I know not every person takes a new beer and sees it as a possible religious experience as I often do. I also understand that not every time you have a beer it's you by yourself on your couch with a laptop or notepad to figure out every detail of what you're drinking. I'm not retarded. It's obvious that this is a hobby of mine and I enjoy it so much that I often pay very close attention to what it is I'm drinking. There are times, of course where I'm in a situation where I can't nerd it up to the point where I can do everything I want when trying something new, and that's fine. Not everyone is as lame as I am, and they don't feel like hanging around me while I go off into the corner to sniff my beer for 4-5 minutes. So while there are things I do when trying something new, I'm not saying it's some sort of guide that you or I should follow, but it's nice to do if you have the time and you're in a place where looking like a tool won't matter.
What I'm saying is, is that I figure if you're reading this you have at least a modicum of interest into getting to know your beer better, so why not give you a few tips? These will not only help you figure out what your drinking, but it will allow you to compare brews with one another, and better yet, figure out what it is that you really like about a certain beer, and what separates what you think is a "good" beer from what is a "great" beer. This will allow you to get past the first impressions of what you're drinking and maybe give you a more specific idea of you're looking for when you spend a few extra bucks for something good.
(caveat: once again, don't do this shit when you're with your boys at the bar watching the game, or knocking back a dozen or so brews at a tailgate or a bbq.....you'll look like a douche. Do this if you're at a place that focuses on good beers, or you're having a night staying in where you're just going to have a few top notch bottles. Also, I'm far from a beer expert, so I'm sure there are pros out there who may take an issue with how I do my "thing". Oh well.)
Assuming you try to follow some of the basic ideas I had in serving your beer:
THE LOOK: Take a minute to see what's atually happening right after the pour. Is there head, how much? Does it last for more than a few seconds....during the entire drinking session? Is there "lacing" as the head reduces or as you drink? Lacing is the white crap that remains on the glass as you drink. The glass pictured is an extreme version of it, but with a good, clean glass, a lot of the top notch beers will give you some pretty good lacing. Take a look at the color of the beer.....is it opaque, translucent, clear as a bell? Color is often based on the malt that's being used, as in both the amount of malt in the beer, and how much roast is put on the malt before adding it to the water when starting the brewing process. While there are certainly beers with a high level
of hop-bitterness that are "dark", a closer to opaque brew generally has a higher level of malt than usual, sometimes it may be to just balance out a high level of hops.
THE SMELL: Yes, you may look like a gigantic tool when doing this to your beer, but that's too bad. At a good beer bar nobody will really care, or if you're alone it shouldn't matter if you shove your nose into the top of your glass and take a few big whiffs. I do, though, recommend a good sniff. A good couple of sniffs right after the pour will give you a pretty good indication of what you are about to drink. A lot of high end beers have all sorts of hidden flavors and complexities that you might not notice if you take a swig right away when the beer is colder. There are tons of times where I find stuff in the nose of a beer that I may not pick up in the taste until I'm about halfway done and the beer is a bit warmer. Some beers give you weird notes in the smell like bubblegum, banana, cloves, raisins, cherries, blueberries, wheat, hay, fresh cut grass, pine, and many more. Don't freak out, if that's what you smell....then that's what you smell. You may not taste all that shit at first....maybe never, but you'll be surprised what you'll find as the beer warms up, and that your nose didn't fail you.
THE TASTE: This is more than taste, it's the feel on your mouth as well. Take a reasonable swig, and don't just swallow it down. I don't know about all that wine-swirling-swishing BS, but letting it sit on each part of your tongue is something I like to do. You probably know that different parts of the tongue pick up different tastes, so that of course applies to a good brew. If that's weird, then with your first few sips, just let the beer sit on different parts of your tongue, and you'll usually notice different characteristics of the beer come through as you move it around. Sometimes things like a lingering bitterness or alcohol presence don't come through when you down it right away........which is probably why it's easy to get girls drunk on Delirium Tremens as they tend to go through it like water. Try and notice all the little stuff going on. See if it matches with what you had an idea of with both the look of the beer, and more importantly, the smell. Did you get all that weird crap that you were smelling, or does it fall flat once it's in your mouth? (ok.....that's a pretty funny sentence after I re-read it) Also, while you don't have to go through this whole process with every sip, try to pay attention to what's going on when the beer gets warmer. A lot of sweetness and boozy-alcohol goodness is hidden when the beer is on the cold side, and before the air gets to it. So don't just think "bitter" or "sweet". Bitter how? Sweet how........fruit, syrup, brown-sugar, candy,...what is it? And lastly, try to think of the taste in three different moments. What's going on when it first hits your tongue, then what goes on after you let it sit for a bit, then what's going on in the finish? Sometimes there's a fourth sensation that happens 2-3 seconds after the finish. There's a lot of beers that are aged in oak-barrels now and often time that really comes through well after the beer is swallowed. Here's another quick-tasting guide from Beer Advocate.
WRAPPING IT UP: (another pun!!) You don't have to do this all the time as it's not always fun to sit and agonize over all these details. But the benefits of this is that you'll really get to know what kind of beer you like and you'll figure out that just because something is a specific style, that you don't like it. You may not like certain IPAs, or certain Stouts, but that doesn't mean you hate all of them. While I'm not going to be lame and say all beer is like a snowflake (yes, I know I just said it), not all Pale Ales are the same, and not all Porters are the same. Nobody uses the exact same ingredients, and yes, things like where the hops are grown, where the malt is grown, and what kind of water is used can make a huge difference. There's more to a beer than just "it's sweet" or "it's bitter" and you'll be surprised at how many times you can find enjoyable characteristics in a style that you previously might not have enjoyed as much.
Cheers, fools.
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