Beer Tasting...

No, this ISN'T my actual first tasting of beers yet... RELAX, I'll be doing the tasting in a few hours, I promise! I thought I'd just put up a quick post about "beer tasting" before I go ahead and start actually tasting beers...

The "beer geek" in it's natural habitat

So why bother "tasting" beers??? It's not some "fancy", snobby drink like wine right? Why would we take this relaxed, casual drink and start analyzing its flavours, aromas, appearance, etc...? Surely that would be over-thinking it, and taking all the enjoyment out of it right? Well for some people this might be true, but once you pass over from casual craft beer drinker (where you can tell a beer tastes good and different) into a bona fide Beer Geek, rather than the beer having one good flavour overall, you'll start to realize that the flavour of the beer is made up of all kinds of different tastes that you can actually pick out, and that these tastes actually all come together to give the beer its overall flavour. So, far from taking the enjoyment OUT of drinking beer, this can actually make you enjoy beer so much more, as you start to find that the flavours in beer are so varied and near limitless... Plus it's a whole lot better than describing beer as tasting like "beer".

Now this isn't a skill that you can just decide one day you want to have, drink a beer, and be able to identify all the different aromas and flavours it has to offer. It takes a LOT (and I mean, a LOT...) of practice. Luckily, "practice" means drinking a whole bunch of beer, and - more specifically - tasting as many different styles of beer that you can possibly get your hands on. But the best place to start is, next time you're drinking a beer, just take a second to give it a quick sniff (aroma is crucial to your sense of taste... Don't believe me? Try tasting something with your nose plugged), and then drink a mouthful. Instead of just swallowing it down and moving onto the next gulp without a thought, try to think about what kind of flavours you're tasting. Is it sweet, dry, bready, crackery, caramelly, roasty? Is it bitter, citrusy, grassy, floral, herbal? Or maybe it's spicy, fruity, sour, salty, or even cheesy. These - and many, MANY more - are terms commonly used to describe how a beer tastes.

Just a small sample of some of my different styles of beer glasses

Since I'm no BJCP certified beer judge, and since I don't feel like COMPLETELY boring you guys to death, rather than judging every beer by its appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, etc..., I'm just going to stick to a more basic standard of "What's it smell like, what's it taste like, and my overall impressions of the beer". I'm going to be drinking most beers at slightly warmer than refrigerator temperature, and I'll be drinking it out of a large snifter. This brings me to another topic I just want to make quick mention of. There are almost as many beer glass styles as there are different styles of beer (and I have a HUGE obsession with collecting different beer glasses, much to the dismay of my lovely wife, who is daily losing more and more kitchen cupboard space to my obsession). Certain glasses are crafted with a certain beer style in mind, and will help accentuate certain aspects of that beer (the appearance or aroma), while others are made with no beer style in mind, and do nothing at all for the beer (I'm looking at you shaker pint). When it comes to tasting beer, your best bet is to drink from a glass that tapers in at the top (like a wine globe or a brandy snifter), as this actually captures and holds the aromas of a beer, rather than just letting them all float out.

So those are just some beer tasting tips, for anyone who feels they may want to "get a little more out of" their beer experience. But I warn you, once you start actually TASTING beers, you'll quickly find you become obsessed with finding new and different flavours in beers, and you'll start wanting to buy every different or new bottle or can of beer in the store that you come across (once again, usually to the dismay of your wallet and your significant other).

I'll see you all shortly, as I taste and compare a couple of different lagers: Mill Street Organic Lager, Budweiser Lager, Grand River's Galt Knife Old Style Pre-Prohibition Style Lager, and Creemore Springs' Traditional Pilsner. Until then...

Enjoy a craft brew!

- Sid Ryzebol -

(P.S. an awesome and HILARIOUS podcast to listen to if you're at all intrigued by tasting and exploring different beers beyond what I cover in my blog, or even if you don't like beer but want a to be entertained and maybe even have a good laugh, I highly recommend the Beerists Podcast. Do yourself a favour and listen to ALTEAST one episode from their website or on iTunes, you won't be disappointed.)