3501 Stone Way North
Seattle, Wa. 98103
(206) 547-2967
As you, consumers of beer, move away from buying mass produced lawn
mower beers, will notice the flavors and aromas of the craft brews
that have replaced the King of beers become more outstanding. It
is our hope, that with a little technical information about the brewing
process, and a little practice, the simple event of drinking a beer can be
enjoyed even more. Some of us might need a little more practice, but hey,
practice makes perfect!
Any other ingredient is known as an adjunct; i.e., fruit sugar syrups, etc. The addition of each of these ingredients will effect the flavor of the beer. Now, lets get down to it. For the sake of simplicity, I will start by describing the flavors of each ingredient.
Beer is usually made from four basic ingredients:
Malted Barley -- The flavor differences
range from toasty to carmely to chocolately to burnt. These various
differences are due to the amount of drying of the barley, as well as the
temperature at which the drying occurred in the end of the malting process.
The majority of malted barley tastes semi-sweet at room temperature, but gets
much sweeter after steeping the grain in hot water. This is the process known
as Mashing.Hops -- By themselfs, hops taste extremely bitter and therefore are not enjoyable. This bitterness becomes less pronounced as the hops are diluted. The tricky part is that hops must boil to be diluted, but they must not boil too long, because this will cause the bitterness to become more powerful in the end product.
Yeast -- The yeast in beer gives it a bread like taste. Some of you might contest by using the rebuttal of Belgian yeasts, but we are sampling beer here, not yeast! It is the yeast which eats the sugar from the malts that create the alcohol in beer. This is the process called Fermentation. The degree and character of the alcohol content also radically effects the flavor of the beer. Some of these fermentation by-products are characteristics for a style of beer, and are therefore not necessarily flaws.
Water -- I'm sure that you have tasted iron, sulfur or chlorine in a water supply. These elements will effect the flavor of beer. Water is such a critical ingredient in the flavor of beer, that many breweries have based their location on the different water flavors available. For example, the Burton on Trent region of England has a very hard water, which is why Samuel Smith's brewery chose this location. On the other extreme, Milwaukee Wisconsin, has a very soft water. This is why Miller Brewing, along with various other lager producers, chose that area to establish their breweries. Ken and Kimberly Anderson, owners of Anderson Valley Brewing Company, found that they had a well of pristine Boonville water on their property and built thier brewery literlly, on top of that site.
| Flavor | By-product |
|---|---|
| Fruity | Esters |
| Butterscotch or butter | Diacetyl |
| Canned corn | D.M.S. |
| Solventy | Acetone |
| Medical | Phenolic |
| Sulfur | Hydrogen Sulfide |
| Skunky | Light struck |
| Wet cardboard | Oxidized |
| Sour | Bacterial contamination |
When all four of the ingredients are mixed in a beer, each adds the following practical characteristics. Malted Barley results in either an alcohol flavor or sweetness in the beer. Hops add bitterness, flavor and aroma. Water can add crispness and tartness, in the example of hard water, and a smoothness in the example of soft water. Large amounts of yeast in beer can add a bread taste, while the process of fermentation can also produce many unique flavors.
The glass or vessel you beer is served in can play an important part in
pronouncing a beer's flavor and aroma. To start with, the glass needs to be
clean and free of any detergents and sanitizing aromas. It is my preference
that the glass be at room temperature, and also be dry. The colder the glass,
the less the flavors of the beer come through. The physical properties of the
glass can also effect a beer's flavor. For instance, a thick glass will keep
the beer colder, while a glass with a small opening at the top will do the
same. Conversely, a thin glass, or a glass with a large opening will allow the
beer to warm up, and encourage the true flavors of the beer to come forth.
Finally, the rim of the glass, whether it is fluted in or curved out, will
either focus on aromas (fluted in), or let the aromas escape (curved out). If
you posssess different shapes of beer glasses, you should try experimenting
and comparing the results. Ah, another good reason to drink more good
beer! Also, beers can pick up surrounding flavors and aromas. Therefore,
an environment free of odor is best for improving your tasting skills. You
should brush your teeth and rinse well with tap water, and avoid lipstick and
lip balms. Lighting also plays an important role in your evaluation of beers.
In a well-lit room it is easier to concentrate on a beer's nuances.
In addition to the atmosphere, the style of the glass, and the effects of
the combinations of ingredients have on the taste of a beer; the brewhouse
practices can and do effect the flavor of a beer. Such practices and their
effects are as follows.
After you have opened the beer, pour a small amount into your glass and immediately swirl it around a bit, and sniff. The checking for clarity, as well as actually tasting your selection will soon follow. Take a good long sniff and decide what you smell.
Guidelines for Aroma
The next step after evaluating the aroma is to check for clarity. Hold the
glass up to the light. Check to see how well you can make out your fingers
on the other side of the glass. Clarity is a result of how well-fined or
filtered is the beer. Finings are used to attract certain components of a
beer's make up. A fining will attract either yeast or protein and precipitate
them out. A filter is either a sheet with certain micron holes in it, or a
filter bed make of diatomaceous earth, either of which the beer is pushed
through. Different styles of beers are meant to have different levels of
clarity. A German-style Hefeweissen, for example, tends to be very cloudy
because of the lack of filtration. An American lager, on the other hand,
tends to be crystal clear. As a practical rule of thumb, the clearer the
beer, the less overall flavor, hop aroma, hop flavor, bitterness and mouthfeel.
With this information, further reading, and of course, practice, you can enhance your enjoyment your favorite beers. You may even learn to appreciate other styles of beers that on first impression, you didn't like before.
All this typing is making me thursty....
David Towne
avb@pacific.net
