Beer Tasting
Close your eyes and look with your nose, tongue and palate
..."Appreciate through taste, the flavour and qualities of a solid or liquid food" Larousse
...“It consists of savouring the quality of a product: we subject it to our senses (taste and smell) and ascertain its defects and attributes, in order to express them: tasting means studying, analysing, describing, defining, judging and classifying” Peynaud
Just like the difference between hearing and listening, there is a difference between drinking and tasting; for drinking the physical pleasure is enough; but for tasting you need intelligence and preparation too.
Beer tasting belongs to sensory analysis, in other words, the ensemble of methods and techniques that enable us to perceive, identify and appreciate via the sense organs, the organoleptic properties, of foods.
There are two types of tasting:
Analytical: Describes body and balance of beer.
Hedonic: Explains pleasure or distaste felt when sampling a beer.
“At a tasting, don’t look at the bottle, or the label, or the surroundings, look inwards to see how your sensations are born and how they form your impressions. Close your eyes and look with your nose, tongue and palate” Pierre Poupen
The following is important during a tasting session…
APPEARANCE: Sight shows us how transparent the liquid is, which can gradually gain several shades of darkness, with the lightest having undergone several filters. Colours: The darkness of the beer indicates the level of toasting of the grain used, the longer the malt is toasted, the darker the colour will be. The intensity of the tone can range from ivory white to the liquorice black of stout beers. Brilliance: Beer should always shine and this is achieved by controlling filters. Appearance: Lager should look lively. If it is turbid or hazy this is due to excess fermentation, except wheat beer which is naturally cloudy.
Don’t eat during the session, swallow the beer or wear strong perfume.
Don’t be influenced by personal preferences.
Relax but be alert and don’t lose your concentration.
THE BEER SAMPLE:
Less than 12 beers, to avoid fatigue and saturation.
Should be performed anonymously.
The first sample should be tried at the end.
Samples should be served at the right temperature.
THE SURROUNDINGS:
The glass should be transparent and odourless. The venue should be well lit, quiet, at a temperature of 20-22ºC, without smells that could affect the beer, with good ventilation and humidity of around 60%.
Our senses, essential for beer tasting
APPEARANCE
Sight shows us how transparent the liquid is, which can gradually gain several shades of darkness, with the lightest having undergone several filters. Colours: The darkness of the beer indicates the level of toasting of the grain used, the longer the malt is toasted, the darker the colour will be. The intensity of the tone can range from ivory white to the liquorice black of stout beers. Brilliance: Beer should always shine and this is achieved by controlling filters. Appearance: Lager should look lively. If it is turbid or hazy this is due to excess fermentation, except wheat beer which is naturally cloudy.
SMELL
As the pituitary gland is stimulated when we breathe gently over the glass, we can identify the personality of the beer. The sensations we receive are the penetrating aroma of the malt, fragrance of the hops and the smell of alcohol. Different factors influence the aromas, like type of cereal, variety and characteristics of the barley, type of yeast, ageing and type of fermentation (high fermentation produces a more intense aroma, whereas low fermentation creates a lighter aroma). Moreover, the range of aromas of beers is extensive, including bouquets from malt, hops, raw cereals, yeast, oak or wood, resin, toasted aromas, different depths depending on the fermentation and aromatic intensities.
TASTE
La vista nos desvela la transparencia del líquido, que gradualmente puede llegar a tener varias escalas de oscuridad, siendo la cristalina la que ha sufrido varios filtrados. Colores: El nivel de oscuridad de la cerveza indica el grado de tueste del grano utilizado, cuanto más tostada la malta, más oscuro será el color final de la cerveza. La intensidad del tono puede llegar a variar entre el blanco marfil y el negro regaliz de las cervezas stout (negra). Procedure to appreciate beer fully: 1st Sip the beer to wet your mouth and 2nd Take another sip to savour the taste so that the tongue identifies all the characteristics of this beverage. The main flavours perceived are usually gentle, dry, refreshing, bitter, chewy, sweet, fruity, malty or sour. In order to differentiate the levels of bitterness you can use the International Bittering Units scale, which corresponds directly with the proportion of hops in the mix. The scale goes from 10 to 100. Most beers are between 20 and 35 on the scale, 45 being considered too bitter. Very few reach 60 on the scale and can prove too much for inexperienced palates.
TEXTURE
The texture of a beer can vary considerably depending on the type and quality of the same. Texture ranges from “dense”, “frothy” beers to pale wheat ones or “compact” beers, which are very thick. The head comes from the stability of the beer components, via carbonation, which means beer should always be served with a head. The head should form a crown 2-3 cm thick. Lacing in the glass indicates a good quality beer. A good head should be white, creamy and look good.