by Chris Pavey

Created on: August 23, 2007   Last Updated: November 07, 2008

Unless you have researched beer-tasting etiquette or have been to a tasting yourself, you'd be excused for thinking that there is nothing more to it than the opening up of a bottle, the pouring of the beer into a glass, and then the taking a long drawn out gulp of the liquid amber into your mouth before swallowing it. There is nothing further from the truth. Beer tasting is big business, with major annual award meets in North America, Australia, and Europe. And there is a definite protocol as to how to taste beer.

The most important etiquette for beer-tasting is that it should be blind or semi-blind tasting. In blind tasting there is no mention of the brands of beer being tasted whatsoever. In semi-blind tasting, it is made known to all as to what beers will be tasted, but not divulged to any as to which beer in each glass belongs to which brand. Blind tasting is recommended so that your mind has no way of associating the taste of the beer to any preconceived favorites or particular dislikes.

There are 3 main points of assessment when tasting a beer; the look, the smell, and the taste. The beer must always be served in a glass as it is impossible to appreciate these finer qualities of the beer when drinking it from a bottle. The glass must be clean and free from any detergent residue as the detergent will prevent the head of the beer forming to its full potential and this is one of the key components to the ranking of any beer.

The beer should be poured into the glass on an angle and the bottle pulled away gradually from the glass as the brew is poured so as to produce a head of at least 2 to 4 centimeters of thickness (although the size of the head will vary depending on if the beer is a larger, ale, or stout). The head is important as it helps emanate the beer's aroma and it prevents the beer from oxidizing and deteriorating in taste before it is tested. The optimal serving temperature of the beer is also important and is similarly dependent on the type of beer, ranging from 10 degrees Celsius for Pilsners to approximately 15 degrees Celsius for the darker stouts.

Once the beer is poured, the first test is the beer's appearance. It is to be judged on the retention of its head, the beer's overall color and clarity, and once the head does dissolve, what kind of coating it has left around the glass. The longer the retention of the head, and a nice creamy thick coating around the glass once the head has dissolved, the better the quality beer it is considered to be.

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