So I very much enjoy my beer and Id like to start keeping a notebook on diferent beers, maybe even start doing a beer review thread. Anyway the problem is that I dont really know exactly how to do it.

Someone who is a conessiour needs to help me out.

First off you got Ales, Lagers, Stouts, and so on. I can look at the bottle and know what one is, and I can tell they taste different, but I dont know what it is that classifies them as such.

Next up I understand there is a head. Which is essentially the foam that forms at the top when a beer is poured. What makes for a good head though (no jokes pls, beer is serious business)?

Then you have Hops, Malts, Barely and so forth. When I drink a beer Im not sure which of the ingredients account for different which different flavors.


So I need some help picking those things apart and any additional information you'd have for the beer review noob. Thanks.

Commenting on:

Texture (How it feels in your mouth ie: smooth, goes down hard etc..)
Taste (How it tastes when you put it in your mouth ie: Bitter, very bitter, extremely bitter, I'd rather drink piss etc)
Aftertaste (How it tastes once you swallow it ie: Still bitter, too bitter, blekh..)
Potency (How long it takes to take an effect on you ie: I'm drunk after two sips, I'm drunk after two cans, *passed out* )


That might start you out.. right?

Rate it on how much you can remember the next morning.

Pretty much what Holy Assassin said but I'd also comment on the Belgian Lace and maybe what food you would couple it with.

Here's a link that you may find useful: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31492.asp

Is it fit for human consumption? yes/no
Will it get me drunk? yes/no

I would start with the http://www.amazon.com/New-World-Guide-Beer/dp/0762400919 at the very least. Also, it's a short read on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_style.

Even beer categories are subdivided into regional styles (i.e. Lager = pilsner, American, bock, etc), and hops, barley grown in Bavaria are not the same as what is grown in the U.S.

Taste and price.

I used to drink so much beer, I suppose I was beyond all that refined connoisseur reviewing hyperbole. If it said Budweiser on the label, I pulled it out of the cooler....and brought back the empties the next day, or let them collect on the floorboard of my truck until I was low on cash. All that connoisseur stuff was much too highbrow for my taste. I have to ignore beer these days.

Agreed. If you remember more than %60 of what you did the night before, then your beer is probably defective.

Depends on the person, I usually remember everything, even after drinking strong moonshine. It's not exactly a desirable trait.


Anyway, you should definitely rate the beer's taste and aftertaste, sweetness and bitterness are the usual qualities you should look for. You might also want to rate it's color, as dark beers are usually more filling than beers of lighter colors. Darker beers often has more alcohol as well, and are often more bitter tasting too, but those are qualities you'd already have rated anyway. You might also want to say something about how much it foams.

I believe http://beeradvocate.com/ has all the information you seek .

EDIT: If you haven't already, I recommend trying at least one of the http://www.chimay.com/en/three_strong_personalities_217.php Chimay produces. They're very good, and very different from the American adjunct lagers which are so widely consumed.

Did chimay change or something? They used to sell their beer in a clay bottle, and they had like a 14% beer.

I've only seen it in glass. Don't know about any 14% beer from them, past of present :shrug:.

No offense to beer gurus but personally beer is meh IMO...then again I'll say that to almost any alcholic drink :shrug: Maybe as I get into my 20s and wiser (stilll gonna take a few years) I'll enjoy it more...

I classify beer in two ways:

1. This is good, I'm gonna drink some more of this
2. Meh, let's order something else which leads to point 1

Coors, Budweiser, Miller (MGD) are not real beers. They are "gimmick" beers. Their beers svck and the only way they sell is with "gimmicks" ie; "Your aluminum bottle tells you when it's cold!!" or, "THIS BEER IS ONLY 68 CALORIES!!!!"

For me, price tends to indicate how good it'll be, along with what type. Took me the longest time to like IPAs, as it has been hopped to [censored] hell.

For me, I like ales, and the darker, the better. Hell, I'm a bitter drinker . A good bitter brand of beer would be Rogue.

Yeah same here. Maybe because I have a major sweet tooth, won't drink anything even slightly bitter.

I still find the brewing and culture fascinating even though I wouldn't drink it.

I pretty much can't stand beer, but that's because I've only ever been exposed to the National Brands you can find in any regular Liquor store. I would actually like to try some of the more serious beers, as I've heard they actually have good flavors, problem is, I just don't know where to go around to find any.

If I ever did find a place with good Beer, it would only be a once in a great while thing as I'm not a fan of getting drunk.

If your in the USA, Shriner Black Lager and Guiness Extra Stout are very good and should be found at most liquor stoles. Most of the Sam Adams stuff is OK.

From what I know the difference between lager and ale is that ale passes two times from the fermentation stage while lager only once.
Ales because of that,also have a bigger alcohol percentage.

:huh:

The difference between an ale and a lager is the yeast (and fermentation temperature, which kinda flows on from the yeast). The amount of alcohol lager yeasts and ale yeasts can produce is pretty much the same (bearing in mind that both are types, with many different strains of yeast belonging to each, and each of those has different characteristics). Alcohol content is dictated by the fermentables (e.g. barley malt) you start with, and tolerances of the particular yeast you use. The latter really only impacts things with very heavy beers, such as barleywines.