my palate sucks

Whatever you do, don't like a beer you aren't supposed to.

 

At least you aren't tasting "blonde tobacco" and a "carob-like sweetness". Seems like some people go out of their way to be pretentious and seem like they have super-palates.

 

Would you like beer
Here or there?
I would like beer
Here or there.
I would like beer
Anywhere.
I do not like
Green eggs and ham.
But I like beer,
Sam-I-am

 

Be honest to yourself and enjoy the process.

 

be mindful in life. flavors, colors, sounds, smells will all come alive!

 

Agreed. Using other reviews as a guide is really helpful. I transitioned from being mostly interested in wine over to beer in recent years. When I first started getting into wine, I thought all the "hints of this" etc. was complete BS that people were just making up...until I started drinking with people who would point out this or that, and once I was looking for it, I found it too. Caring to look beyond like or dislike is the start. Read some reviews while you're drinking a beer and look for what others are finding. You may find it you may not. Everybody is different.

 

Exactly. This stuff requires practice. If you don't know what grapefruit juice vs pith vs zest taste and smell like, you'll never pick those out in a beer. If you don't know what papaya or lychee or currants or gooseberries taste like, you won't find them in your beer. If you don't know what mint, tarragon, anise, lavender, roses, jasmine, pine, spruce, cedar, etc smell like, you won't be able to identify it in a beer.

And, it's totally fine if you don't want to put in that practice. It's okay to just "like" and "not like" beers. But, if you're wondering how other people pick out all that detail, the answer is mostly: practice.

 

I agree. Try tasting identical styles with different characteristics. Eg grapefruit vs zest. You can then start to pull this taste out in the future.

 

basically, don't worry about it

 

My advice is to practice and practice hard. try 5 or 6 new beers every day. That is the only way to work on your palate

Seriously, just keep doing what you are doing. The more you drink and review the easier it will become to differentiate some of the more subtle flavors.

 

I'll be honest, I don't taste half the stuff in beer many others seem to. Sometimes I wonder if they're actually tasting dozens of flavors per beer, or if they're just imaging them. However, I must admit that my palate has expanded greatly in the year and a half or so of drinking craft beer. I went from pale ales being too hoppy, to loving IPAs, to now being able to pick out specific fruit-like flavors--grapefruit is especially prominent, but oranges, pine, pineapple, and occasionally even mango and peach are perceptible.

 

But, you can't just develop this by tasting beer. You also have to taste & smell the things you're identifying. That was half of my point. If you don't actually know what those things smell / taste like, then you're just making things up.

 

Youre not doing it right until you put "horseblanket" in your review.

 

Stop bitching? Very rude. Here'a a good one for you: Stop posting.

 

I find, that palate develops over time if you really expose your self to different styles, and just really dig down and try to understand what your drinking.

 

I wonder how much of what we taste is the power of suggestion. I used summit a couple years ago in an IPA I brewed. It tasted just like pineapple to me. I went to some descriptions of the hop as it was unexpected (pleasant surprise). The description mentioned tangerine. Now every time I use summit guess what I taste....tangerine. I am sure the taste did not change, but only my perception of the taste. I relate it to that picture you are supposed to find something in. You have a hell of time finding it, but once you do that is all you see in the picture.

 

some people have "bad" palates (me!), some people are sensitive to taste and some people are full of shit

 

If I were you, I wouldn't ask myself any of those questions. Not one. I'd ask myself this:

1. Am I enjoying this beer?

If the answer is yes, then what on earth are you concerned about?

 

The only thing I would change is that all people are sensitive to some tastes. I know I have a couple. Some good some bad. I assume that is why people have huge differences in reaction to the same beer.