Beertasting - the basics

Beer Tasting
The Basics
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Introduction
“Wine and beer are companions of
honour: the world’s two great fermented
drinks, derived from grape and grain
respectively. Thus conjoined by the
force of language, they are too often
rent asunder by social snobbery.”
-
Michael Jackson
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Introduction
Beer stood at the cradle of human civilisation and propelled
men to greatness
Agriculture, tools, writing, medicine, refrigeration,
fermentation, automation, …
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Introduction

Introduction
Taste 8 beers, 10 – 15 cl a glass.
Take care when pouring the beer!
Share your thoughts with your compagnons.
Drink responsibly!
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Introduction
Specific vocabulary
for aroma’s and taste.
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Introduction
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Brewing
process
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1) Pilsner Urquell (lager)
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4.4% ABV

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• Czechs: pioneers in beer (1st brewing handbook in 1585, 1st beer
museum)
• First Pilsner
 before 1842: Czech beers were brown
 town of Plzeň contracted Joseph Groll to develop a new
beer for the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery, to rival a new
style emerging from Vienna.
 clear, golden, cold-fermented beer, spicy hops and sweet malt flavors
• Now owned by SABMiller, produces 1/5 of all Czech beer

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• Also famous: České Budějovice
• Beware: in Czech Rep. beer is expressed in degrees. Not
alcohol by volume (ABV) but by degree of malt extraction
rate.

Which statement is correct?
A. The darker the beer, the higher the alcohol level
B. The darkest beers have lower alcohol levels
C. There is no relationship between the colour of the beer
and the alcohol level
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Ingredients: grain
● Barley is king, wheat second most common.
● BUT also rye, oats, rice, spelt, millet, corn,
sorghum
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Ingredients: grain
● How to get the natural sugars (starch
& complex carbohydrates) out of the
grains? Make them germinate so
that enzyles are formed that break
them down (hydrolysis).
This process = MALTING
● Malting process has a big influence
on the taste and colour of the beer
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MALTING
3 STAGES PROCESS
STEEPING GERMINATION KILNING
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At arrival barley is
• cleaned
• sized

MALTING
STEEPING GERMINATION KILNING
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MALTING - COLOUR
During kilning
 ‘browning’ or Maillard reaction
(AA binds with reducing sugar)
 Caramelization
( sugar decomposed under influence of O2 (heat))
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PREDOMINANT FOR
DRIED KERNELS
PREDOMINANT FOR
UNDRIED KERNELS
After germination: either put kernels in the kiln immediately
or dry the kernels before kilning

MALTING - COLOUR
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Lager malt
Caramel malt Roasted malt

MALTING - COLOUR
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SRM = Standard
Reference Method
EBC = European
Brewery
Convention

Which statement is correct?
A. The darker the beer, the higher the alcohol level
B. The darkest beers have lower alcohol levels
C. There is no relationship between the colour of the beer
and the alcohol level
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Highly roasted (like stout)
Less fermentable
Yield less alcohol than pale ale

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Elegant, full-flavoured and clean, with ripe
bitterness and a herbal hop dryness.
First sip:
Earthy, fresh bread aroma with hints of hop
and honeysuckle
Main event:
Subtle malty sweetness with caramel tones
Closing moments:
Pleasing bitterness from the Czech Saaz
hops
4.4% ABV

2) Brugs (white)
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4.8% ABV

Wheat beers
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• Witbier / white beer: Belgian
tradition revived by Pierre Celis
and Celis brewery in Austin, Texas
• Min 50% wheat; hazy, ‘white’ look due to
suspended yeast and wheat proteins
• Slightly sour due to presence lactic acid
• Light on hops, flavored by a ‘gruit’ blend
of herbs and spices

Wheat beers
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• Weißbier/weizenbier: mixing at least
50% wheat to barley malt to make a light
coloured top-fermenting beer
• Hefeweizen: unfiltered
wheat beers
• Krystallweizen: filtered
wheat beers

Ingredients: water
● 1 liter beer = 4 - 7 liters of water
● Minerals, hardness and acidity of the water have a big
influence on the taste and froth
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Ingredients: water
● Authenticity of beer:
 Munchener  high hardness, high alkalinity
 Pilzen  very low mineral contants, ‘soft’
 Dortmunter  decarbonated with slaked lime
 Oudenaards  contains Fe and high Ca-contents
 Pale Ale (Burton on Trent)  high gypsum (CaSO4)
 Dublin  high bicarbonate (HCO3
-)
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• These days with modern filtering techniques:
completely controllable

Brewing: first steps
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1. MILLING: malt is milled
/crushed to break kernels
 CH & starch are easier
to extract
2. MASHING: malt mixed
with hot water = CEREAL
MASH. Natural enzymes
convert starch into short
sugars (maltose)  malty
liquid called WORT
1 2

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A) INFUSION MASHING
Grains are heated in one
vessel
B) DECOCTION MASHING
A proportion of the grains are
boiled and then returned to
the mash, raising the
temperature [45–62–73 °C]
1 2

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3. LAUTERING: separation
of the wort and the grains.
1) Mashout: raise temp to
77°C to stop enzymatic
conversion
2) Recirculation: draw off
wort from bottom of mash
and add it to the top.
Lauter bins: slotted
bottoms & mash is sand
filter to capture debris
3) Sparging: trickling water
through the grain to
extract sugars. Temp &
pH !!!
1 2 3

Brewing: first steps Wine & Spirits Club

2) Brugs (white)
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4.8% ABV
Light-yellow beer, balanced between
sour and sweet, refreshing and fruity.
Taste: the specific taste of wheat,
together with the strong aroma of
coriander, orange peal and hops give
this white beer a rich and refreshing
character

