Singing Boys Brewing
Artisanal Handmade Beer
Thursday, February 09, 2023

Sarah's Beer and Cheese Pairing Event - Introduction to Tasting and Appreciating Beer

I'm very much looking forward to the beer and cheese pairing event at Sarah's home coming up in a few weeks.  For those attending, this is a brief introduction to tasting and appreciating beer - I will follow it up shortly with a write-up on the pairings we'll be enjoying that afternoon.  Cheers,


Jim Vondracek

National Homebrew Competition Chicago Regional Co-Organizer

BJCP Midwest Region Assistant Representative

BJCP National Beer Judge with Cider Credentials


INTRODUCTION


Most of the beer consumed in this country is one style, American Adjunct Lager, and manufactured by two macrobrewers, MillerCoors and AB InBev (Budweiser). Moving beyond that one style, though, is the gateway to a fascinating exploration, opening a world of flavors and pairing possibilities. There is a grand diversity out there, for those interested in the exploration - over 3,000 craft breweries and 1.1 million homebrewers across the country are making both traditional, time-honored styles and innovative, epicurean beers. 

 

Think of it like cheese – a wildly popular processed product, American Cheese is made for its light flavor and long shelf-life. If American Cheese were the only cheese we ever ate, we’d never know the vast expanse of flavorful, culturally-specific cheeses from across our country and the world. The same is true with beer. Macrobrews are lightly-flavored and manufactured for mass appeal. They are the lowest common denominator – the American Cheese of the beer world. At the beer and cheese pairing event, we’re going to be tasting a small sampling of beers made by artisans, exploring their aromas, flavors, and their cultural and historical contexts.


Why pay attention to 'sensory evaluation' of beer - the aromas, appearance, feel and flavors? Most people don't do that - why should we? Well, its like eating. Sometimes, we just need to eat to fuel up, we need to eat quickly because we have to get the children to their next activity in five minutes, we're coming back from a committee meeting and just want to get something in our tummies before we go to bed. But there are other times, when we gather with friends, family, or maybe just our spouse and we enjoy the meal. We linger, enjoying the aromas, the flavors, the textures and how they meld together. The same is true with beer. While it takes some intentional effort, the rewards are an added vibrancy and depth to life. One aspect of stewardship of the creation is to learn to enjoy that creation and what we in turn create from that bounty - respect and savor it.  


HOW INGREDIENTS IMPACT FLAVOR AND AROMA


barley-before-malt


Malt

Usually barley, sometimes wheat or rye, that has gone through a germination and drying process called malting. We call these grains ‘malt’ and they provide one of the basic aromas and flavors in any beer, which we also call ‘malt’. If you’ve ever tasted Grape Nuts cereal, you’ve tasted malt. Malt can provide a bread-like flavor, a drier biscuit flavor, if it is kilned it can provide a coffee or roast character, or a caramel-like flavor.   





Hops

Hop cones, grown on vines, provide the bitterness necessary to balance the malt, to keep beers from being cloying and unpalatable. In addition, they may lend aromas and flavors to the beer. These flavors and aromas vary by the variety of hop and its origins – American hops often offer citrus flavors, European hops sometimes lend spiciness, English hops may deliver herbal and earthy character, and hops from Oceania typically offer tropical fruit aroma.


Yeast

Yeast are the single cell organisms that turn sweet malty and hoppy liquid into beer, by processing most of the malt-sugars and releasing alcohol, carbon dioxide, and a variety of flavor compounds. The strain of yeast and the environment in which it works (temperature, for example) impact which flavors and aromas are produced. Lager yeast strains provide ‘clean’ flavor profiles, with perhaps some sulfur, while English yeast strains will enhance esters, which may be perceived as pit fruit. Belgian yeasts tend to lend spice flavors.


BASICS OF SENSORY EVALUATION - HOW TO TASTE YOUR BEER


beer-tasting-inside

Always drink out of a glass. You would never drink wine from the bottle, because you would lose most of the aroma and any sense of what the wine looks like. Our sense of smell deeply impacts our perceptions of flavor and our enjoyment of food and drink and using a glass enhances our ability to perceive aroma.  


I love this comment on sensory evaluation by Randy Mosher: "Sensation is a mix of of stimulation and perception. At one end, sensory nerves fire when stimulated, and at the other end, thoughts, memories and images emerge."  


Use all your senses: 


Aroma

Smell first - there are volatile compounds that may quickly dissipate. Plus, aroma helps set up our sense of taste. You can help concentrate the aromas by covering the top of the glass with your hand and gently swirling the beer. Short, quick sniffs are most effective, usually. Look for malt and grain aromas (bread, caramel, roasted, coffee), hop aromas (earthiness, citrus, spiciness, herbal), esters (pit fruits, plums, cherries?), or other spices or fruit the brewer may have used. Aromas trigger memories - linger on those memories, use them to help you describe the aroma.  


Appearance

The color of the beer, the clarity of the beer, and the color/size/retention of the head.


Flavor

Take a sip of the beer and hold it in your mouth for a moment before swallowing. Similar to aroma (malt, hop, and ester/yeast flavors) but with the addition of bitterness (from hops). Look for the balance of the flavors, whether the beer is malt-forward or dominated by a strong bracing bitterness, or in balance. Look for both components of hops – bitterness and flavor, they are different. Some beers will have purposeful tartness. Acidity plays an important role in beer flavor. Is the beer dry or sweet? Some flavors hit your palate first and fade, others last throughout the finish and aftertaste.Try a technique called 'aspiration' - either hold some of the beer in your mouth as you breathe in and out over it or immediately after swallowing the beer, breathe out through your nose. Aspiration gets aroma molecules up into your nose, which enhances your perception of flavors, as aroma and flavor are interconnected.  


Mouthfeel

While tasting the beer, pay attention to its character and qualities on your tongue. Is the beer full-, medium-, or light-bodied? Is the carbonation effervescent, medium or low? Is there astringency? Alcohol warmth?


Overall Impression

Do all the above components come together into a harmonious whole that you enjoy? Were there any significant flaws or off-flavors in the beer (plastic, medicinal, unintended sourness, oxidation, etc.) How would this beer pair with different foods? In what contexts would you enjoy this beer - sipping by the fire on a cold winter's night or drinking by the pint on the back porch on a warm summer day?  


VOCABULARY - HELPFUL DESCRIPTORS FOR AROMAS AND FLAVORS


Malt Aromas and Flavors

biscuit, bready, grainy, toast, rich, roasty, coffee, chocolate, cereal, cooked cereal, cookies, caramel, toffee, molasses, smoky, sweet, scalded milk


Hop Aromas and Flavors

pine, citrus, grapefruit, orange, mango, tropical, earthy, musty, spicy, sharp, bright, fresh, herbal, lemon, floral, spruce, juniper, minty, grassy


Yeast and Fermentation Derived Aromas and Flavors

clove, bubblegum, yeasty, fruity, pears, apples, plums, pit-fruit, apricot, clean, banana, musty, barnyard, horseblanket, earthy, smoke, peat, cheese


RECOMMENDED READING


Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher

The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver

Beer Companion by Michael Jackson

Beer Pairing by Julia Herz and Gwen Conley




Jim Vondracek

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