How long does it take to develop a palate?

Like many have said: Practice.

Begin by tasting beers with flavors that are known. Begin to learn what grapefruit in an IPA tastes like, what Brett tastes like/ evolves into, and the different characteristics that barrel aging has on a beer.

Then convert into more blind tastings, where you don't know what everyone else is getting. Compare your notes to theirs and continue to practice!

 

It's constantly developing, with every new food, fruit, juice, beverage, spice, etc., that you consume- all new experiences to add to your smell and taste vocabulary. Just do your best, don't let where you are right now make you feel like you are missing out on something, and enjoy the ride.

 

"Bullshit" maybe was harsh... but I just think that the ultraspecific way that tasting notes can be given can sometimes be a little misleading.

 

I agree with the sentiment expressed by these posts: if you want to try, taste after or while reading reviews to see what you agree with. And more recently I have actually found that drinking with others and describing the beer in realtime is even more enlightening.

Also consider that a lot of the flavor and scents aren't necessarily always exactly what people are experiencing, but impressions. Similarly don't expect a peach flavor in a beer to taste like artificially flavored peach things.

Regardless have fun and make notes that will help you decide whether to revisit a beer or not, and always consider re-reviewing as your palate develops and changes.

 

Intentional properly executed practice. Drinking just to drink will help a little, but you need to really define and understand what you're tasting. Brewing yourself will help even more as you're hands on and can smell the unspent hops, barley, etc.

 

Some good perspectives here.

I'd just like to add that In the "how to review a beer page" on this site they list diaper as an example of an aroma you might get from a beer...

 

Surprise! You already have your palate, we're all just mapping the existing terrain. The ultra specific notes come from previous experience in food or drink. Part of developing your vocabulary is actively seeking new flavors outside of beer.

 

I don't think there is any set time it takes, as everyone is so, so different. I personally kinda felt like my palate was just immediately awakened in my first two~three weeks of trying craft, in which I tried the big intense styles like imperial stout and IIPA (Ruination was my first IPA ever!). For me, it hasn't so much been that my palate has developed or changed as it has that I've sampled a large enough variety of distinctive beers that I can now compare and contrast between many and acquire a broad sense of what certain traits smell and taste like. So the more new and varied beers and styles I try, my palate "learns" what various nuances are like.

So I subscribe to a theory of relativity: everything tastes a certain way relative to everything else, and experiencing the diversity out there will throw individual beers into sharper contrast.

 

It used to be that overly specific, pretentious tasting notes were the province of almost exclusively wine drinkers but now craft beer, specialty coffee, artisanal cheese, etc. etc. all stake their claim. When it comes to beer, sometimes you just want to drink it and tell all these tasters where they can put their grapefruit peel. Amen to that. At the same time, ah what a wondrous variety exists and someone who truly loves beer loves all the different beers there are to be had just as someone who loves women... ...developing one's palate is just a matter of getting specific with one's appreciation.

 

For the most part, it's just drinking something and thinking "hey, something in this beer reminds me of (insert flavor/smell here)" and then once you've noticed that sort of flavor it becomes easier to pick it up again when you try other beers with the same sort of thing in them. Part of it is getting used to certain flavors, too -- when I first started drinking beer, everything just "tasted like beer," it was difficult to pick out different flavors at all. Now the thing that I previously described as "tasting like beer" tastes different or is not present at all, and I pick up different flavors instead. It's probably the same way with getting used to extreme flavors you might not be exposed to much in other foods/drinks (bitterness/hops in IPAs, sourness in the various sour beers, etc.) which could drown out the other flavors if you're not used to that extreme element.

There's also definitely a subjective thing to it, the same thing won't taste the same to everyone who tries it since everyone's more or less sensitive to certain things, and everyone's going to have a different way of putting into words the things they tasted (I think I've only had one beer that I thought could possibly be described as having a "floral" flavor to it, and it's not one that I could find very many reviews describing it that way -- the "floral" flavor/smell in beer seems to be one that for the most part does not exist according to my nose and tongue.)

I do sometimes wonder if those reviews where people list off 25 different flavors, some of them only barely different from each other and almost definitely indistinguishable when combined with each other and 23 other things, are at least partly bullshit, though!

 

Kindly disagree with some above.

I think it is largely an educated matter and quantity of beers "ticked" and such can be irrelevant, actually.

