Fake it till you make it.

That’s what I do when faced with any kind of beer or wine tasting.

But that’s all about to end.

As South Africans, we take out beer very seriously, so it stands to reason that we should pay it the respect that it deserves by learning how to taste it properly.

So while a professional beer taster undergoes rigorous training to help them identify distinctive flavour profiles in the beer, the average beer lover can use the Herald’s step-by-step guide to getting into the tasting game.

Here goes:

1. Cleanse your palate

Do this with water. Crackers, cheese or those – heaven forbid – bar peanuts could influence the flavour.

2. Observe the colour

Stare lovingly at the beer the way you want someone to look at you one day.

The colour will represent the type of brew it is – pilsners are a pale straw while American and English Ales have a golden hue. Porters and stouts are amber brown and black.

Pro-tip: if you’re tasting a few different beers taste from light to dark. This will help you build up the flavour intensity.

3. Take a quick whiff

Move the glass past your nose once or twice to get a hint of the smell. This is called a “drive-by”.

You should be able to pick up roasted notes typical of malts; or pine, citrus, pepper and fresh-cut grass from the hops; or perhaps hints of yeast.

This is when you would detect undesirable aromas which are called off-flavours. The most common one is a sulphur-type flavour which can happen in beers which have been exposed to too much light.

Don’t do this too quickly or you’ll cover the people sitting to your left and right in beer and nobody will thank you for it.

One of the common ‘undesirable aromas’ is ‘tinned tuna’.

If your beer smells like tinned tuna don’t drink it.

4. Give it a swirl

Swirl the glass gently like a posh person. This will release things called ‘volatiles’ which are trapped in the glass.

Swirling knocks some of the CO² out of the solution, causing it to foam slightly.

Allowing the beer to mix with the air provides the drinker with a stronger scent of the various aromatic components, such as hops and malt.

Which brings us to:

5. Take a deep whiff

This is more of a slow Sunday drive than a ‘drive-by’. Sniff deeply, but not too deeply.

You don’t want foam in your nose. It’s not a good look.

This whiff should differ from the previous one as now you’ll get hints of the aroma:

* Malts: should smell of honey, biscuit, caramel or baked bread flavours, but can contain hints of roasted coffee or, in the case of stouts, dark chocolate.

* Hop aromas: these are generally citrusy, floral, or perhaps grassy in nature.

* Yeast aromas: these are fruity or sulphurous in nature.

Now talk about the different aromas until you sound sufficiently impressive.

And again, if the beer smells like tinned tuna, put it down and back away.

6. Take a sip (finally)

By now your beer is probably warm but take a sip anyway.

Take a small sip, enough for it to run across your entire tongue, then let it slowly roll over the tongue for a few seconds before you swallow and breathe out gently.

You’ll taste both broad and subtle flavours, the former being what you mainly taste while the latter will be a hint of a flavour.

Broad flavours range from sweet, salty, acidy or simply bitter, while subtler flavours can range from cloves, fruit, coffee, caramel, nuts, chocolate, oak and many more.

And there you have it. Follow these simple steps to look like a beer tasting pro at your next get together.

Or you could just buy a beer that you already know is great and enjoy it without all of the fuss.

I’d recommend Sol Beer – an authentic Mexican beer that believes in freedom and independence, and celebrates those who want to be true to themselves.

It has definite hints of Espiritu Libre – the spirit of freedom – and pairs perfectly with a sunny day or warm night spent with friends and family.

And if the mood strikes you to stare lovingly at it or give it a sniff, you do you.

Happy drinking, good people.

[source:herald]