Your Essential Guide for Tasting Beers
If you want to taste a variety of beers, why not consider hosting your own beer tasting party? While it might not be reasonable to taste a dozen different beers on your own in one sitting, it can be a feasible event if you invite a few friends and pour small servings of each beer for comparison.
Better yet, pile a few buddies in the car and meet at a brewery pub where you can taste beers as close as possible to the original source—which is when beer tastes best. Even with today’s modern technology and supreme bottling techniques, beer is always best when tasted on tap at the source soon after it is produced and aged.
Remember that when you taste beer, you want to look for a way to rate how much pleasure drinking the beer produces in the drinker. You may want to come up with a number system, like a scale of one to five. This number can be based on a variety of factors, including appearance, foam head size, smell, initial taste, aftertaste, malt factor (how sweet and caramel-like the flavor is) and bitterness. You may also want to allow points for uniqueness, especially if you’re visiting a microbrew that uses some unusual ingredients.
You’ll want to select a group of beers to taste. Read the beer labels for hints at special brewing processes or ingredients before you open the bottles.
Serving Beer for Tasting
For best taste comparisons, you’ll want to taste beer at 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The idea that a beer should be frosty and cold appeals more to the satisfaction of thirst and less to the enjoyment of taste. To really identify flavors, serve the beer for tasting at the temperatures listed above.
Open one beer that all of the beer drinkers are familiar with and pour a small amount of that beer (about a mouthful) for each person and use this to cleanse your palate—otherwise the first beer you drink is going to taste stronger than is truly warranted because the first mouthful of beer is always a shock to the palate. By rinsing the mouth with a beer you are already familiar with, you will condition the palate, preparing it for the true beer tasting and comparison process.
Beer Articles, Videos & HowTos
If you love different types of beer, you'll want to pair it with the right food to bring out the unique flavors in your favorite brew. Check out these types of beer and beer pairings for some ideas on making the perfect food and beer matches.
Microbrew beer is beer that is crafted in a small brewery instead of a large commercial brewery. Microbreweries are classified as such only if they produce fewer than about 15,000 barrels of beer annually.
When pairing food with lager beers, you’ll need to pay attention to what kind of lager it is. Pale lagers go best with lighter foods such as crispy torillas filled with spicy Mexican foods or nachos with salsa and cheese. Darker lagers are more commonly served with meals, but can be consumed with some appetizers also.
If you want to taste a variety of beers, why not consider hosting your own beer tasting party? While it might not be reasonable to taste a dozen different beers on your own in one sitting, it can be a feasible event if you invite a few friends and pour small servings of each beer for comparison.
If you’re looking to pair food with your favorite pale ale, you should take a look at heavy, full-bodied menu choices. Pale ales have full-bodied flavors, so you need to pair them with foods that have strong, hearty flavors and can stand up to the ale. A good pale ale can play up the spicy heat of spiced foods or it can balance a robust beef dish.
If you love different types of beer, you'll want to pai...read more
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