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Tasting... enjoying
"Beers brewed with care, to be consumed carefully"
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| Many people enjoy a glass of beer without knowing anything about its rich background, the natural ingredients, aromas and the like. The ingredients of most beers are simple: grain, hop, yeast and water. These are the basis of the brew, but can be elevated into a symphony of colours, tastes and aromas. Beer is a marvellous, living product that deserves respect and care when pouring and drinking. In addition, each sip of a traditional beer tells you something about the history and traditions of the region where it was brewed.
Found a beer that interests you? Then drink it as long as it is fresh. Pasteurised beer in a bottle has a shelf life of one year. But even bottle-conditioning beers are best bought and drunk young. Only a couple of beers get better after a while. They mature when stored properly. Like wine, you can drink beer purely for pleasure, but a bit of product knowledge may enhance your pleasure. Knowledge of the details adds an extra dimension.
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Crash course in beer tasting(courtesy of beer sommelier Hans Bombeke!)
We taste beer with our senses. But not with all our senses, since touch and hearing do not come into play! However, our eyes, nose and mouth are all the more important!
Although it is not difficult to taste beer - anyone can learn it – it does require a great deal of practice. We will gladly help you learn the ropes step by step. You will see that from the very beginning you can get more out of beer than you could ever have suspected!
Here are two tips to start with: whatever beer you are drinking, stop and take the time to focus on the taste and smell. And wherever you are, taste something new! Check out the menu and ask for the first beer you don't know. Then taste it deliberately and commit all your findings to memory (or a booklet!). If you don’t like the beer, which is always possible, you can still switch to something else of course!
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| Looking
A perfectly served beer is a sight for sore eyes. It is actually a subjective approach, but we will have to say no to ‘fairground beer’!
Tasting beer begins with observation: what colour is the foam and what is its structure? How does it run off the glass and does it leave any traces? It is very important for a beer that it is served in a clean glass, free of grease and fingerprints. Although the size of the head may vary due to the pouring speed, different beer styles clearly have different heads.
Looking at the beer itself, you will discover many things. What colour is it? Hold it against the light : does it indeed have the dark colour you initially thought? After all, beers may range from bright blonde via straw-coloured to amber or even pitch black. Also, what about the sparkling? Slowly rising bubbles mean a natural carbonation. Heavy sparkling usually means that carbon dioxide has been added (saturated).
The clarity also plays an important role: is it a clear or cloudy beer? The clarity allows you to determine whether the beer contains yeast and was bottle-conditioned or filtered to remove the living organisms from the brew. In the case of bottle-conditioned beers, the yeast is sometimes poured along into the glass. This should be avoided, because it brings about a taste change. The choice is yours. Still, we recommend to try it with the yeast included, but at the end of course.
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| Smelling
Our nose is probably the most underrated sense we have. Nevertheless, smelling is an essential part of our perception! Over six hundred aromas and smells can be distinguished in beers. Some even say nine hundred!
Some smells can only be detected at the start of the tasting process, while others only express themselves after a period of time. It is striking that the smell does not always mean that what you smell was actually used in the beer. For instance, some hop varieties give beer a distinct grapefruit smell! In other words, if you smell the beer, remember that what you smell is not a mistake. Consequently, a very broad range of smells and aromas can be distinguished: ranging from (on the ‘nicer’ side) flowers via herbs and fruits to (the not-so-great side) dank, wet cardboard, sour butter and a ‘cesspool smell’. The more different smells you detect, the more complex the beer is. The less pleasant smells do not necessarily mean that your beer has gone bad, but just ask if you want to be sure. In addition, these aromas are better recognised when a beer is slightly warmed. By the way, did you know that women tend to have a better sense of smell?
TIP: Take some beer in your mouth, let it warm slightly and swallow it with your nose closed. Then open your nose to let the released aromas escape through your nose, allowing you to recognise them better.
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Tasting
Tasting without using your mouth is of course unthinkable! With this sense we can get so much more out of our beer than we are used to: in addition to the overall taste, you can also perceive a second taste, a possible aftertaste, carbon dioxide saturation and alcohol content. The combination of the different ingredients and the brewing process used also ensure a unique experience!
Some beers, especially session drinks, have a ‘drink & swallow’ effect, while others, i.e. beers to be savoured, manifestly linger in your mouth. The four basic tastes are sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Only the salty flavour is not found in beer, although there may be ‘a slight saltiness’ sometimes. The other three are abundantly present in our beers and even combined sometimes! You need to determine for yourself whether it was the sweet or the sour flavour that first set in… or was it the bitter flavour after all?
· Sweet: at the tip of the tongue
· Salty: at the front, on both sides (found rarely or never in beer)
· Sour: both sides of the tongue
· Bitter: at the back of the tongue
These places are the same with everyone, but their intensity may differ. For that matter, the bitter aromas, only sensed at the back of the tongue, make a beer taster swallow the beer, contrary to wine tasting.
Swallowed the beer? Then focus on the new sensation you experience. This differs from the taste in your mouth. It is called the finish and is the result of carbon dioxide. When swallowing, this gas expands due to heat and gives a boost through your nose. This is why the finish is sometimes called the retronasal perception. The finish mainly differs in intensity and duration. Thirst-quenchers such as lagers generally have a short finish, while beers to be savoured tend to have a long finish.
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Want to raise the bar even higher? Dozens of beer clubs in the province of Antwerp will gladly take you under their wings. For true experts there are also beer expert courses (3 modules – 160 hrs). For more information, see info@pcvoa.be. In the meantime, you will experience that beer has a lot more to offer than you were accustomed to. In addition, there is a beer for every occasion: at a terrace after a city stroll, after a brisk walk or bicycle ride, to enjoy or to quench your thirst…We wish you a great beer experience in our province!
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