How to Rate a Beer

This is a review for rating beer for the BeefBeerandPoker.com/forum, though it should be a useful beginners’ guide for rating beer.

First, prior to drinking, the beer should be at an appropriate temperature. Mouth numbingly cold is not an appropriate temperature (except for beers which will not be reviewed on this site due to their inferior quality). It should be at about cellar temperature; this can be achieved by taking the beer out of your refrigerator for 20 minutes to an hour prior to rating it.

Second, you should have a clean glass to pour the beer into. It is important that the glass is clean so you can see the clarity of the beer and to allow for a nice head on the beer. Speaking of a nice head; when rating a beer a good head is important. In order to get a good head on a beer pour the beer right down the middle of the glass. None of that pouring down the sides of the glass wimpy stuff, pour it straight down the middle. Let the head build, stop pouring, let the foam settle to about an inch; Pour, wait, and repeat until the bottle is empty. This will help you have a nice, firm, and long lasting head.

There are four categories on which to rate a beer, and then there is your overall impression. The four categories are: Aroma, Appearance, Body & Texture (Mouthfeel or Palate), and Flavor. Aroma and Flavor are rated on a scale of 1 to 10 (here, we use bottle caps); Appearance and Palate on a scale of 1 to 5; and the Overall Impressions is a rating of 1 to 20.

The first thing to look for in rating a beer is its aroma. The reason it is so important to have the beer at an appropriate temperature is that when the beer is mouth numbingly cold, it becomes difficult to catch its full aroma. First sniff the beer (short sniffs work best instead of long draws). Give it a few moments to sink in. Now, be aware of the aromas and any flashbacks your memory may have of that aroma. Take a walk in these memories for a time and use them as a guide. If you don’t get too much, swirl the beer for a bit. If your nose needs a palate cleanser, so to speak, smell the back of your hand as it is a neutral smell (unless you use girly lotions and if that is the case just go back to drinking Zima or something). So note what you smell; hop notes, citrus, grassy scents? Maybe even caramel, coffee, or chocolate.

Next rate the beer’s Appearance. Look at your beer and sip it after you think you have gotten all that the aroma has to offer. Look at the color and clarity of the beer. What color is it: dark or pale, straw, amber, red? Is it clear or cloudy (cloudy may not be a bad thing depending on the beer)? Then you want to notice the character and the retention of the head. Does it stay nice a foamy, or does it die and fade away quickly? After the glass is empty, notice the lacing on the glass left behind by the foam.

Now there is Palate, also known as mouthfeel. This is basically how the beer feels in your mouth. Notice the body of the beer, the amount of carbonation, the astringency, the oiliness. Is it balanced or simply one dimensional? Is it pleasant or unpleasant?

Then we move on to Flavor, or Taste. Take a quick sip and let the liquid just linger on your tongue; wherever you like is fine since the pseudoscience of the “tongue map” has been debunked. An interesting note on the tongue map from Randy Mosher: “An erroneous product of nineteenth-century quackery, it has proven difficult to purge from the textbooks.” Wait a little bit and let the liquid warm up slightly while you notice all the flavors that reveal themselves. Is the aftertaste long or quick? Is the flavor smooth, bitter, hoppy, malty, roasty, etc. Now take another sip while you also notice the aromas that arise. There are many flavors to notice such as fruity, hoppy, nutty, grassy, grainy, malty, sweet, sour, bitter. Some beer will have special flavors like blackberry, cherry, apricot. How do those flavors add to the beer? Do they overpower it or is it a nice balance.

Finally, rate your overall impression of the beer and give it a score of between 1 and 20. The rating is fairly subjective, but give your best overall impression of the beer. Was the overall beer experience outstanding or just meh? Did the beer get better or worse throughout the pint? How many pints of this beer would you like to drink? Is this an easily every day beer, or something you only want once in a while? When rating use a score of 10 as a beer that is just plain average, not impressive but drinkable.

As a final note it is helpful to keep a journal of the beers that you drink and your ratings. Get a nice Moleskine book for this purpose if you want and you can even find a telescopic pen to carry with you and make notes. Go back to the beers that you have tasted and rated before and compare notes as you taste more beer. Remember, practice, practice, practice. The more you drink, the more you know.