Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

The first Israeli beer news portal in Israel. Founded in 2008. All about beer, accessible and professional.

The brewer answers
24/04/2023
401

Beer taster’s notes

Beer tasting

Among the many jobs, the profession of beer taster is surrounded by a certain halo of romance – you should drink beer all day long and receiving a salary for it! What could be better?

In fact, this profession is quite ordinary, just with a certain specificity, although I must admit that sometimes it is flattering to catch envious glances. To the owner of this specialty, in addition to theoretical knowledge and certain physical requirements. Of course, a beer taster should not have iron health like a commando (and how can you save it in such a job?), the requirements are simpler: to have a sensitive nose and tongue, however, with minimal natural data these skills can be developed.

So, what does a beer taster do at their work? – Of course, they taste beer, unfortunately not in a volume as we would sometimes like… And seriously, you can distinguish between two types of tasters. One regularly checks the brands of beer produced at a brewery and knows perfectly well which flavors are characteristic of that beer and which are not. Others, however, know not only about the beers produced, but also about other beers and brands. Such tasters participate in various judging competitions and contests.

With all the various chemical instruments available, no such instrument has yet been invented to replace the taster’s nose, although attempts have been made. Every batch of beer brewed should be tasted by a beer taster to verify that it tastes and smells like the beer brand in question. Sometimes it is necessary to do it at the end of a hard-working day when you fall down from tiredness, and sometimes at 4 or 5 in the morning, when all subconsciousness is filled with one thought: “How to sleep, at least a few minutes!” you don’t want to taste beer or even to look at it…. It is impossible to endure all this all the time, i.e. to be a real factory beer taster without a comprehensive love for this magical drink.

However, let’s leave emotions behind and get to the tasting process. Calmness is the first rule of beer tasting. If you are upset about something, excited, do not touch the beer glass – you will not be able to be objective. It is better to sit for 10-15 minutes in silence, try to disconnect from your problems – nothing will happen during these 10 minutes, the world will not turn upside down. The place where you want to try beer, respectively, should be light, quiet and without extraneous odors. Any noise or odor is distracting. You should not try beer immediately after lunch, on a full stomach. You should not start tasting after drinking coffee, spicy food, even in small quantities, or smoking a cigarette. If you’ve brushed your teeth before, you’ll have a nice fresh feeling in your mouth that will overpower all the flavors of the beer you’re testing. The number of samples to be tested matters too. Usually 10-15 samples are enough, not more, after that it is difficult to achieve an objective assessment, the picture becomes blurred. Once, when judging a beer championship, I had to evaluate 25 samples in half a day, the feeling at the end of this endless “beer festival” was like after a real marathon …

Our tongue and in particular the receptors on it sense several tastes: bitter, sour, salty and sweet. There is no receptor that senses hot taste. Hotness is not a taste, but a sensation of pain. The main taste buds are located on the tongue, but we feel the shades of flavor on our palate. When tasting beer, you should drink it, not spit it out and hold it in your mouth – the aftertaste is one of the most important parameters of beer flavor.

The tasting is usually done in clear tulip-shaped wine glasses, slightly tapered at the top. The appetizer is the usual unsalted crackers and plain water – sometimes there are such samples that their taste fills the mouth completely. A cracker with cold water is meant to clean of this aftertaste.

One of the important parameters of the beer being tested is its temperature. Each type of beer has its own optimum drinking temperature. For lagers, for example, it is 8°C – 10°C, but such beer is tested at a temperature of 15°C. At a higher temperature the whole bouquet of the beer being tested is more fully felt. By the way, our home refrigerators are usually set to a temperature of 5°C. Therefore, beer from the fridge should warm up a little, otherwise it will have a watery taste.

One of the first steps in evaluating a beer is appearance. Holding the glass by its stem (if you put your palm around the glass, you risk heating the beer), look at the beer, admire it. Good beer should sparkle and shine, because it is a living beverage. Professional brewers even have a term: Bright Beer – shiny beer. Look at the foam. There are no universal requirements for foam – it varies from beer to beer. Lagers are less persistent, ales are denser, and wheat beers have a stunningly beautiful foam.

The color of beer is very individual, depending on its brand. Clarity is also regulated by the type and brand, but at the same time, even opaque beer should not be dull in appearance. Such beer gives the impression of a disease, and there is actually something wrong with it.

Bring the glass to your nose and inhale this fragrance. Try not just to enjoy this divine odour (although I know it’s sometimes very difficult!), but to break it down into its components. Then, twirling the glass slightly, take your hand away from your nose to a distance of 25-30 cm and try to smell the beer again. The thing is that some odours are revealed precisely at a distance. Usually, the first sensation is the most correct. Inhaling the same glass over and over again, the sharpness of the smell disappears and the picture becomes blurred. In order to restore it, pause, concentrate. Then cover the glass with the palm of your hand and, without taking your palm off, spin the glass on the table, shaking the beer. Smelling the beer again, you will rediscover the whole bouquet of odours.

Once you have experienced and appreciated the aroma of the beer, take the first sip and listen to your sensations. As with the aroma, the first impressions are also the most accurate in the flavor. Try to appreciate the aftertaste of the beer. It is often very different from the first impression and sometimes as rich as the first taste.

Depending on the type, the flavor of different beers often differs dramatically. Geography also influences the taste – Belgian and Bavarian wheat beers differ dramatically in flavor and aroma.  Different beers often have completely opposite flavors – what is characteristic of wheat beer is unacceptable for lager. The floral flavor of Dutch lagers is often unacceptable in some Bavarian lagers. Beers brewed in the north of Germany generally have a sweetish flavor, while those brewed in the south of Germany are characterized by a distinct hop bitterness. If we evaluate the flavor characteristics of ales, their range is literally limitless. There are many types and subspecies of beer with specific flavors, each of which includes different brands of beer produced all over the world. However, there are some common characteristics that are the same for all types and subspecies of beer: it should not have a metallic flavor, be sour to the taste or have an aged flavor.

There are many different irregularities in the flavor of beer that only trained professionals are able to detect. The fate of the brewed beer depends on the degree of these irregularities. If it is a slight, weakly expressed flavor deviation, the beer is allowed to be bottled with certain remarks. If the flavor deviation is pronounced and strong, the beer is rejected.

In conclusion, I would like to share my experience and give a couple of tips: You can study the relevant literature, constantly train in determining the taste of beer, the main thing is not to forget the main purpose of this magical drink: to bring people joy! If you are sitting in a good cheerful company in a pub, don’t start analyzing the taste of the beer brought to you, just enjoy it. Otherwise, you just risk spoiling the evening of the whole company with your reasoning. If, in your opinion, the beer is not at all conditioned, just change it, order another one. This way you will keep the good atmosphere in the company. And please don’t forget – people come to the pub not to taste and analyze, but to enjoy beer!

Your comments