How to Taste Beer – A Step-by-Step Guide

There are moments when the world truly slows down. A cold bottle in your hand, the glass reflecting light like a lens, the silence in the room—and that one question: “What is it really like to feel here?”
Anyone who has immersed themselves in craft beer knows that thrill. The first sip, the first aromatic note, the first attempt to decipher what the brewer has hidden within that amber, golden, or tarry surface. But how do you taste beer?

Beer tasting isn’t magic. It’s a procedure, a ritual, a way of looking at beer the way a sommelier does—with curiosity, mindfulness, and joy. And today I’ll show you exactly how.

Preparation for tasting

Before you open the bottle, make sure of three things: temperature , environment and a neutral palate .

Temperature

• lager, pils: 4–8°C
• APA, IPA: 8–12°C
• Baltic porter, RIS, barley wine: 12–14°C

When beer is too cold, most aromas simply become undetectable. That’s why companies advertise “frozen” beers, served at “zero degrees”! You simply can’t taste anything then. In short, you won’t notice that you’re drinking a low-quality beverage. On the other hand, if the beer is too warm, it loses its refreshing properties and—especially with stronger beers—an unpleasant alcoholic note can emerge as it warms.

=> And if you also count calories, check out my text: how many calories does beer have ?

Surroundings

Ensure neutral room conditions: avoid strong odors from food, perfumes, or cleaning products, as they can easily distort the aroma. Good, even lighting will help you assess the color and clarity of the beer, and it’s best to postpone scented candles, air fresheners, or frying anything.

Palate

Avoid anything that might distort the flavor—mints, candy, or salty snacks—and keep only still water on hand to cleanse your palate when needed. Maca is also a great option, and beer judges often snack on it between samples, as it neutralizes the flavor exceptionally effectively. The point is to ensure nothing distracts from the main character, which at this point is solely the beer.

Glass selection

There’s no one-size-fits-all glass for all beers. Each style is best presented in a different shape: aromatic IPAs and stouts thrive in tulip glasses or tulip flasks, stronger porters , RISs, and barley wines reveal their fullness in a sniffer, lighter APAs and session IPAs thrive in a nook or shaker, and lagers , pilsners, and helles showcase their pure character best in a classic tall pilsner glass. Regardless of your preference, the most important thing is that the glass is perfectly clean, rinsed with cold water, and free of any detergent aromas—then the beer will reveal all its best qualities.

Pouring beer

This is the first moment when you can truly assess the beer you’re dealing with—its color, clarity, and the way the head forms. It’s best to start by holding the glass at about a 45-degree angle and pouring most of the beer down the side; only the last part should be poured vertically to build a stable, even head. While pouring, pay attention to the color—from gold and amber to copper or black—and the clarity. The beer can be completely clear, slightly opalescent, or completely cloudy. The head itself is also important: is it fine and creamy, or composed of larger bubbles? These elements are the hallmark of the style and the first point of reference when evaluating a beer according to standards like the BJCP .

And if you want to judge like a real judge, the BJCP has prepared a printable beer evaluation card. Download it here .

Aroma evaluation

This is the most important stage of tasting—the moment when the beer truly begins to reveal its true essence. This is where it’s easiest to discern the style’s character, the quality of the ingredients, and any potential flaws. It’s also the stage that most distinguishes casual drinking from conscious analysis. Surprised that I’m talking about aroma and not flavor? It’s true—aroma is responsible for a significant portion of the perception of flavor… or rather, palatability! But more on that a little later.

How to smell?

First, gently swirl the glass to release the aromas. Smell briefly, taking two or three breaths, rather than inhaling deeply as you would with an espresso – short, leisurely close-ups of your nose to the glass give you a much better idea of what the beer is trying to convey. The main ingredients of beer are (or rather, should be ): water, malt, hops, and yeast. Each of these imparts a sensory experience.

