrews said:
Go to beeradvocate and look at the reviews/ratings for IPAs, Double IPAs, Pale Ales, Pale Wheat Ales... these are hoppy styles and vary in intensity and hop focus. The point is that if you're comparing two hoppy beers, and one is much hoppier or more bitter than the other, you will definitely notice it. And you'll find that your tastes change over time. I went from preferring Belgians and despising American IPAs to now loving AIPAs and drinking less Belgians by far, but not exactly despising them. There's a time and place for every style of beer.

Thanks I'm gonna check that out
 
Ok, I haven't checked out beer advocate yet, but i stopped on the way home. Got a Snpa, new Belgium fat tire amber ale and new Belgium black ale. I started with the amber. I could taste a good balance of hops and malt. Drank about half a beer and switch to the Snpa and still tasted mostly just hops. Half of that and them on to the syrupy, dark, coffee, malty black ale. Really good. Then back to the Snpa. Man what a different taste! It's as if u can visualize the flavor profile. The malt is so subtle because the star of the show is the hops. So them its back n forth between the three and one gains an understanding of why these taste the way they do. No WAY all those hops n the pale would be good n the black! The amber is a great balance of both. So it's making a bit more sense. Great suggestions on the multiple tastings.
 
I've been reading a book on beer tasting, first thing is to smell the beer and enjoy it. If you're working with a commercial beer that's not bottle conditioned you pour it right down the middle and get as much head as possible, smell the beer, also you should have the ale at it's proper temperature which is usually around 50 degrees.

There's a ton of things you can do to get better, but just smelling your beer a lot, and taking notes BJCP style is best.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BeerScoreSheet.pdf

Use that, even if you ignore the style and just the aroma, appearance flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impression standard it will improve your tasting. I've noticed mine getting much better.
 
I haven't gone so far as to take notes. I'm trying to just get a handle on this, ie a starting point. I can see though how those suggestions make sense.
 
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