Is beer tasting purely subjective?

There are objective parameters that you can look at while tasting, but it is subjective as to if you enjoy them or not. While there are a range of beers we accept as pilsners, I prefer mine to be decidedly hoppier than not. That's as subjective as it gets. I've heard judges say " I dislike this style" and have their scoring match to the number what another judge who likes the style has given the same beer. If given a specific guideline as to what we can all agree that style should be it makes being objective easier.
As for hype, BA, ratings and beer, that's another story. In my experience with hype I find that the beers I try that have been talked up seem to always fall short of my expectations. Two beers that I didn't know had a huge hype train were Juicy and Tweek. Both of them blew me away, and I believe it is because I didn't have any preconceived notion as to what I was about to taste.

 

Short answer?

Yes.

 

Yes.

 

I agree with this. I tried to see what others like in FBS. It's not that great of a beer to me. Yet, Founders Imperial Stout blew my socks off!

 

Thanks @JackHorzempa

...and now I really wish I had caught that "Your/You're" grammar error in the previous post!

 

Ah, no biggy?I screw up grammar all the time. Spell check only gets you so far unfortunately.

Cheers!

 

There's a term I've seen thrown around on film boards called 'Intersubjective' to describe taste.

Basically it says in the absolute sense, taste is subjective, but relative to agreed upon parameters, it can be discussed objectively.

 

As pointed out above, flavor is subjective but it can be made objective. However, remember just because it is subjective does not mean that everyone's perception of flavor is different from everyone else. There are lots of overlaps and commonalities. Think of hair color. Lots of people have brown hair, but within that category there's a fair amount of individual differences even though we still say the color brown.

That said, there are lots of external factors that can influence flavors or how we think things taste and smell. Here is an entertaining video in which some of the research studies are illustrated in a sort of natural setting.

 

Of course ratings are subjective, like most things. Hell, I bet you could find a few guys who thinks Steel Reserve is just swell, just might take a few thousand guys and some time.

 

Agree wholeheartedly with the idea that small tastings mean nothing.
I was a beer judge last year and our selection was ordinary bitters. Beers which were intended to be drunk in pints.Beers where the true character may not manifest itself straight away.Those which seem ordinary to begin with but you find you are enjoying more and more as you go down the glass.Or those whose first impressions seem to promise much but you find you tire of them after a while.
It was quite difficult to judge ten beers of this type.

 

Subjective doesn't necessarily mean bad either. Factors ranging from price to personal preference to the environment you are drinking in can all influence you to like a beer more - but at the end of the day, you still liked it more, right? There are some circumstances where you might enjoy a Sierra Nevada PA more than Pliny the Elder, and that seems OK by me.

 

Check out the big brain on Brad...nicely done sir

 

yes

/thread

 

Is "/thread" purely subjective?

 

I would say yes. It's like art, music, movies, etc. there may be some guidelines or flavor characteristics that certian styles of beer should exhibit but overall you either like a beer or dislike a beer. Pretty subjective, IMO.

If it wasn't subjective then NO ONE would touch a Budweiser or a LaBatts.

 

Yes. My wife hates Belgian beer. I love it.

 

I have to agree with this... The imperial stout is a far better beer in my opinion, one of my favorites. In fact, I buy a 4-pack of FBS every now and then to see if maybe I'm missing something about it. I just don't get why it's rated so high. Oh well, to each their own I guess.

 

One can go about tasting beer as objectively as they can, aware that they will have biases and other personal quirks, and attempting to be as rational as possible when drinking a beer.

Alternatively, one can just relax and enjoy some beer, while avoiding beers they don't like. After all, not every bias or quirk can be overcome or reduced.