How to be a better beer taster - 10 tips! | The Craft Beer Channel

Jonny gives his top 10 tips on beer tasting, and how to get more from every beer you pour. Remember, the more we learn about beer the more we can just sit back and enjoy it!
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Remember to drink responsibly(ish) and not be that guy...

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Hey beer geeks! Get the book Beer School right here: (amzn.to/3lqF0kd) and hit us up below with your tips and lightbulb moments!

[@muzgash]

A geek is also a "carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake". Even though we use this word differently now it's weird to think where it originates from, hence I prefer the word "nerd" that doesn't have that weird history.

[@skullboy1234]

The last tip is so important. Whenever i host a tasting i always let the guests talk within each other whilst i walk around and listen to what they're saying. Afterwards i gather the most interesting comments and share them with the rest of the group, often making someone agree and evaluate further on their previous thoughts. If i get a "hint of wet socks" comment from anyone i get so happy because that means there is someone there who hasn't fallen into the cliches of beer tasting yet, and those are the most interesting and genuine thoughts someone can have for beer

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Totally agree - so many times in tastings I run the audience come up with something I've never considered before that has changed the way I think about a beer or style.

[@Dcalzaretta]

And tip 11, as you and Brad both make abundantly clear in ALL of your videos, is to HAVE FUN! Thanks for another outstanding video. I will use this as "homework" for my students in an upcoming beer class I teach at our local college. Thanks again!

[@andrew3681]

Such a great help to the craft! It’s essential to cut through the categories of flavors (juicy, bready, sour, etc.) in order to catch the details of how notes fall into those categories. Stories are born out of the poetry of our experiences/histories and the intrigue of those stories is part of what makes beer a culture multiplier.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Beautifully put.

[@nopenopenein8243]

Good video. You guys should make a collaboration video with some wine channel where you teach a wine expert to taste beer and the wine expert teaches you to taste wine.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Well this is a nice idea! We might reach out to some and see if they are up for it.

[@jasonremy1627]

I love using Untapped. It's really helped both expand my pallet and my language around beer flavors.

[@piedropeer4494]

Thank you! I’m enjoying your videos very much. Especially the series about the Trappist beers. Keep up the good work 👍🏻

[@C.C-os1cz]

Beer tasting is a philosophy in its own right. I enjoy wine tasting but beer tasting felt like stepping into a new world. I loved how you said that certain flavors take you to someplace. Reminds me of that Pixar movie where the food critic tastes a dish that reminds him of his childhood. 😢

[@jameslopez958]

I agree 💯 percent! We all have different backgrounds of taste and scents 😁. Thanks for sharing the Glass choice for better beer enjoyment 😄👍🤔

[@DonsBeerReviews]

Great tips. It's a learning process and takes time. I bought loads of those small bottles of flavouring used for cooking and they helped me identify lots of different aromas. I find myself sniffing different foods I buy e.g. bread, fruit etc👍

[@vincentr.6109]

I benefited a lot from rating beers and reading other reviews. It's been a while since I actually rated beers, but every so often I read up to see what others are thinking.

[@rcollingridge1]

No.8 is spot on - I had a kombucha made with citra the other day and I’ve never been able to identify that hop more clearly, because I had it in a different context then

[@paskrell]

Home made hop water (beer maverick recipe). It’s a treat.

[@Disco-Terry]

I think 7 is very true, the number of times I've not picked out something that's been slapping me in the face all along, goes hand in hand with reading the can. I think from a reviewing/scoring pov and using other people's opinions, I like it when people are consistent and state bias, not a fan of scoring a £1 B&M beer 8/10 because it didn't poison you or giving a sour a 2/10 because it's not a dipa.

[@nolanmcintyre14]

Big fan of beer school - it's still my number 1 beer read. Great point about taste first. I have caught myself, in the past, picking up a beer that was new to me and immediately researching it and checking reviews. Humans are so persuadable that I found this bad habit was influencing my experience. Even if you disagree with a review you may go searching for flavours and miss out on your own experience, if that makes sense.