Malt aromas

In the context of malt aromas, you can detect a wide variety of notes—from bread and toast, through caramel, to chocolate and coffee in darker styles. These notes build the aromatic “base” and are often responsible for the first impression. Try to verbalize what you feel. Close your eyes and think about what you associate with the foundation of the beer you’re tasting.

The lightest, palest beers will evoke grain or freshly baked wheat bread. The more amber-colored beers will delight you with notes of toasted bread, croutons, and caramel. As you move towards darker beers, you’ll notice molasses, chocolate, dark dried fruit, and finally, strong coffee.

It’s in this layer that you can also detect notes of special malts—even smoked ones. A beer can smell anything from the smoke of a scout campfire to a burnt CRT television, iodine, or a sea breeze.

It doesn’t matter what descriptors you use. What matters is that you learn to verbalize what you feel and consistently use the accepted nomenclature.

Hop aromas

Contrary to popular belief, beer isn’t made with hops. They’re merely a flavoring. After all, even the most heavily hopped IPAs contain 3-4% hops by weight, and usually much less.

Hops, however, can impart a completely different character to beer, lending it an incredible distinctiveness. Depending on the variety used, hop aromas can be citrusy, tropical, resinous, herbal, floral, or earthy. It is this component of the aroma that most often determines a beer’s traditional or modern character.

Noble hops—as we call traditional varieties—are much less intense than new wave hops and typically hover around earthy, herbal, and floral notes. Hops bred in recent decades—especially in the United States, and later also in Australia, New Zealand, and Poland—include citrus and pine (the first wave) or sweet tropical, coconut, and other fruit notes (the latest wave).

Esters and phenols (yeast)

Yeast also has a huge impact on aroma. Bottom-fermenting yeast, used in lager production, is the most neutral. It’s designed to impart the purest, neutral character to beer. However, it’s also very difficult to manage technologically. It requires meticulous temperature control and is unforgiving. It’s in a good lager that you’ll recognize the brewer’s craftsmanship.

Piwo pszeniczne w stylu hefeweizen powinno z kolei prezentować estry bananowe czy nawet lekkie nuty gumy balonowej, a także fenole kojarzące się z goździkiem. Natomiast wiele piw belgijskich – z racji użytych szczepów drożdży – posiada nuty przyprawowe, pieprzne, lekko pikantne. W dobrym piwie ich intensywność jest celowa i zgodna ze stylem.

New-wave IPA-style beers can combine the character of hops and yeast. These new, special varieties enhance fruitiness and a sense of sweet fluffiness—or “fluffiness,” as beer connoisseurs in Poland call it.

Flaws in beer – or what you feel even though you shouldn’t

Unfortunately, there are also aromas that beer definitely shouldn’t have. These are the ones that most often reveal errors during brewing, fermentation, or storage. It’s good to know them, as they will help you more easily distinguish a properly brewed beer from one that has lost something along the way. Here are a few examples of the most common flaws in beer.

