How to repeatably taste beer

I first got into serious beer tasting with a series of "lips-on beer lectures" sponsored by the RPI Alumni Council. While they started with a number of beer experts, including Bill Newman of Newman's Ale fame, the truth is that knowing a lot about beer doesn't predict that you will be able to do a good presentation about it. Indeed, some of the early lectures were not good from a public speaking standpoint, and some were somewhat dry and pedantic, of interest mainly to people who had brewed beer.

The series was finally given by Bill Woodring, a certified beer judge who was very active in the TapNY festival. Sad to say their web site is a series of (somewhat useful) ads, and the domain is for sale. Bill made a number of very good presentations, and at each we sampled eight or so beers, and got a history of the brewer, the style, and what to look for in the brew. The sequence of brews is important when you are sipping a number, that was usually well handled with the aid of a carefully chosen intermission.

So here is my procedure for repeatably tasting beer (in the broad sense including ales, etc).

1. Pouring the brew - do it the same way every time. Know the temperature of the brew and the mug used, they make a big difference in taste perception and head, and make sure that the mug is rinsed very carefully, as even a little soap residue will matter. I have been using a three ounce mini-mug chilled to 50F, and I chill most brews to 40F. The exceptions: I will often let stouts, porters, and other similar brews warm to 50F, either before serving or as I'm tasting. As a rule of thumb lagers are best to my taste really cold, say 40F, and ales, stouts, porters, and about any brew with a complex taste is going to show its complexity at 50F or even 60F. Sometime a brew will develop a cloudy appearance when it is first chilled, usually 2-3 days cold will let it reach its true appearance and clear the "chill haze."
   
   I pour first down the side of the mug, which cools it a bit more, then I switch to "right down the middle." If a brew is not showing much head I will switch sooner, if it has a lot of (or too much) head I stay to the side.
   
   NOTE: if the brew is "bottle conditioned," or made with live yeast to provide carbonation rather than adding bubbles to flat beer as it's bottled, pour gently. In general stirring up the yeast that settles to the bottom isn't going to improve the taste.
2. Sniff - do you smell malt, bittering hops, or aroma hops? Does it smell like caramel, or maybe "sour" like lemons or other citrus fruit? Most importantly, if it smells like citrus, should it?
   
   I'll reprise my comments on styles in the future, but a style is a description of what a beer should be, a mapping of a name to a set of characteristics, and I think the style on the label should be an implied contract between the brewer and the consumer, not something made up by marketing. So if the vendor has labeled it as X, and I chose it because I wanted X, possibly I chose X because it makes a good food pairing with my meal, and if the brew has the characteristics of Y, even the best damn Y ever, it's not what I wanted. I once had a brew which I believe was called "Festivus Imperial Hefeweissen," It was quite good, and was, as advertized, a mutant 10.5% ABV Hefeweissen with a load of hops. I have no complaint with that.
   
   Example: one of the local brew pubs sells a very good brown ale, one I like very much. They call it a Stout, and if that's what you want you will be really disappointed. My daughter found this out when we went to dinner one night, and we speculated on the fault being in the marketing or brewing area.
3. Look - at the color, the head, the size of the bubbles in the head and rising. Is it clear or cloudy? And if it isn't clear, is that expected for this style? Visual appeal is an important part of the overall impression, people would rather not drink "ugly beer," which is why you don't taste from the bottle.
4. Taste - and pay attention. What do you taste, where in the mouth? What is the aftertaste, and how long did it last? Pay attention to the aroma which rises up into the nose. And of course did you enjoy it? Now, top off the mug or glass and let it sit and get a little warmer. If you are serious you have a little thermometer handy, if not pat attention to cold, cool, just below room temperature, or "pretty warm." Many beers taste better at 50F than typical refrigerator temperatures which range from 40f down. Stouts, Porters, and IPAs are likely to show a noticeable taste change.
   
5. Overall impression - this is a very individual thing, and it isn't just the sum or average of price,  tastes and smells, appearance, or sexy label. It has to do with (a) did you enjoy it, (b) is this a "have one" beer or a "session beer" which you can sip all night?
6. Food pairings or conditions - if you taste a beer with food, do note if it was a good or bad fit. And if a brew would be particularly good in some setting, note that. For example, I have noted some brews in the past which I thought would be particularly nice on a hot summer day after doing something like yard work or tennis. Other brews just lend themselves to sipping slowly by the fire on a cold winter night.
7. Other notes - if the brewer tells you the ABV (alcohol by volume), IBU (International Bittering Units of hops added), type of hops used, or brewing technique such as wet hopping, storage in special barrels, or similar information, make a note of it. You might find that rather than liking a style, like IPA, you like it when a certain hop is used, or don't like it with another type of hop.

If you do a tasting the same way each time, and of course take notes of what you find, it will help you remember what you like, tell someone else what you thought about a brew long after you taste it, and give you insight in choosing a new brew based on how well you liked similar brews in the past. It's a subjective process, but produces useful information.

Go try a new brew!