How to Taste Beer for the First Time...I mean really taste it

1. Pay attention to the beer as you open it and pour it. What do you see? What do you hear?
2. Smell the beer. Many of the aromas that may flag brewing problems are subtle or fleeting, so judges smell before tasting.
3. Look at the beer. What color is it? Is it clear? Do you like the way the head looks? What size bubbles do you see? What happens when you tilt the glass? Do you see fingers of liquid clinging to the sides, or do you see thin delicate wisps from the head cling to the sides? These are some of the things that judges look at.
4. Smell the beer again. What stands out? Do you smell hops? Do you smell caramels? Do you smell fruits? What kind of fruit would you think smells like that? Have you ever smelled anything quite like this beer before? What was it?
5. Taste the beer. Swirl it around your mouth. What is the major flavor? Sweet? Bitter? Sour? All of these are possibilites, and you may taste them at different times as you move the liquid around your mouth and then swallow.
6. Take another taste. Try to narrow down the flavor you taste a bit more precisely. If you taste sweetness, what is it like? Is it like a malted milkshake? Is it like caramel candies? Is it like molasses? If you taste bitterness, what kind of bitterness do you taste? Have you experienced something like it before? Maybe something like the juniper taste of gin, or a taste that reminds you of fresh-cut pine trees, or a drier, more grassy sensation? Perhaps you taste a tartness, like lemon, or a sweet fruitiness, like apple or banana. What exactly is it that you taste??
7. Swirl the beer around in your mouth. How does it feel? Is this a light beer that you could drink from a big glass on a hot summer day? Is it a heavy beer that you'd want only a small taste of? Does it feel dry?
8. Think for a minute. Did you like this beer? What things impressed you, or what things about it would make you hesitate to drink another?
9. If you know styles, or have a style guideline handy for reference, how closely does what you just experienced match the descriptions in the style guidelines?

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