• DMS (DiMethylSulfide) – cooked corn – mmm, like a freshly opened can of Bonduelle, typical of poorly brewed lagers and beers with a high proportion of Pilsner malt; in modern brewing, always considered a defect.
• Diacetyl – butter, toffee, yogurt – with a few exceptions (mainly some low-level Czech lagers) should not appear; it usually indicates fermentation errors or yeast stress.
• Oxidation – wet cardboard, soy sauce, honey, sherry, dried fruit – one of the most common problems; it develops over time and significantly reduces freshness – in Polish craft beer, it’s most often caused by improper bottling or a lack of equipment that allows bottling without oxygenating the beer. Oxidation, such as sherry, plums, or even light soy sauce, can be pleasant – especially in long-aged porters.
• Metallic aroma – an iron or bloody aroma – may indicate contact of the wort with inappropriate surfaces or a water problem, typical of breweries with old installations (not stainless steel)
• Infection – various off-notes: vinegar, sharp lactic acid, poop, stable – occurs when unwanted bacteria or wild yeasts enter the beer; in non-sour styles, it practically means spoilage. These can also be desirable notes if the bacteria or wild yeast (bretta) were added intentionally!
• Acetaldehyde (Acetaldehyde) – green apple, freshly cut grass, oil paint – aroma typical of poorly fermented or too young beer; it may disappear after a few days of conditioning, but unfortunately it does not have to – often in stronger beers with an inappropriate amount of yeast
• Medical phenols – bandages, hospital, pharmacy – a very unpleasant aroma group, most often a result of wild yeast infection. Iodine-like aromas may be desired by some in beers made with peat-smoked malt.
• Sulfur – rotten eggs, natural gas, matches – an effect of yeast stress; in lagers, slight sulfur notes sometimes occur during fermentation, but should not dominate in the finished beer. It can also come from water. In German pilsners, it sometimes adds an interesting note. Match-like sulfur is usually not bothersome, but hydrogen sulfide, like smelling Icelandic geysers, doesn’t bode well.
• Solvent, varnish, acetone , fusel – a clear signal of problems with fermentation carried out at too high a temperature or severe yeast stress.
• Chlorophenols – disinfectants, chemicals, plastic – their presence always disqualifies beer, serious infection, to be poured out
• Soapy notes—wax, soap —appear in heavily oxidized beers, especially after prolonged or improper aging. It can also be from coriander, if you’re genetically predisposed to it.
• Residual yeastiness – yeast powder, dough – if the style does not require this feature, it usually indicates poorly conducted fermentation or excessive sediment accumulation.
• Skunk – marijuana, the smell of skunk, what the company told you it smells like hops in a green bottle – the effect of exposing beer to light; it mainly affects green or clear bottles, it reacts with the hops and creates a specific skunk aroma.

Finally, make a brief note of what you sense—even if it’s just two or three words. Over time, you’ll notice that your aroma memory really develops, and subsequent beers will begin to “speak” more clearly. This will help you more quickly recognize both the characteristics of the style and deviations from the norm, and your tasting will become much more conscious and satisfying.

First sip – deliciousness and balance

The first sip is the moment when all the elements of beer—malt, hops, yeast, equipment, and the brewer’s craftsmanship—come together. This is where you can most easily detect both the beer’s strengths and its weaknesses. It’s worth giving the beer time: letting it pass over the entire surface of your tongue and settle in for a moment before you begin to assess its individual characteristics.

I’ll return to the idea from the previous section. There’s a popular myth that 70-95% (depending on the source) of flavor is aroma. This is a fairly widespread theory, but it’s not grounded in science.

Taste and flavor

The fact is, what we experience as a whole depends very much on smell. Just do the closed-nose test and you’ll see that beer tastes… different. Except it’s not taste, but deliciousness. This discrepancy stems from the fact that in Polish, we don’t have as clear a distinction between “taste” and “flavor” (often also translated as “deliciousness”) as in English. Just like with “sex” and “gender.”

That’s why many people who teach beer tasting in Poland suggest using the word “deliciousness” as an equivalent of “flavor.” Then our claim—though mathematically impossible to prove—takes on greater meaning.

Taste is what we feel on the tongue—through our taste buds. Taste, on the other hand, is the “full taste experience,” which is also influenced by other factors, including, crucially, aroma.

How to judge the taste of beer?

First of all, we can’t escape the fact that a significant portion of what we notice during a tasting will come from the aroma—or will be derived from it. Sure, you can have fun tasting beer with a paperclip on your nose or even a blindfold (because “shutting down” one sense heightens others), but let’s not kid ourselves—especially at home.

We have five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter , and umami . As I wrote in Vivisection of Taste , there are extended tastes—and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding how to classify them. However, you probably won’t detect the cooling menthol in beer (unless you choose the Friendship Bridge , which I created with Browar Przełom ) or the effects of capsaicin (unless you choose a RIS with peppers).

My recommendation is to try to evaluate each flavor on a spectrum, at least on a scale of several degrees. My point is that virtually every beer is sour . That means every beer has a pH.< 7. Most often, this value is around 4-4.5, and in the case of sour beers – around 3. The most chemically acidic beer we have made at Browar Golem is Peach Princess with pH = 2.8. However, when drinking a sweet RIS, we are unlikely to use the descriptor “sour”, unless it is spoiled.

