What is your tasting process

All Beer Advocates have their own style of how to review/rate beers. Cruise around the plethora of beer ratings on the site. Use all the parts to create your own vehicle. I sort of adopted bits and pcs from folks that have, IMHO, straight forward descriptions that are consistent and simple. Techniques that make sense to me. A bit of science and a bit of street smart and a "form" that works for any beer.
I try a beer with no preconceptions or expectations. Always have a clean palate so to capture as much nuance that a beer may have! (I wouldn't rate a lager soon after having a DDH 3X IPA). I then describe the beer as is without involving any personal feelings or opinions until the final overall statement at the end of the rating. I grade it according to it's style. I've got to admit it's getting better. It's getting better all the time!
Look, smell, taste, feel, overall.
Great comments in this thread! Cheers!

 

There was a discussion in another thread where we defined a 'balanced beer' as:
A Beer In Each Hand.
Cheers!

 

D!ck Kicker Malt Liquor

 

I have that beer in fridge, not sure how I will review it yet.

 

I try to first evaluate the beer to the style then try to take the brewery intention of the beer. Something that help me is understand what the brewery does. Example, if I get a Jester King beer, I know they push the boundaries for wild ales, like Snorkel. I often find reviews biased which is good, but lack information on the style and why they rated that way. Anyways, rating beers are highly subjective to each individual. I rate beer as a personal documentation of my journey exploring the beer of world and what I can further learn.

 

I open the can and put the beverage in my mouth. I've stopped caring about pouring it, looking at it, sometimes even smelling it. I have specific beer flavors I like and dislike, so I am probably no help in determining if these flavors make a beer good or not.

 

1. Open
2. Smell
3. Decant
4. Smell
5. Observe
6. Taste

The most important part to a good rating, to me, is taste. Yes, I want it to look nice, smell good, etc. But if it doesn't TASTE good....well, that's a problem.

Obviously, this is a vast over simplification.

 

This, of course, is always the tough question, i.e, how much of the score is an effort to rate purely "to style" (an ostensible "objective" component) and how much the score is affected by personal taste. I admit that I've been fairly guilty of rating with a mixture of both. There are some great examples of a style (DKML is a one) that I've rated more highly than some folks have, but haven't been quite able to stay truly "objective" when rating, resulting in a 3.5-ish for DKML when, as a pure "objective" exercise, it probably deserved higher marks. I should probably go find the "do you go back and re-rate beers" thread and remind myself to go back and be more objective now that I've been rating beers for awhile.

All of that said, if you go through the stats of the various styles, some styles simply rate higher because people seem to subjectively like those styles more. Hence you can't find an "American Amber/Red Lager" with an average rating of "4" with lots of reviews, with "Shipping Out of Boston" from Jack's Abbey clocking in just over that mark with only 121 views. Meanwhile, if you turn to "Stouts--American Imperial," you have to page through at least 300 beers before the "sub-fours" start to outnumber the "fours and above."

I'm not advocating for one reviewing process versus another, and there have been many threads on this site where folks have argued that one to death. For the OP's benefit, I'd say that when rating a beer, I try to take advantage of this site's good simple descriptions of what a style should feature (especially one that I don't drink as frequently, such as say a Baltic Porter), so I'm not complaining about and giving a poor rating to a beer with a flavor profile that is correct for the style, but just not my cup of Joe. E.g., if you don't like high acidity, maybe don't punch the "this tastes terrible, I give it a 1.5 on flavor" button if you're drinking a sour, kettled or otherwise.

 

This +1000. I admire folks who can type out a wine-review-level description invoking fruits I've never tasted and other things I don't want to knowingly taste (cat piss is my personal favorite on this). But I can't pull that off.

 

I’m not nearly as complex about this as many of the others. I’ll still occasionally drink from the can or bottle because I don’t particularly care about the color or “bouquet”, at least not as much as some. If I do pour it in a glass obviously I’ll take note of the aroma, take a sip and try to pick out any individual flavors that might stand out and that’s pretty much it. I then proceed to drink the damn thing. Usually I’ll wait till I’m done with it to decide if I really liked it or not and then proceed to review generally right after I’ve finished it if I feel it’s worth it. As far as the specifics, that is completely subjective to each taster. Cheers!

 

Citra throws cat piss and I love it

 

I whip out my pocket knife and poke a hole in the side of the can. I make sure I get my nose down right on top of that hole, so I can really get the full bouquet of aromas coming off of the beer. After that, I tilt my head, position my mouth over the can opening, crack it open, and consume it as quickly as possible. Then I give it a 3.5 and write a review that says "really good for a lager."