An analogy comes to mind of how someone who is educated in music, can play multiple instruments, etc. for example - they will "hear" the same music differently than the average person. While the same music might enter the ears of both people, what takes place in the mind and what is experienced is entirely different for the two people. This is nothing controversial, in my opinion. I think that it would be absurd and ignorant to think that any two people who listen to the same music would, by default, experience it the same (given what I said above). Not so.

Ideally go train at a top notch brewing school, or some of the more reputable certification programs and such. At a minimum, read books on tasting beer and take notes over the YEARS as you experience beer. That sort of approach will help the palate far more than just trying a bunch of beers or trying to just work on your vocabulary.

 

My biggest tip would be to keep this in mind: Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory, scent and taste are heavily related. SMELL ALL THE THINGS. I really started noticing a difference in tastes I was able to pull away when spending time in college out in UMass. Amherst is lush with local agriculture and farm stands. I was surrounded by herbs, fruits, spices all at varying levels of ripeness and began to build up a mental vocabulary of scents that I began to relate to taste. My tasting notes of "strong citrus" became more intricate to things like "unripe lime" and "blood orange zest". I literally pulled "Lipton Powdered Iced Tea" from a Belgian IPA today. Not Tea, not Iced Tea, fucking Lipton brand Powdered Iced Tea. 2 people almost dropped their glasses after having flashbacks to their childhoods and couldn't taste anything but iced tea after I mentioned it.

 

Although I generally agree with you on the volume part, mentioning multiple almost indistinct flavors happens because beer isn't those things and isn't usually trying to taste just like those things, so none are right - or wrong.

Also sort of agree with @yemenmocha that developing a palate is at least an active endeavor - it isn't just "drink it, and the palate will come." But I feel you can improve without formal training, perhaps just not as much.

 

Have a tasting session with @utopiajane , who I believe is a supertaster, and you will understand we are not all created equally when it comes to taste and smell. I have read that some folks have ability more than 50% better than others for detecting flavors.

I myself cannot detect diacetyl at very low levels, and never get the metallic/copper penny some folks get. OTOH I am very sensitive to cat piss aroma and taste, and sometimes get it strongly when others don't get it at all. I read there is one compound (not found in beer) that one group of people sense as fecal, another group sense as floral (not making this up)

 

@cavedave is kind to be sure. I actually learned anything I know from reading reviews here. It was some of the poetry in the descriptions that kept me reading and the taste of the beer. Each time something new clicks then it's yours. I think that as you continue to explore styles you can appreciate the nuances more and more.

 

For sour?

Never.

 

For me something like that is huge - the power of suggestion. Once someone says "I get this huge note of ____" I go looking and more times than not I either taste it or convince myself I do.

I also agree with @VetsPackage in regards to smell. I was trying 4Beans last night and at first for the life of me didn't get vanilla. I went and stuck my nose in a jar of vanilla beans to remind my nose/brain what real vanilla smells like and lo-and behold there it was.

 

I think this is a little ridiculous. For most here, this is a hobby. To the OP, remember that you're drinking beers to enjoy them, not just see how many different things you can taste. There's no need for formal training. Drinking beers on your own will do just fine.

For your purposes, I think esimonoff nailed it. Drink lots of beers, develop your vocabulary, and stick with what YOU taste. At least half of the reviews on here that note ~25 different tasting flavors are vastly exaggerated. I've drank with those people plenty of times. Don't compare yourself against them. A better exercise is to keep your own tasting notes over the course of 6 months. Then, compare your notes at month 6 from your notes at month 1. It's likely you'll see a marked improvement in how well you're experiencing the beer. Fast forward a year, and you'll see a similar marked improvement.

In your travels drinking beer, you'll undoubtedly hear something like this: "MMMMMMMMMM, I'm getting wood chips, skunk hair, pencil eraser, marmalade, and, is that..? Yes, I think it is.. traces of Giraffe shit. AHHHH, this beer is incredible!" Ignore it.

 

A thoughtful question...and many thoughtful responses supra...what little can be added by me to the conversation is that regardless of your age, experience, and the tongue that you are blessed to have, your enthusiasm for the endeavor coupled with contemplative reflection on the beverage in front of you, over time, you will taste those "subtle" flavors (sorry for the run on sentence) and when you do, you will know it and smile...keep at it! Cheers!