How to taste beer properly to love it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What taste, color and olfactory sensations to pay attention to in order to taste the foamy drink.

1. Use all the experience you have

The first impression of a beer is rarely pleasant. Beer bitterness is a gustatory sensation that can only be appreciated over time. Once you get used to it, you begin to fully perceive the taste of malt and fruity aromas that arise during the fermentation process. You will no longer remember that a few years ago you decided not to try beer. Curiosity suddenly awakens in you.

Rely on context

Any tasting takes place in a specific setting. A fresh pilsner never tastes as delicious as it does on a hot summer afternoon in the afternoon. But an imperial stout is hardly appropriate in this setting.

Beer demands to be approached with a certain mood and use all the senses.

If you drink it from a beautiful glass surrounded by friends, the sensations only intensify. The tasting will give different results depending on whether you have a cold or are healthy. Bad mood, fatigue, or, conversely, joyful feelings also play a role. Weather conditions should not be disregarded either.

Even the humidity of the air has some influence. If you are tasting an Indian pale ale that has been cold-hopped to enhance the aroma, you should be aware that odors spread better in dry air.

Don't forget about food pairing

Of course, the appetizer influences the taste of the beer. This is primarily due to physiological reasons. The amount of saliva produced or a change in pH affects the taste sensation.

Some products emphasize certain properties of beer, while others open it from a completely different side. Some beers are versatile, while others require specific products.

The following combinations can be called classic:

• Garlic and aromatic herbs (such as basil or parsley) accentuate all types of wheat beer.
• Pale ale can go very well with creamy candies or ice cream, for example.
• Indian Pale Ale (IPA) is the perfect accompaniment to cakes.
• The Belgian saison beer is usually combined with chicken meat.

It happens that beer reveals its best qualities only in combination with a certain dish. For example, smoked beer reaches its peak when consumed with sauerkraut.

There is an unspoken rule: classic beer from a certain region or country is ideally combined with traditional dishes of the same country.

2. Take a close look at the beer

Acquaintance with beer begins with the design and decoration of the packaging. Beer itself is a liquid hidden from the light in bottles, which come in a variety of shapes: slender with a long neck or squat and pot-bellied, which is typical for Belgian tripels. Some brewers rely on the originality of the shape.

But of course, the shape of the bottle does not affect the taste of the beer in any way. But the color of the glass is very important. Firstly, glass does not react with beer at all, so the taste of the latter is preserved in its original form. And secondly, dark brown glass protects beer from UV radiation better than green glass.

Pay attention to the color

The color of the drink can serve as a guide to a certain extent. If the beer is light and clear, then there is a very good chance that there is no grain flavor in it, and the emphasis will be on fresh notes. Beers with a more pronounced color - from straw to amber - often exhibit malt flavors, somewhat reminiscent of caramel, biscuit and dried fruit. In dark beer, you can feel the smack of smoke, coffee, chocolate of varying intensity.

Estimate the density

The color of the beer will tell us nothing about the sugar content in it, but you can tell about it by watching how the beer is poured into glasses. Imperial stout and some tripels flow like syrup. It is no coincidence that stouts are sometimes jokingly called "oil", and not only because of the color, but also because of the viscosity. If you lightly shake a glass with such a beer, then oily streaks will remain on its walls.

As a rule, the higher the density of the drink, the brighter and richer its taste, and vice versa.

Pay attention to the foam

The foam gives the beer a noble look and allows you to draw some conclusions about it. The appearance and properties of the foam are influenced by many factors, in particular the primary raw material for beer.

The inclusion of unsprouted grains in the malt increases the foam density by making the bubbles smaller. The addition of oats allows the head to maintain its shape. The hops, which are rich in resinous substances, play the role of a surfactant that affects the durability of the bubbles.

Don't forget about the draft

Unfiltered and unpasteurized beer contains yeast residues. This is fine. Bottles of this type of beer are best stored upright so that the sediment does not mix with the contents. When pouring beer into glasses, leave a small amount in the bottle.