[@robingeveke6001]

I was the first beer nerd in the friend group, so it has happened quite often that I describe a certain flavour, and I could see it click in my friends. Pretty good feeling, to be honest!

[@PartyTimeBrewing]

Tip 8 is great! Hoping to start picking up some examples of the flavours pretty soon and working on refining my palate. Then building something with pallets. Had to google the word. The more you know.

[@sonic-factory]

Great tips! I still use my Craft Beer Channel glass that I got a couple of years back with a Beer Merchants order. Top glass!

[@barakomamma]

It's always a pleasure watching these educational videos :) Thank you for pointing out the term 'hoppy' as cliched! Genuine annoyance of mine when people use it to describe pales/ipas 😑

[@iantasker3934]

Beer school was the first book that I bought about 3 years ago...... Fast forward and I've just bottled my blueberry, chocolate, vanilla and toasted marshmallow imperial pastry stout. Pushing 40 all grain brews.... Love your content guys! Hope to catch you for a beer at some point in the future 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Amazing! So glad to have been part of that journey!

[@dapotatoboy4066]

loving the foliage in the brewdio

[@liambrown911]

Fantastic video ! Recently picked up your Beer School book and has been insightful. Watching this whilst sampling a Belgian Blonde I brewed about three months ago. Picking up a bit of that foam banana sweet From my youth. It's aged beautifully since I bottled it, the first sample was disappointing. Now it's fantastic. Sadly I have one bottle left 😭. Fortunately I've recently acquired a G30 which will hopefully produce an even better result.

[@Stevedouglas1976]

I think it's about time for a re-read of the book!

[@markhowson9694]

Enjoyed that and will be trying all of them out very soon. Just one daft question - what's the best way to chill beer to the correct temperature? My fridge is set to 4 degrees, so how do I chill to 6, 8 etc.?

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Get the beer out a little bit early basically! Depends on the temp of the room/size and kind of vessel but very roughly it will warm 1c every 10 mins.

[@JohnL9013]

No mention of the Siebel off-flavor kits? Those are essential IMO.

[@paulsbeerreviews]

The amount of times I’ve filled a glass up then realised there’s more aroma to come out of the beer, but am unable to roll the beer around without chucking it all over myself. Simple tip but really important 😆

[@mikes1452]

Great shirt Jonny! where did you get it from?

[@marksarinana5903]

Maybe I missed it, but the number one tip for me was to drink more beer.

[@GoblinExplorerENG]

Horse blanket? I tend to use "wet dog" and I am not giving up on it!;)

[@ronnymuir]

Bah! I’m a sucker for advertising. I bought your book!

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Haha thanks for supporting us! Hope you like it!

[@jimbrennan1181]

Another great video! #8 is so important. If you've never had gooseberries, lychee, papaya or whatever else someone has said a beer tastes or smells like go get some. Try them ripe and not so ripe. I totally disagree with Jonny, however, that horseblanket is an invalid term. Horse hair and horse sweat has a specific aroma, as does the wool of the blanket, particularly as it ages. It will pick up aromas of the barnyard as aromas are molecules and they'll get in there (and those blankets don't get washed too often!), but horse blankets don't smell directly like a barnyard. What does a barnyard smell like anyway? Well, that depends on the barnyard, so we just use that term in a general way. On that note let me just say that tasting beer isn't really any different than smelling and tasting anything else. Pay attention to what you smell and taste all of the time. Unfortunately there are some unpleasant notes out there (sulphur, rotting meat, feces, etc.) but for the most part paying attention to aromas and flavors you encounter will enrich your experience of life. By the way, if you're one of those people that likes the smell of gasoline, please avoid it as smelling it is bad for your health.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Thanks for all the interesting thoughts Jim! Not sure I said horse blanket was an invalid term. Certainly not what I meant - just not a helpful one as only a tiny minority of people have ever smelled one!

[@justina.6769]

I have a friend who's wife described a West Coast IPA by saying it smelled like a Christmas Tree and tasted like a pine forest 🤣

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

She nailed it!

[@andyk3412]

She was bang on!!

