Advice on my first real attempt at beer tasting.

Visit that beers profile on this site, and read reviews written by other members before and during your enjoyment. Take your time, and don't think too hard about it. If it stops being fun, you're doing it wrong. Like Sex. I think.

 

Read the how to review a beer tips

 

never... ?

(J/K. Beware the booze bomb.)

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/how-to-review-a-beer.241156/

 

I would try the beer first and see if you can pick out the different flavors. Then read reviews and profiles. Taste again and see if you pick them up now. I always like to try something blind first so that I am not prejudice about tastes.

 

@beer_pilgram - welcome aboard.

Read other reviews of the beer as suggested and the "how to review" self-help on the site. Get Randy Mosher's book on tasting beer (eventually). Anything you can find to read and learn about styles (BJCP Guildelines) and what should be in a particular beer is useful. It's a good idea to understand what the beer is expected to be in terms of style when tasting. Just remember they are style guidelines - not commandments (my opinion). Don't drive yourself nuts with trying to uncover every single nuance - what's your impression? What flavors can you pick out, what do you think? There's no right and wrong - every palate is different, every perception varies. It is your review of the beer, so what you taste is what matters. Plus you can always go back and edit as you gain experience, tasting the beer critically again.

I think that is important to remember as well - it's beer, it is supposed to be enjoyable. So don't fret and fuss over the review. Of course you should take it seriously, but not to the point of interfering with the enjoyment aspect. At the end of the day it your review is a record of what you think and what you taste.

Backwoods is in the big, bad-ass awesome category as far as beers go. It's a sipper, not something you want to drink quickly. It changes significantly as it warms, also, at least in my experience. It is a fantastic beer as the reviews will tell you, but maybe it's a bit TOO big and intense for your first review attempt? I guess the question is how "novice" is novice, and that isn't meant to be insulting in any way. Your post seems oddly truncated.

Fear no beer!

 

Chug all of them then write the review.

Basically:

1. Pour
2. Observe
3. Smell
4. Taste
5. Taste
6. Taste
7. Taste
8. Taste
9. Review

 

I like to drink about half of the beer before I review it....The biggest problem I have is look and smell...The look of a beer doesn't really add to or distract from the overall enjoyment I get from drinking it, and dispite having a pretty big nose, unless it's super piney or citrusy, I can't discern between a lot of aromas

 

Come on over to NBS! that's short for New Beer Sunday and do a review of a new beer each week for practice. You can't do it wrong. Jump in with both feet I say! You can also look up style in the BJCP Style Guidelines.

 

the wee heavy id put in the goblet or wine glass. i prefer a snifter though. good investment

 

I kind of have that problem as well, including with taste. Most of the specific notes I get from beer I'm pretty sure I imagine, so I go back to the old standbys of "light fruit", "dark fruit", "spice", and other such generic terms unless the note is really apparent.

 

I generally use a tulip for everything, since I just have a 12oz and a 16oz. They are really good at picking up aromas, but it's still up to you to differentiate.

 

I find the other reviews helpful, especially if I'm having trouble discerning a specific aroma or flavor, as well as to get a general perception of how the beer has been perceived by the community. That being said, if you like it, say so, if you don't like it, say so also. While I'm usually within the mean, there are a few outliers where I've loved a "bad" beer and hated a "loved" beer. Go with your gut...literally

 

I would think reading other reviews of a beer prior to reviewing would prejudice the review.

 

When I started reviewing, I found the following helpful. Write your own review (as others have suggested), but only do so drinking half of your beer. When you're done, go to the beer page and sort by "Top Raters." Then, tasting the rest of your beer, read through what flavors and ideas others have mentioned. Use your own insights as the judge and determine if these reviews are insightful, or full of crap.

 

And Feel Feel Feel (with your mouth that is) haha, kinda weird but really ....Feel

 

I stand corrected