Developing a Nose for Beer

[Showdown]

I've been reading a lot of books on my new hobby. My ultimate goal is to create my own recipes - kits are fun, clones are cool, and trying other people's recipes can be interesting. But ultimately, I'm doing this because I want a creative outlet (and because it happens to parallel a strong love of beer, well, that's pretty awesome).

The more I read, the more I realize that I (a grown-ass man with countless years of beer consumption) have little to no palate when it comes to flavors. I keep hearing about citrus, pineapple, pine, spice, oak, etc. The other day, I was enjoying a New Belgium Ranger IPA and I tried really hard. Some citrus notes, but mostly a hop aroma is what I get. My wife has a big nose (doesn't read this website) and couldn't do any better.

I love IPAs and have already started putting together a couple of recipes, but I honestly don't know how certain grains will affect flavor. I can figure out color, ABV, and IBU ranges I like, but what about flavor? I'm a hop head, so maybe flavor isn't as important with this style as it would be with, say, a stout or hefeweizen.

My original thought was to start a tasting thread - Someone names a beer, we all try it, and have a good debate about the flavors and what produced it.

I just realized I have no specific question.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

I will once again beat the drum of the SMaSH beer. Do some batches with one grain/extract, one hop and one yeast (I suggest US-05 or Wyeast 1056 as they are pretty clean). Do the same thing for the next batch but change up the hop.

Assuming a good routine and method, you will then have two beers that are pretty identical with the only difference being the hops. You will then be able to develop your palate and nose, particularly if you can save up between batches and do a side-by-side taste test.

Once you get bored with hops, change up the grain/extract. Then the yeast.

 

[Showdown]

I get what you are suggesting. I think it's just a newb thing that will eventually correct itself with a couple hundred gallons of brewing under my belt. That makes sense, I understand the principles of woodshedding to get something right.

 

[Brew_G]

I'm in a similar position, though I think I've identified taste and aroma of a couple different hops (Centennial and Cascade, for sure). I'm only six batches into my brewing career and, to be honest, I don't know if I'm down with doing a bunch of smash beers. I'm afraid they'll be a little lacking, and since I have relatively little time to brew, I'd go months/years doing smashes before I finally got through all the various possible combinations that would give me a refined palate/nose.

However...I do plan to eventually do the hop-pellets-in-a-BMC-bottle test. I figure it's an easy, cheap, and non-time consuming process that should let me hone in what different hops have to offer.

 

[pablosbrewing]

Agreed - neutral yeasts as suggested (WLP001 is also the same strain).

Research some hop types, I like this tool for a quick look:
https://www.hopunion.com/aroma-wheel/

Use a site like RateBeer or BeerAdvocate to see what other people are tasting in a particular beer:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/55081/

Also try drinking your IPA's a little warmer (50F), and experiment with glassware - my favorite is a large red wine glass.

 

[DocScott]

I would suggest a few things to increase your beer palate.

First, drink beer with people more experienced than you or that are interested in discussing beers with you. Throwing back a few beers at a party doesn't teach you much, but talking about a specific beer with someone else who has a more refined or experienced palate can.

Second, eat different foods. This is what really stretches your palate. If you've never tried a food before, you'll never be able to find that flavor in other foods/drinks.

3. Join a brew club. You'll get to taste all sorts of flavors: good and bad. My club has really good variety from sours to lagers to barrel aged stouts to the infamous asparagus beer (not recommended). Simply trying the beers an talking about them with the brewer is super helpful to learn what their recipe intentions were, what others and you taste in them. This can really help with your future aspirations of recipe development.

4. Drink more beers. Smell it, look at it, look for faults. What do you like, what don't you like? What food would you want to eat with it?

Practice will make you better. With that said, some people just don't have the sense if taste and smell that others do. Not everyone can be a master cicerone or sommelier.

 

[Yooper]

While I'm not a huge fan of Beer Advocate, I think that site can help you develop your palate if you don't have friends who enjoy craft beer.

What I mean is, open the site and go to the beer you're going to sample. Don't read it yet, but minimize it and have it there. Then, open your beer and pour it into a glass. Ideally, most beers would be near or around 50 degrees. Then, just smell it. You can even put a coaster over it and then take another whiff. I will do that once or twice when I'm judging a competition.

Then, you can taste it. You don't have to swirl it around like you've seen wine drinkers do on TV, but really taste it. Take time to swallow it, and try to name what you smell and taste. Weird things are fine- pine, orange, tea, sweetness, lemonade, whatever.

Then see what others say about the same beer. Some are just not good reviews, of course, but if 50 people say they taste pine and juicy fruit gum, they are probably onto something.

Compare your notes, and then see if you can taste or smell some of the things they describe.

It takes time to have a trained palate, and lots of people even take sensory classes for beer judging to develop those skills, so don't feel bad if you don't have it yet. At least you know what you like, and you can start to learn why. That helps so much in brewing, and it will make you a better brewer in the long run.

 

[Jordancwilk]

Wow, lots of good ideas here. Thanks for starting this thread. As another newb I've had these same thoughts. I like the idea of SMaSH beers, and my first is in bottles ( northern Brewers kit with pils malt and simcoe hops).

 

[Showdown]

Great help - the Hop Aroma Wheel is fantastic, it really helped strengthen my lack of confidence that I was pairing correctly. I think I found some tweaks, too. Good stuff.

The Beer Advocate is great. I completely agree with Yooper that it is a great tool to compare notes of what I'm tasting vs. what others perceive. Thanks for the link Pablosbrewing.

In reviewing this post, confidence is something that I'm looking for. When doing 5 gal batches and having to wait for what seems like 20-30 years before drinking the finished product, I want to feel confident that I made some good choices. These websites should definitely help. Anyone know of a website for grains that does the same thing as the Hop Aroma Wheel?

 

[pablosbrewing]

Anyone know of a website for grains that does the same thing as the Hop Aroma Wheel?

Not as fun as the wheel, but it works:
http://www.onebeer.net/grainchart.html