Haziness is normal for some beers containing wheat proteins, such as weizen. However, in most other beers, it is undesirable. See a glass of beer in the light.

3. Smell the beer

Pour the beer into a glass and shake it lightly in a circular motion. Don't breathe too deeply. To assess the smell, it is better to take a few short breaths, as if sniffing. Repeat this several times, trying to distinguish all the shades of the scent.

Beer can contain thousands of different aroma molecules that we can recognize through our sense of smell or touch. They naturally enter the air from the surface of the liquid, especially if the beer is foaming.

Estimate the temperature

The temperature of the beer plays an important role in tasting. Typically, the ideal temperature for drinking beer is 8-10 degrees. Beers with dark malt (stout, porter) are best served warmer.

If you taste a stout, you will immediately smell the roasted coffee beans. For the aroma of chocolate to appear, the temperature of the drink needs to be raised a little more.

Connect your imagination

Smell is capable of evoking memories in the brain. If you drink light beer, which, when warming up, allows you to feel the plant shades, then you can easily imagine a field covered with ripe ears.

While tasting beer, travel through your memory, evoking pictures of pleasant or not so memories in it.

Perhaps the chocolate flavor in the drink will remind you of your mom's pie. And the smell of sulfur, not always appropriate in beer, will make you think of a chicken coop in your backyard during your happy childhood days. Imagination will add to your tasting experience.

Do not panic

Don't worry if you can't catch the smells that your friends admire so much. Perhaps these smells are not associated with any personal story. Unless you're a professional, chances are not that your sense of smell is the most developed of your senses.

Forming new neural connections in the brain requires constant practice. Gradually, you will learn to distinguish, recognize and classify odors. Sensory analysis is one of the most difficult tasks, especially if you have to taste a dozen beers.

4. Taste the beer

The most crucial moment of tasting is coming! Initially, the sensory nerves in the mouth react to the temperature of the beer. Then the language takes over. It is dotted with over 10,000 taste buds. For a long time it was believed that they specialize in individual tastes, depending on the location on a particular part of the tongue. It turned out that this is not the case. It's just that the taste sensations arise one after the other as the drink moves in the mouth.

Identify how the tongue feels

The main flavors include sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. The latter does not have any particular taste, but enhances all the others. In fact, we are able to distinguish between subtler shades within the main tastes. For example, the tongue distinguishes glucose from sucrose, citric acid from lactic or acetic acid. It all depends on experience and training.

In the mouth, the beer heats up and begins to emit a variety of aromatic molecules that make it possible to judge its properties. These odors rise through the nasopharynx into the nasal cavity, where they are re-analyzed in the olfactory bulb. Thus, the sense of taste is actually inseparable from the olfactory sense.

Evaluate the flavor consistency

The first sensation when beer enters the mouth is caused by the excitation of taste buds, which perceive the bubbles released from the liquid. This is a very sharp sensation of freshness and sourness, which causes an increase in salivation.

The second phase takes place directly on the tongue, where the sensations of sweetness and bitterness are perceived. At the same time, there is a retronasal perception of the emitted odors and their analysis. The density of the beer is also evaluated.

The last phase is the evaluation of the aftertaste. After you have swallowed beer, there is a persistent taste sensation in the back of the tongue and the beginning of the larynx, where there are also taste buds. It can persist for several minutes. Typically, this is a sensation of bitterness and astringency.

Do not hurry

Prolong the perception by focusing on sensations. At first, you will be vividly impressed by some dominant taste (for example, bitter), which will attract all the attention. With the second sip, saliva will already soften this sensation, the brain will have time to get used to it and you will be able to perceive a whole kaleidoscope of tastes and smells.

The book "", which was published by the Potpourri publishing house, will reveal to you the secrets of malt, the properties of hops, the secrets of fermentation. Girek Ober talks in detail about the variety of sorts and types of beer, as well as shares useful tips that will help you tolerate alcohol more easily and observe measure.

After reading the book, you will learn to understand the intricacies of flavor combinations of beer with other products and understand how they match, contrast and complement each other.