Beer tasting info/books/knowledge

[stevet]

Like many folk on this forum... i love beer. But aside from a recognizing few flavors here and there, i really don't know what i'm loving. I would like to learn a lot more about "tasting/evaluating beer".
anyone have any thoughts or info on the topic
thanks for the help
Cheers

 

[bierhaus15]

I would recommend reading "Brewmaster's Table" by Garret Oliver and "Tasting Beer" by Randy Mosher. The first book has a pretty good review of most beer styles and how they taste/what they go best with. The latter is a good introduction to drinking (good) beer and the flavors and aromas found within. Two good starting places.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

go to the BJCP website and read the style guidelines. i've found those to be very helpful when learning about styles of beer.

 

[Greyhound]

Buy a commercial brew, then go to BeerAdvocate or RateBeer and read the reviews. I find that I often learn something about the flavor, aroma, etc. that I hadn't detected on my own.

 

[Andrewtherooster]

I definitely second Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher.

 

[HollisBrewCo]

I suppose I will third tasting beer and second the brewmasters table. I read them both in preparing for the cicerone exam. Shameless plug for a review I wrote: Hollis Brewing Company: Book Review: Tasting Beer- Randy Mosher

 

[IffyG]

Buy a commercial brew, then go to BeerAdvocate or RateBeer and read the reviews. I find that I often learn something about the flavor, aroma, etc. that I hadn't detected on my own.

You have to be careful with that because a lot of people pull descriptors out of their ass (this is especially true on Beer Advocate).

 

[Piratwolf]

Like many folk on this forum... i love beer. But aside from a recognizing few flavors here and there, i really don't know what i'm loving. I would like to learn a lot more about "tasting/evaluating beer".
anyone have any thoughts or info on the topic
thanks for the help
Cheers

I dunno if this helps, but I've found that brewing a wide variety of beer recipes, INTENSE reading, podcasts of The Jamil Show, and careful tasting have really helped me pick up not only flavors but also getting a sense of approximate FG and mash temp numbers from taste as well as crystal malt varieties. It's tough to have to drink a lot of good beer, but I tell my wife it's for the good of the craft brew nation.

 

[Greyhound]

You have to be careful with that because a lot of people pull descriptors out of their ass (this is especially true on Beer Advocate).

I agree you definitely have to take a lot of those reviews with a grain of salt (figuratively). People's tastes are different, the beer that you're tasting may have been handled differently, and sometimes you just wonder if the person was even tasting the same beer at all. Still, a lot of times I'll say something like "Oh yeah, that flavor I couldn't describe is pepper".

The Mosher book sounds like a helpful read too; I'm going to look that one up.