 

Something I neglected to mention in my own process, and is probably a good idea for anyone doing multiple beers in a session. I don't really have anything scientific to back it up but I've always tried to avoid the potential for palate fatigue.

You live with cats long enough, that's a smell that never leaves you. And it's pretty repulsive when you smell it in a beer. At least to me.

Only certain lots or amount of Citra do this for me. Equilibrium is the worst offender to me personally; every IPA of theirs featuring Citra absolutely reeks of it. Other varietals can do it too but they're less frequent.

 

Aside from the visual and aesthetics of the beer my tasting process is as follows:
1. Establishing Expectations. Since sense of taste works in conjunction with smell, the beer (poured from tap or can or bottle in a glass) is smelled prior to sipping. What is the yeast profile (important for saisons)? What other aromas reinforce or contribute to the beer's overall complexity?
2. Aromatics are analyzed (herbal? citrus? floral? spices? malts?) and how long does the beer aromatics last (brief and fleeting? or luscious and long lasting?) How well do the aromatics play nice with the other items in this list.
3. Bitterness is evaluated (where - if any - does the bitterness hit the palette?) Is bitterness up-front at the tip of the tongue or the sides of the mouth? Does the bitterness last or does it just tease the tongue. Does the bitterness build mesh well with other ingredients in the beer? This factor is important especially with regards to IPAs, IIPAs, Pale Ales, Cascadian (Black) IPAs, or Hazy (NE) IPAs. Is the IBU good for YOU?
4. Viscosity is analyzed. How well does the beer coat the tongue and mouth and throat? Does the viscosity impede or improve the intended message or art the beer sends? How crisp or creamy is the beer? Is there adequate levels of carbonation or too much?
5. Malt build is analyzed. What roast of the malt is there and is is appropriate for the message (taste) the beer is sending? What kind of grains (rye? barley? wheat?) are used. How well the malt interacts with the yeast profile and hop character is noted. Does the sweetness of the malt in sync with other items in the beer (too cloyingly? too dry?) Important when evaluating lagers, pilsners, porters, stouts, and other malt forward beers.
6. Alcoholic character. How sharp is the beer with respect to ABV? Is there any alcohol burn present? Does the ABV of the beer hinder or elevate the enjoyment of the beer? Important when evaluating barrel aged or foeder aged beers.
7. Hop Profile. See Bitterness. Additionally, are the hops used a supportive of other flavors or take a leading role in defining a beer's personality? How expressive are the hops used with an emphasis on Aromatic and Bittering hops? Does the method of hopping evident in the beer (Dry Hopping? Wet Hopping? Cryo Hopping?)
8. Tartness - Only used for sours, saisons, or foeder aged beers. Is the sourness artificial or wild? Does the sourness add to or detract from the contentment or complexity of the beer? Is the tartness supported by other flavors in the beer?
9. Fermentography. How well does the beer company artfully express the beer? Is everything the beer company wanted to portray in the beer play-out. Do the roles (ingredients) used by the beer company convey a "let's-taste-that-again" or "let's-buy-that-again" feeling?
10. Beer Direction/Production. How consistent is the beer poured from bottle-to-bottle or can-to-can in the pack or from tap line-to-tap line? Can the beer be paired with food to enhance the experience?

 

One can usually assume that a released beer embodies the brewer's intent. Most beers would be "perfect" if rating to intent.

Rating to style is still mainly subjective in my eyes. Personally, I think objectivity barely comes into play in a meaningful way.

 

Entirely up to you how you want to drink the beers you buy but most of what we perceive as beer flavor is from aroma and drinking directly from the can/bottle is sub-optimum in this regard.

Cheers!

 

That, yes. I used to say I tried for objectivity, but realized at some point that there's little out there more prone to subjectivity than the impressions generated by a particular blob of wrinkly fat locked in a dark and silent bone box relying on imperfect bio-sensors feeding it various electrical and chemical signals about how it should narrate the experiences of "taste" and "aroma" to itself.

This does not stop me from waxing prosaic about exactly how mine crafts impressions of various fruits, malts, shoe polish, and whatnot, though.

 

Is that a more subjective or objective review of oneself? No matter - I enjoyed it.

 

Cheers! I’m well aware of the differences as I drink from glassware whenever it is the best option however, as I spend a lot of time outdoors it can be hard to tote a glass around doing certain activities especially this time of year. I guess my only point was that you can still enjoy a beer even without all the nuance that some people surround the experience with. I guess I could have worded my initial post differently, although as usual, I appreciate the insight Jack.