I can't taste nuances

Honestly, don't worry about what your friends taste. What do YOU taste?

In my bottleshare group, people in there have been drinking craft beers for 20 years, twice as long as I have, and they disagree with on another on what notes they taste in beers. Close your eyes, smell, sip, what do you taste? There's no right or wrong answer.

Whenever I'm drinking with someone who's getting into craft and they ask me what I taste, I tell them to go first. What does it matter to anyone whether or not I taste grapefruit?

 

I can say that I have tasted beers with some friends on more than one occasion, where I find the beer acceptable, where one will not drink it and will ask for a replacement. I have a medium high threshold for diacetyl, he is super sensitive. We describe the beers differently. This has been my experience judging at times also, the other judge has to explain what he is getting and objecting to, while sometimes I pick up on flaws that the other judge does not. That is why on a judge panel, for homebrew or a brewery sensory panel, there are more than one tasting the beer. The group may come to a consensus on score or if the beer can be shipped, which might be part of your point, but that does not negate the differences in how the beer was perceived by the individual tasters.

 

All of the Bells stouts are in Florida, or at least my part of Florida. The Total in Boca Raton by where I work has Cherry Stout, Double Cream, and Expedition. We get Kalamazoo as well and there is definitely a licorice presence that I don't get in their other stouts (I definitely don't get licorice in Expedition!). It's probably the weakest (not ABV-wise, just in terms of my own personal enjoyment) of their stouts, IMO.

 

Don't be discouraged. After reading some of the reviews on here, its clear that not everybody knows what they are talking about. I rate things on here based on my taste preferences.

 

I get a lot of pineapple out of Chinook, a bit of pine, and some dank. I get a lot of dank/musk and mango from citra. The two work really well together.

And to the OP, I used to think all these reviewers were full of shit. Who can taste garlic in an IPA? Well I had an old myrcenary after drinking a zombie dust. Guess what? That pint of myrcenary tasted like vegetables, garlic, and tomatoes. The thing that has helped me the most with interpreting what I am tasting has been homebrewing. I have really gotten a handle on hop profiles by doing single hop experiments. And if you really want to see what a certain malt brings to the table you can brew a batch with that malt and one without just to see the difference. In the end, it doesn't matter what you taste when you drink a beer as long as it tastes good!

 

The point is not to negate the idea that there are individual differences or that *some* tasters taste things differently than many others, but rather to say that sometimes those differences are differences which are not particularly noticeable or meaningful for people within identifiable subsets. Just as you have a medium high threshold for diacetyl, there are others with the same threshold (or close enough that the difference is negligible) and they are not super sensitive, just as you are not.

If we take your two examples, I'd bet that on more than one occasion you've tasted beer with friends or with other judges where all found the taste acceptable and were able to agree on what they were tasting and the issue of achieving a consensus on a score, etc. did not require discussion or negotiation on how to deal with the differences between tasters.

 

That case happens, but does not negate the times where it does not. The differences exist.

I will concede that there are preferred tastes.

 

Before tasting, get a good sniff and say to the beer "Hello...how are you?"

 

Not attempting to negate the idea that individual differences exist. They clearly do.

Simply arguing that to say every one of us tastes things differently than everyone else is misleading or wrong. There are overlaps and commonalities.

Edit: I think we are discussing the same glass of beer which is either half full, half empty, or twice as large as the amount of beer,

 

I felt this way at the beginning. I couldn't pick up a lot of the more known tastes from certain beers. I thought I was missing something. But, what I did to fix it was that I read the reviews/beer notes on the breweries website and sat down and dissected the beer. I would buy a couple of each and then slowly sip away at them until I could taste what I had been missing. I am still a novice at this, but looking into what the brewers put into it and searching for it made my taste buds awaken to the little things within the beer.

 

and then talk about your nipples. The last part is a must!

 

OK, agree there are common taste perceptions.

 

Still, what is it that's pleasurable about "almost" unpleasurable aromas and smells? Smell and taste are integrally related and as others have said it's an active area of research. I find it fascinating that Nelson Sauvin hops and the general New Zealand grape clone that produces their vaunted Sauvignon Blanc have such close similarities of smell and the taste that they might provide to fermented grain and grapes, respectively. The classic cat pee on a leaf, like mature boxwoods, somehow pleasurable to many. It's the mysteries that are so cool, I believe.

 

Not everybody gets the same things first off... and also some people are more sensitive to other senses, and this is very true for OFF flavors.

That being said, it takes time, and everybody builds their own vocabulary after some experiences.

I remember back in the day of some of my wine tasting courses, and one person just flat out stood up and said...

"I can't TASTE THE RAISINS!!!"

It doesn't MATTER...

Take your time and find the things in drink that matter to you and relate to your experiences personally.

One piece of advice, and I would also give it to others here, is that your concept and taste of flavor is greatly enhanced by trying lots of different foods/cuisine...

Enjoy the journey.

 

I also have always rated beer by bad, good, very good or great- or very great. I read reviews by people (music is in the same catagory) who I think are off their rockers- who cares if there is a slight taste of mango- though I realize that is what tastings are all about- it's why I don't get involved, but I now what I like.

 

Very good advise my friend!

 

I detect notes of overanalysis on the nose of the op's original post. The body mirrors the nose, with a subtle hint of: no worries, if you like it, drink it and who the hell cares what anyone else thinks. most of the over the top "I taste this and I taste that" is bs anyway.

Cheers!

 

Sorry if I repeat what some have said, I read about 50% of posts, but:

I would suggest the following:

1) record what you taste and know, but try to notice some of the things you see in other reviews (in general, not specific to the current review) - but be fine with it if you don't
2) re-use what you do sense that are in other reviews, as it is common ground, but be honest, and don't be afraid to mention something that is definitive to you, even if it isn't normal
3) (think mentioned above) do this without reading about the specific beer you are reviewing
4) as you review more, be consistent in your descriptions - use "citrusy" for beers you find with the same "citrus" characteristic as you interpret it. If someone is following you, they will sort of know what you mean by it with this consistency. That doesn't mean you can't expand on "citrusy" in a review, i.e. citrusy, orangey vs citrusy, graprefruit
5) eventually re-review a beer, and then look at what your original review was, and see what has changed and what is the same (especially with respect to the second part of #2 above).
6) enjoy trying to expand and differentiate more flavors as you notice them