Starting to develop your palate

As an aesthetic, "the hoppier, the better" doesn't necessarily play too well with the desire to increase the sensitivity of your palate. Be sure to take breaks from the hop monsters to ensure they don't dull your sensitivity to more subtle flavors.

 

After drinking craft beer for over 25 years, the best advice I can give is too never again mention "developing my palate".

Just drink more beers.

 

I'm in the same boat. A lot of times what I end up doing if there is something that I really can't put my finger on or am just curious ill drink half a glass of something enjoy and see what I can pull from it then pour some more and put on a few youtube reviews mainly just to see if they mention a flavor that clicks with me.

 

Same here, trying to get into Sours. Anyone have any good beers to start off with instead of the barrel aged sours right away

 

if you really want to develop your palate, you need to be trying different foods and flavors directly so you know how to identify those flavors when you're drinking. the video below is wine-centric, but I think the basic principles hold true. Just think about doing this same sort of work with the typical flavor descriptors used to describe beer.

 

I watch beer reviews a lot. I like the beer Moses , Greg's beer review. He is pretty descriptive and puts it on the line as far as yay or nay on all types of beers. The one thing you must remember your palate changes as you age. So not everyone is the same. I like to drink an ipa and eat something like good spicy chips while doing so. Brings out more of the fruitiness for me. Some people don't eat either while drinking beer? Like stated by someone else try like a big Ipa then switch to a session ipa or vice versa. Temps too change flavor , most of the time I let it sit and let half of the glass o beer warm up a little.

 

It all takes time and you gotta try different styles to know what you really enjoy. I used to be all about IPA's but these days I hardly touch them. They smell great and are very flavorful, but I think they are the most produced beer out there.
My wife is into stouts, so I've been exposed to more of them. So me their flavor is very strong and the flavor hits me at the end or back of my tongue. They can also be very smooth. In comparison to IPA, I get the flavor up front. Some people call this "the nose" I believe.

Lately I've been into Saisons and Witte ales. They are crisp and fruitty. You may not smell it but you will taste it. I'd say that Saisons and Wittes are kind of an all around flavor that coats your mouth. Just basic and enjoyable.

Anyway, just keep trying different stuff and you'll develop your palate.

 

This. Like I said above I was way into IPA's then I just completely shut them off. There are other flavors and nuances to beer than just Hops.

 

is your avatar name a Between the Buried and Me reference?

 

Exactly. I mean, call me a simpleton, but I spend more time drinking and enjoying the beers rather than trying to decide whether or not I taste a hint of pine and a hint of juniper from the far east mountains of Belize or coming up with new ways to describe it that everyone will interpret differently anyway. I make a quick assessment of if it's Hoppy/bitter or maltier, and rate it 1-5. Maybe that will change someday, but as of right now it's what I do.

 

Actually I was just like you. I thought I am not gettin' it. SO- I started reading the reviews as I was dirnking the beer. People will tell you not to do that but you do it anyway. The Brewo, The Beerchitecht, Stonedtrippin, draheim, bitterbill, beertunes DIM and basically everyone who posts in NBS. To name a few more, cavedave, womencantsail,roguer,amit-c,tmoney, tongo rad. Ok enuf- I could not name everyone so my apologies) While you are drinking, the things these folks have noticed and NAMED will ring a bell. Write it down. Write your own review. before you know it you won't be reading while drinking you'll be reading after you have already named off your own person list of attributes for that beer.

Myself I have become immune to pine unless is spectacular. In fact I hardly notice it anymore. That happens. Your palate will develop and your brain will make connections to words like caramel, yeasty funk, biscuit etc . . . and that's how you do it. =)

 

Mathew, do not be overly intrigued with how people describe beer. You'll hear papaya and mango tossed around by people who really don't know what either smells like....but they think they do because words and associations can be more powerful than reality. Some things are easier to find, such as grapefruit, because you don't have to search for it, it's there and clear as a glass nipple, whereas those notes which you have to dig for, that's when people stretch for associations, even going beyond their realm of sensorial experience. Let's use lemongrass as an example. I would bet my bottom dollar that less than 20% of people on this forum can describe the taste of lemongras, and less for who could identify its aroma, but the word itself is so poetic and elegant that people identify with on a level that really doesn't make good sense....but it doesn't matter, because it's beer and really all that matters is that it makes you smile. Now I'm not dismissing the enjoyment of analyzing a beer, but you can't help but wonder if people would be describing beers via streams of delightful prose were it not for forums like BA, where they are conciously and unconciously being fed the opinions of others.

