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Evaluating Beer

Evaluating Beer. Terafan Greydragon University of Atlantia 2 December A.S. XXX. Why Evaluate Beer ?? . Quality control and Consistency To be able to describe beer To score and/or judge a competition To define styles To detect problems and improve your own or someone else’s beer.

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Evaluating Beer

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  1. Evaluating Beer Terafan Greydragon University of Atlantia 2 December A.S. XXX

  2. Why Evaluate Beer ?? • Quality control and Consistency • To be able to describe beer • To score and/or judge a competition • To define styles • To detect problems and improve your own or someone else’s beer

  3. “How to” evaluate beer • Beer can be evaluated using the flavor profile as a guide to step through the process • The most obvious (and the real bottom line) is the taste. • Before that, however, you must train all your senses to notice additional aspects that may help identify certain characteristics

  4. Flavor Profile • Appearance (Visual examination) • Aroma/Bouquet (Olfactory examination) • Taste (In the mouth examination) • Overall impression (General quality)

  5. Use all six senses • Sight • Hearing • Smell • Taste • Touch and feel • “Pleasure”

  6. Overview • Sophisticated equipment can be used to measure, down to the last molecule, the chemical breakdown of your beer • Technology may augment, but cannot replace, the objective and subjective findings of a trained evaluator • The human senses of taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touch can be trained as effective tools to evaluate beer • It all starts with an understanding of what each sense can give you and how they relate to the flavor profile

  7. Sight • Head space in the bottle • Surface deposit inside the bottle neck • Gushing • Haze • ‘Legs’ • Foam stability/Head retention • Clarity

  8. Hearing • Level of carbonation • Specific tones for specific levels of CO2

  9. Smell - (Aroma/Bouquet) • Volatiles/Aromatics • Diacetyls • Phenolic character • Esters • Aroma from malt, grain, and fermentation • Bouquet directly attributable to hops • Odor - (Sulfur based compounds/oxidation)

  10. Taste Perception Where we perceive it... • Bitterness* - on the back of the tongue • Sweetness - on the tip • Sourness* - on the sides of the tongue • Saltiness - just to rear and sides of tip *15-20% of Americans confuse sour and bitter

  11. Taste How beer affects the sensation of taste • Bitterness - Hops, Tannins, Malt, Minerals • Sweetness- Malt, Hops, Esters, Diacetyl • Sourness- Carbonation, Contamination • Saltiness - Minerals

  12. Touch and Feel • Texture - creamy, over/under carbonated • Body - full bodied or thin... • Astringency - Dry, puckery feeling (Not really a flavor) • Others - Oily, menthol-like, burning, etc

  13. Pleasure • Overall impression • Close your eyes- Is it memorable? • Would you want another one?

  14. Maximizing Flavor Perception • Begin with lighter styles and progress to darker, more full bodied beer • Don’t smoke or be in a smoky room • Do not eat salty or greasy food while tasting • Do not wear lipstick or Chapstick • Eat french bread or saltless crackers to cleanse palate • Use clean glassware

  15. Evaluating Beer • Appearance • Examine bottle for sediment • Pour the beer • Quickly sniff the beer • Examine the beer in the glass • Odor • Aroma (non-hop odors from raw materials) • Bouquet (odor from fermented elements) • Hop nose (hop aroma of beer)

  16. Evaluating Beer - cont’d • Taste in the mouth • Take a good sip • Swirl and slosh around your whole mouth • “Swizzle” (suck in air through beer in your mouth) • Small sip to check 4 tastes • Check Astringency • Check after-taste or tail • General Quality • Memorableness or “come hither appeal”

  17. The ‘taste’ of beer • Hop quality • Hop intensity • Sweet/dry balance • Beer character • Aftertaste or tail • Body and Palatefullness • Flavor balance

  18. Summary • Becoming a knowledgeable beer drinker takes practice • Taste, smell, feel, and look at your product during every step • Evaluate the beer as it ages • What sulfur characters come and go? • Which phenolic characters get worse with age? • How does bitterness and diacetyl rise and fall?

  19. The most important thing in learning how to evaluate beer.... PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!

  20. References • Papazian, Charlie, The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Avon Books, New York, 1991 • Eckhardt, Fred, Essentials of Beer Style, Fred Eckhardt Associates, Portland, OR 1989 • Jackson, Michael, Simon & Schuster Pocket Guide to Beer, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993 • Papazian, Charlie, The Home Brewer’s Companion, Avon Books, New York, 1994 • Robertson, James D. The Connoisseur’s Guide to Beer, Jameson Books, Ottowa, IL • Mosher, Randy, The Brewer’s Companion, Alephenalia Publications, Seattle, WA, 1995

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