 | | | | | |  | HOW TO TASTE BEER |  | | | | | Overview
Beer flavor stands apart from other quality traits such as color clarity and foam, in that it is the only one that cannot be reliably measured by machine. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the way that we perceive different flavors and aromas, especially complex ones such as those associated with beer, is by no means simple. Each of us differs in our sensitivity to each of the myriad flavor compounds in beer.
Some of us may perceive a 'strong' butter-like aroma at a concentration of diacetyl which is only faintly detectable by other assessors. When it comes to perception of beer flavor, each of us lives in a world of our own. | | | | | | | | Appearance
It is often said that 'we judge a beer with our eyes'. Indeed, we can tell quite a bit about the quality of beer from the way it looks. What should we look for?
| | | Clarity
Beers fall into two types - those that are meant to be clear and bright, and those that are meant to be cloudy. Either way, each should be as intended. | | Foam
Beer should have a head of foam, though the amount depends on the beer style and consumer taste. When present, the foam should be made of small consistent bubbles, not large bubbles of variable size. It should be white, and should cling to the side of the glass when the beer is consumed. | | Color
Beers can range in colour from light amber, through deep ruby red, and finally to the dark black stouts and porters. | |
| | | Flavor
Flavor is the impression created by three senses - the sense of taste, the sense of smell, and the sense of pain.
| | | Taste
We can recognize only four tastes. These are sour, salty, sweet and bitter. These tastes are sensed by taste receptors located on our tongue, the roof of our mouth, and the back of our throat. As a result, unlike wine, we have to swallow beer to fully appreciate its taste. | | Aroma
We have a truly amazing ability to detect different aromas. Humans can differentiate between thousands of different aroma compounds. In beer, there are generally no more than 100 flavor compounds impacting upon our sense of smell at any one time. Examples of such aromas include hoppy, malty and sulphury notes. No one can smell all smells with equal acuity. We all differ in how sensitive we are to different flavors. As a general rule, one person in 30 is unable to smell a given compound at a concentration that the rest of us can detect quite easily. | | Mouthfeel
Not all aspects of flavor can be attributed to aroma and to taste. Some are detected using tactile sensors in our mouth via our sense of pain. These include characters such as bite, smoothness, warming character and palate fullness. | | | | | | |