 

that is a ridiculous thing to say. if something exists in aroma or flavor, identifying it has more to do with the individual than it does how much experience they have with beer.

 

I learned beer with a couple of friends. We'd meet after work at a great beer bar, each order a beer from the same style, and sample and compare. A few months of this and we were able to try far more beers than we could have on our own, and were able to see what really makes each beer distinct by having them side by side. It was the most informative summer of my beer career, and I'd definitely recommend something similar if you have the chance.

 

Good suggestios from most here. If there's one thing the BA forum is good for it's solid beer advice (mixed in with some total BS of course, just to round things out).

As a relatively new BA myself (10 months), coming from personal experience, I'll offer this: don't be afraid to step back from IPA's now and then. As delicious as they are, the extreme hopping will burn out your palate pretty fast if you're chain-drinking them. You'll start to become desensitized until even the highest IBU hop bomb IPA just tastes... normal. This phenomena is also known as "lupulin threshold shift", but basically, it's just your palate getting annihilated by hops and becoming acclimated to the relentless hop assault.

As others have suggested, you'll need to branch out with your beer selection. Personally, I went to ambers and pilsners. Although widely (and falsely) considered pedestrian, those styles really have some subtle yet great flavors. Want to discover flavors like spicy, floral, and herbal in your hops? Grab some pilsners. Maybe you're wondering more about malt flavors like bready, toasty, grainy? Grab some ambers (Amber/vienna lagers included) and try some stouts too.

Right now I'm really digging some pils. They are especially awesome in summer months, with their crisp and refreshing profile. Check out Sierra Nevada Summerfest, New Belgium Summer Helles, Firestone Walker Pivo Hoppy Pils (bonus hops for you), and Weihenstephaner Original (the gold standard).

 

It was not a serious comment - calm down

 

Lemon grass taste like lemon! sorta zesty lemon witha slight bite. but not bitter or sour like lemon. Still waiting for grass to kick in.

 

Ok

 

Within reason, drink as much as possible. This doesn't mean drink like a lout, but it means drink widely, and drink wisely and with your full attention. My standard answer for wanting to broaden your beer drinking is this: MIX A SIX PACK. Use your local beerhole that offers flights as well. Honestly though. Mix a six pack is far and away a better way to discover the differences of a style that different breweries and also specific regions focus on.
Do half pours, so that the beer also can come to temperature so you get both a cold pour, and one that is closer to ambient temperature.
If you want to figure out hops... I mean, go ahead. But first things first. Drink a lot of good beer (in moderation) and figure THAT out.
The hops thing someone mentioned requires a lot of gender neutral (i.e. flavorless crushable lager) beer like miller lite and a lot of 5 oz glasses. Don't even think about it unless you are deadset on becoming a sommelier, or a brewer. Honestly, just use the hopunion flavor wheel which already has been linked. It's far more helpful, less confusing, and far less annoying to do. Not to mention you aren't wasting 80% of the hops you just bought.

 

Matthew I think all of us have started with a gateway beer and by no means was it a hoppy beer.That being said for me the beer that started me into the world of hop heads as we are all known was believe it or not Dirtwolf. I have been a big craft beer aficionado and for at least 4 years back I got started with the typical for most of us Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Samual Adams Boston Lager.That opened up the flood gates.Then it was hefeweizens and tripels as per Weihenstephaner Vitus and La Fin Du Monde and one day not long ago I tried Dirtwolf ,then it was all over for me -I became a hophead.The only beers I drink now are Hopstoopid,Enjoy by,and my incredible love of Dirtwolf and also Rye of the Tiger.You just have to start responsibly drinking some IPA"S and DIPAS.I don't know what is available down there in Texas but I do know you should not or rather NOT pass up Live Oak hefeweizen-the best hefeweizen in the world and quite frankly the most beautiful looking beer in the world and an incredible taste treat.