How to Taste Beer: Look, Smell, Taste, Mouthfeel and Finish

How toTaste Beer

To taste beer properly, work through five steps in order: look at it, smell it, take a sip and let it coat your tongue, notice how it feels in your mouth, then pay attention to the finish after you swallow. Aroma does most of the work, so the single biggest upgrade is pouring into a glass and smelling before you sip.

Pour into a clean glass, ideally a tulip, teku or even a white wine glass, which collects aroma at the rim (see beer glassware). Pour down the middle with enough force to raise a head of about one to two fingers; the foam carries aroma. Let very cold beer warm for a few minutes, because cold mutes flavor (see beer serving temperature). Avoid strong smells nearby, and keep water on hand to reset between beers.

Hold the glass against a light background and note three things:

• Color. From pale straw through gold, amber, brown and black. Color hints at the malt bill: darker usually means more caramel or roast character.
• Clarity. Brilliant, hazy or opaque. Haze is expected in hefeweizen and hazy IPA; in a pilsner it may signal a problem.
• Head. Its color, texture and how long it lasts. A dense, lasting head is a good sign of a well-made, well-served beer, and lacing on the glass shows good foam proteins and a clean glass.

Give the glass a gentle swirl, then take a few short sniffs rather than one long one. Your nose tires quickly, so first impressions count. Then sort what you notice into families:

• Malt: bread, cracker, toast, caramel, toffee, chocolate, coffee.
• Hops: citrus, tropical fruit, pine, resin, herbs, flowers, spice. See hops explained.
• Yeast: fruity esters (banana, pear, stone fruit) or spicy phenols (clove, pepper). See ale vs lager yeast.
• Other: wood, vanilla or spirit notes from barrels, fruit, spices, tartness.

Do not worry about naming things exactly. "Smells like orange peel and bread" is a perfectly good note.

Take a moderate sip and let it spread across your whole tongue before swallowing. Notice the basic tastes first: sweetness from malt, bitterness from hops or roast, acidity in sour styles, and sometimes a little saltiness. Then look for the flavors you found on the nose and see whether they carry through or change.

Pay attention to balance. Is the beer malt-forward, hop-forward or evenly split? Bitterness measured in IBU is only part of the story, since malt sweetness can hide a lot of it (see ABV and IBU explained).

Mouthfeel is the physical sensation of the beer, separate from flavor:

• Body: thin, medium or full. Strong, sweet beers feel fuller; light lagers feel thin by design.
• Carbonation: soft, moderate or prickly.
• Warmth: a gentle warming sensation from alcohol in stronger beers, which should be smooth rather than hot.
• Texture: creamy (as in nitro stouts), dry, slick, or astringent and puckering.

After you swallow, wait a few seconds. Is the finish dry or sweet? Does bitterness linger, fade quickly or build? Do roast or hop flavors hang around? A long, pleasant finish is often the mark of a complex beer, while a clean, quick finish is exactly what a crisp lager should deliver.

Finally, step back for an overall impression: did the beer do what its style promises, and would you want another one?

Most beer you buy is clean, but it helps to recognize a few common faults:

• Lightstruck ("skunky"). Caused by light, especially blue and ultraviolet wavelengths, breaking down hop compounds into a potent sulfur compound with a skunk-like smell. Clear and green bottles offer little protection; cans and brown glass do much better. See cans vs bottles.
• Oxidized. Wet cardboard or paper in pale beers, sherry-like in darker ones. A sign of old or poorly stored beer.
• Diacetyl. Butter or butterscotch, often from incomplete fermentation or dirty draft lines. Acceptable at low levels in a few British and Czech styles.
• Acetaldehyde. Green apple, usually from beer that was packaged too young.
• DMS. Cooked or canned corn, from pale malts. A trace is acceptable in some light lagers.
• Medicinal phenolics. Band-aid or plastic notes, sometimes from wild yeast or chlorinated water. Not to be confused with the pleasant clove of a wheat beer.

Freshness and storage prevent most of these at home. See how to store beer.