Beers to taste at Helsinki Beer Festival 2016

Beer tasting is a way to learn more about the history, ingredients and production of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

as well as different beer styles,

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

and beer presentation. A common way is to analyse the appearance, smell and taste of the beer. Then a final judgement of the beer's quality is done. There are many scales for rating beer among beer journalists and beer experts. Different magazines and experts often use their own scale, for example the famous

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

sommelier

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

uses a scale between 1 and 20 and the famous

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sommelier Joshua M. Bernstein uses a scale between 1 and 100. However it is common for professional organisations such as the

Wine & Spirit Education Trust The Wine & Spirit Education Trust, often referred to as WSET, is a global organisation which arranges courses and exams in the field of wine, spirits and sake. WSET was founded in 1969, is headquartered in London and is generally regarded as one ...

to rate beer with verbal grades: faulty - poor - acceptable - good - very good - outstanding, corresponding to a scale from 1 to 5.

Themes

First, a selection of beers is chosen for the tasting. A theme can be for example

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

beers or a selection of beers of varying bitterness. Beers are often tasted in an order from lightest to heaviest, driest to sweetest and cheapest to most expensive. This forms a basic structure of the tasting, but it is more important to organise the tasting according to how the human tastebuds work. As tasting progresses, the tastebuds become less sensitive and can even be anaesthesised. After the beers have been chosen, suitable snacks are provided and information about each beer producer and region is given. To make the tasting diverse, four to six different beers to taste at the same time are generally provided. Interesting tasting themes can be for example different types of beer such as

stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

wheat beer Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ye ...

or India pale ale, different countries such as

beers or American pale ales. It is also common to couple the beers with various food, such as a tasting of beers and

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

Glass

Choosing a glass for beer tasting is more important than one might think. An ISO standard tasting glass is often used in professional tastings, which is the standard for tasting different beverages. This type of glass is used by many tasters throughout the world to ensure the glass does not affect their judgement. The glass should be large enough to capture the aroma of the beer when it is twisted around on the bottom of the glass. The glass should have a foot so that the container part is not stained or warmed by the hands.

Blind tasting

A common form of beer tasting is so-called

blind tasting Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...

. In this type of tasting the taster does not know which beer is in which glass, for example by shrouding the bottle in an opaque container as it is poured. An experienced taster can have an idea of what the beer is by clues in the beer's appearance, smell and taste. This is however becoming more difficult as the number of different beer brands and styles is growing.Mölstad, Mikael
Blindprovning är ingen lätt lek
''SvD.se''. Accessed on 3 April 2017.

References

Beer Gustation