Typically, we’ll evaluate beer for sweetness and bitterness —also relative to each other . The former comes from the sugars in the malt, as well as additives like lactose, maltodextrin, and fruit. Hops and dark malts will contribute bitterness, but they will have different characteristics. Hop bitterness will evoke herbal, grassy, or citrus notes, while malt bitterness will impart a roasted character.

Increased acidity will be undesirable or even come from contamination – unless it is a style designed to be sour: sour, gose, Beliner Weisse.

There are no umami notes in beer, although there have been experiments with adding various unorthodox ingredients that give such notes – such as tomatoes, mushrooms, meat, or… the best spice in the world .

Mouthfeel, finish and aftertaste

It’s time for the final chord. Swallow the beer and give it just a few seconds. This is the moment when many things become clear. Only now can you assess how the beer settles on the palate and whether it leaves a good first impression or a chaotic cacophony.

Notice how quickly the flavor fades—in some styles, the finish should be short and clean, while in others it may linger longer, gradually releasing subsequent sensory layers. Check for the characteristic hop “dryness” that comes naturally to many hoppy beers—or the delicate caramel sweetness typical of some British ales or darker styles.

It’s also important to ensure you don’t detect too much alcohol. A pleasant warming sensation in strong beers is normal, but a sharp, stinging finish is usually a sign that the alcohol hasn’t been properly incorporated or that the beer isn’t yet mature.

When assessing mouthfeel, it is also worth considering the issue of fullness or body: whether the beer leaves an impression of being light, medium or full, and whether this is consistent with the style.

Finally, consider the overall balance. Does everything that appears on the sensory layer form a coherent whole? Do the aromas and flavors you sensed earlier conclude logically and work harmoniously together? It’s those final seconds after swallowing that often determine whether you crave another sip or whether you set the glass aside and pour the beer down the toilet.

Okay. My role is done. Now you know how to taste beer. Below, I’ve included a short cheat sheet. I’ve also included the BJCP form above. You can use it or create your own notebook. Drink, taste, take notes, compare. Share your notes with your loved ones. So, which beer will be the first to be included in your tasting?

Cheat sheets and resources

How to Taste Beer in Modern Styles

Hazy IPA

• don’t judge clarity – opacity is a feature of style, not a flaw
• look for intense notes: mango, pineapple, passion fruit, fruit juice
• Bitterness is usually low to medium, finish is juicy

Cold IPA

• clear, crisp, dry
• clean malt profile, moderate bitterness, American hops in the foreground
• high drinkability, dry finish

Pastry Stout

• dessert flavors (vanilla, cocoa, coconut, chocolate)
• check if the sweetness is not tiring
• a good version is a delicious dessert in a glass, not a syrup for pancakes

The most common mistakes when tasting beer

• tasting beer straight from the fridge (too cold = no aroma)
• drinking after eating a heavy meal or snack
• sniffing too quickly – no breaks between attempts
• inappropriate choice of glass or drinking “from a thread”
• tasting in a kitchen full of the smells of food and spices
• confusing style features with flaws (e.g. phenols in Belgian or wheat beers)

A Little Taster’s Checklist

• take care of the proper beer temperature
• choose the right glass
• evaluate the appearance of the beer
• smell in 2–3 approaches
• try it by analyzing the taste
• pay attention to the finish, body and balance
• write down your conclusions
• share with your friends

FAQ – How to taste beer?

Artur Karpiński

Not just a foodie, but also a self-taught chef who cooks and tests recipes from around the globe. A traveler and connoisseur of great dishes across countries and cultures. Certified beer sensory specialist. Owner of a contract craft brewery renowned for wild, experimental brews. A former homebrewer with deep know-how in brewing techniques and beer styles. Loves pushing flavor boundaries—both on the plate and in the glass. His motto: “Go big or go home.”