[@thebluep0tat0]

Welllll.....there is another beer channel that I used to watch and just got so tired of this guy describing tastes with "Coffee, chocolate, caramel, BUISCUITTY, BREADY, etc"....every review the same taste profiles....if BREADY is even a taste profile. Good video and glad you posted - other beer channels can learn a lot from you guys....including the Storm the Crow guy.

[@CharlesOffdensen]

The most important thing about tasting anything is to have a glass with very thin walls - the thinner the glass the better. If it can cut you, that's the best.

[@nolanolson7517]

Why

[@CharlesOffdensen]

@@nolanolson7517 Not sure exactly, but the thicker the glass, the less you can taste.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

You talking personally here? Don't think there is any scientific reason!

[@CharlesOffdensen]

@@TheCraftBeerChannel It's anecdotal, but for me, and all the people I have seen trying it, it makes a huge difference. I admit, I am not sure why the thickness of the glass matters that much.

[@oliverhemmings1978]

What is powdery bitterness?

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

It is a certain texture produced by heavy late dry hopping. Feels like there's some powder on your tongue.

[@viper29ca]

Of course breweries would have to put a description of the beer on the can for us to read. Many don't. Name, location, ABV and that is it on a great lot of them. As far as Untappd "requiring" reviews given? You are gonna get a metric crap ton of comments like: "juicy", "Hoppy", "Bitter", "Meh", "Good", "Bad", "tasty", "mmm mmm good", in which case you may as well just not leave any comment, which many do now. I am guilty of it as well. If it is the 83rd time I have had the same beer, good chance I am not going to put a comment However I agree with the rest

[@MrHodster]

anyone else really distracted by the plant branch waving at me and also pointing at Jonny the whole time through the vid? Funny plant based distraction.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

I didn't even clock it til the edit. Sorry!

[@MrHodster]

Nothing to be sorry about. It was funny watching it wag around pointing at you.

[@marcelhaas]

But, but, but.... don't swirl too much, right?! It smashes the carbonation out of there, which really influences mouthfeel and, hence, flavor reception.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Absolutely. Hence another reason to only put a small amount of the beer in the glass.

[@manosox]

no Teku glass? hum...

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Not a lover of the Tekku.

[@burwho]

Never thought I'd see a video tutorial on how to taste something. Are you guys all out of ideas or?!

[@HopZine]

My descriptor for Bret is sometimes washing powder or freshly cleaned public toilet... depending on the specific beer...sometimes a well used public toilet...I won't be buying that beer again.

[@jamespreston7823]

more volume please

[@tonybeatbutcher]

Another tip maybe: don't get to drunk

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

I hate "juicy", I have no idea what it means :)

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

It means something different to everyone... so as a result it doesn't mean much at all

[@Margarinetaylorgrease]

@@TheCraftBeerChannel Politician talk. My beer tastes like freedom..

[@Teejrocks83]

My advertisement only promised $1500 per day... I feel short changed...

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Hey but you now know how to drink better too!

[@Teejrocks83]

@@TheCraftBeerChannel I shall inform the wife! (she will be impressed by my newly acquired drinking powers, right?)

[@ColinLeuze]

I know what horse blanket smells like and it’s not like farmyard.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Tell us more! What does it smell like?

[@ColinLeuze]

@@TheCraftBeerChannel the closest thing I can think of is if you've ever been into an old person's home where things have been there since the 60s and it has that distinctive smell. It's different, but they might be second cousins.

[@theoldgrowler3489]

Work on vocabulary!

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

That's in there, and something we're STILL working on!

[@mrougelot]

Is it me or is the brewdio getting more and more cramped with more and more stuff on each video? At this rate next year you’ll have to stand in the garden while filming.

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Haha it definitely is. Gonna need a bigger boat.

[@paulhunter445]

3 swirl about then moan about the carbonation

[@TheCraftBeerChannel]

Well that's why you only do it with a small amount of beer.

[@DonKanone83]

First of all, you should accept my friend request before even start talking about untappd... I AM SO MAD ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW 😉😅