How do you taste beer?

[gerg_burglar]

As amateur beer tasters, I'm interested to know how you all "taste" your beers. Do you chew it in your mouth? Take deep smells? Hold the beer up to a light?

As best as you can, describe how you attack a new beer out of your keg or bottle (homebrew or brewery)?

 

[itsmymilkyway]

mostly with my tongue

 

[MX1]

or from a glass.....

sometimes I do a strait pour from the tap into my face.....

 

[bleme]

As amateur beer tasters, I'm interested to know how you all "taste" your beers. Do you chew it in your mouth? Take deep smells? Hold the beer up to a light?

As best as you can, describe how you attack a new beer out of your keg or bottle (homebrew or brewery)?

Yup. Except the light thing. I really don't care what it looks like.

 

[El Nino]

Take a bunch of pictures of it and then slam it down

 

[probablynotnick]

Chew it or just splashing it with your tongue in your mouth can really give a boost to perceiving all the aromatics in the beer. And take a decent sized drink, you won't taste much taking dainty sips (mostly applies to sharing a beer with a friend). If the glass is super cold, let it warm up a bit either by waiting or cupping it with your hands.

 

[catdaddy66]

mostly with my tongue

LOL! This was going to be my smarta$$ answer...

I do look at the color and clarity before taking a deep smell (I love a great, intense hop in my nasal passages!) before sipping and swirling, followed by swallowing. I tend to do this 3-4 times before rendering any hard judgements on the brew. I do this with all 'new' beers.

 

[gerg_burglar]

mostly with my tongue

Ah, that's what I was doing wrong.

 

[shoengine]

You kind of walked into that one with the thread title. @probablynotnick echos my sentiments. For my own beers, I drink almost all of them warm until I am comfortable with their tastes.

 

[gerg_burglar]

You kind of walked into that one with the thread title. @probablynotnick echos my sentiments. For my own beers, I drink almost all of them warm until I am comfortable with their tastes.

I've never known anyone to drink warm beer on purpose. Are you talking room-temp warm? Or, "let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes out of the fridge" warm?

 

[krenshaw]

I don't do anything different than typically drinking it.. If you get certain flavors after it warms up normal than usual, chewing on it, sloshing it around, it really doesn't matter unless that's the way you always drink it!!

 

[shoengine]

I've never known anyone to drink warm beer on purpose. Are you talking room-temp warm? Or, "let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes out of the fridge" warm?

Room temp warm. Cold dulls taste, also allows more dissolved CO2, which ostensibly would cause more carbonic bite.

 

[wepeeler]

Admire the color first. Swirl it, then stick your nose in the glass. I use a tulip for best aromatics. A normal pint glass sucks. A quick taste for initial flavors, then a bigger swig for deeper flavors.

 

[brewcat]

Drink multiples.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Stab it in the side near the bottom then pop the tab and chug it through the hole or a beer bong. Both very classy.

 

[rhys333]

I don't do anything special, because if I over-analyse I'll get it wrong. I'd rather drink it like anyone else would, without any expectations so that what I'm sensing isn't being influenced by personal bias. I just look at it to check colour, carbonation and head retention. Then quickly check aromas as I go in for the first sip. I make a quick mental note of what I'm picking up and then read my brewing notes to see if my plans worked out.

 

[Desert_Sky]

I have to do a full keg stand to get the proper nose off a beer

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I look at the color and clarity and the head. Then swirl a bit and check out the aroma. Then I taste it, letting it gently wash over my tongue. At that point I try to assess what I'm tasting...sweet, sour, salty, fruity, bitter etc. I also take note of the mouthfeel.

After that I try to narrow down the flavors to specific things like chocolate or grapefruit or whatever.

A few more drinks to see if I'm missing anything, then just enjoy the experience. Towards the end I do one more aroma and flavor check to see how it's evolved as it warms. Many beers really open up as they warm.

 

[Beholder]

It’s something you can study actually - check out https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603420894/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20.