3) Poperings Hommelbier (IPA)
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7.5% ABV

Ingredients: Hop
● Humulus lupulus, vine
● Female unfertilised
Flowers  aromatic
oils and resins
● Determines bitterness (α-
acids), aromas, complex
flavours
● Helps to clarify the brew
● Added as whole cones, dried
pellets, powder or extracts
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Ingredients: Hop
● Abbess Hildegard of Bingen: first written
source of hop in beer in 1067, near Mainz.
● By 1300 came to France, Belgium, Holland.
● Reached England in 1400s, superstition!
● Crossed Atlantic in 1700s.
● Every region prefers their own hop cultivars.
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Ingredients: Hop
● IPA: India Pale Ale
● East India Company exported beer from Britain to India
● Reason: too hot to brew locally
● Hops and well-fermented wort preserved the beer
during the journey (myth that alcohol level was higher!)
● Name was first coined in 1829 in an advertisement
● Long history in Canada and USA and recently hyped in
Belgium
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Brewing: continued
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1. Wort moves into a large tank
called “copper” or kettle. Hops and
other ingredients like spices, herbs
and sugar are added and boiled.
Functions:
 terminate enzymatic processes
 precipitate proteins
 isomerize hop resins
 concentrate and sterilize the
wort
1
After boiling, a whirlpool is used to
seperate the more solid parts of the
hopped wort.

Brewing: continued
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2. Wort is rapidly cooled in a heat
exchanger to a temperature where
yeast can be added.
The heat exchanger consists of
tubing inside a tub of cold water.
1 2
The cooled wort flows to the fermentation tank.

Brewing: continued
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3) Poperings Hommelbier (IPA)
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Yellowy gold; hoppy, pear-like
aroma; strong chalky, hop-bitter
palate (dry-hopping) that continues
long into the aftertaste.
This refreshing gold colored ale
has a honeysuckle sweetness that
is nicely balanced by a full solid
hops bill. It also has a late, spicy,
cumin-seed, dryness, that
amazingly enough never gives you
a dry after mouth feeling.
7.5% ABV

A. a type of beer that contains little or no hops while beer refers to the
hopped product
B. a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm
fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast; this contrasts with
lagers that use cold fermentation
C. beer brewed in the style of the UK and Ireland in which apart from
the malt also a part of roasted barley is added. This gives a distinct
amber or copper color
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What’s the definition of an ale?

4) Duvel (blonde/golden ale)
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8.5% ABV

About Duvel
• After WWI, started under the name of Victory Ale by
brewery of the family Moortgat using Scottish yeast and
hooped with Saaz hops and Styring Golding.
• In 1920s an avid drinker described the beer as ‘a real
devil’, hence the change in
name to contrasts the abbeys.
• Until 1970 it was a dark beer.
Target oriented marketing and
typical tullip-shaped (Steinie)
bottles.
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About Duvel
• Characteristic glass with a ‘D’ engraved in it. Gives the
typical ‘pearling’.
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About Duvel
• As with many Belgian beers: some yeast stays at the
bottom of the bottle. Adding it changes the taste.
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Ingredients: yeast
● Unicellular organisms,
reproduce asexually by
budding
● Fermentation:
● Link discovered in 1860 by
Louis Pasteur
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Ingredients: yeast
● Bottom cropping/fermentation: low temperature (4-
12°C), sinks to bottom, Saccharomyces Pastorianus
(a.k.a. S. Carlbergensis)
These is the lager yeast. Named after the German word for
storage lagrn and developed in Bavaria where the beer
was stored in cool caves.
● Top cropping/fermentation: higher temperature (15-
25°C), floats on top, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae
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Ingredients: yeast
BUT:
• Warm and cool fermentation are
more appropriate names.
• 20th century, cylindro-conical
fermenting vessels caused both
Saccharomyces cultivars to crop
at the bottom
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Brewing: continued
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TOP CROPPING BOTTOM CROPPING

Brewing: continued
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1
1. Fermentation: type of yeast is ‘pitched’ to
the tank.
Energy source = sugars.
Nitrogen source (growth) = AA and peptides
Alcohol, CO2 and other components are formed
as first the oxygen gets depleted and then the
sugars of the chilled wort.
% attenuation = percentage of sugar that is
converted
While fermentating yeast is fully distributed
through the beer and will flocculate, i.e. clump
together and precipate to the bottom of the
vessel.

Brewing: continued
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1
1. Fermentation: Alcohol, CO2 and other
components are formed as first the oxygen
gets depleted and then the sugars of the
chilled wort.
Typical components being formed:
 Esters: fruity aromas, solvent
 Phenols: spicy, smoky, medicinal,
band-aid, clove
 Diacetyl: butterscotch, slickness
 Fusel alcohols: excess ethanol
 Dimethyl Sulphides (DMS): cooked
vegetables

Brewing: continued
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1
2. Conditioning: The process in which the
beer ages, the flavour becomes smoother, and
flavours that are unwanted dissipate. From 2 to
4 weeks up to even years.
Types:
2
Kräusening = fermenting wort is added to the
finished beer  restart fermentation  fresh
CO2
Lagering = storage of 1-6 months while still on
the yeast  cleans up various chemicals, acids
and compounds

Brewing: continued
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1
2. Conditioning: The process in which the
beer ages, the flavour becomes smoother, and
flavours that are unwanted dissipate. From 2 to
4 weeks up to even years.
Types:
2
Secondary = beer transported to second
container so no longer in contact with dead
yeast and other debris (“trub”)
Bottle fermentation = bottled with a viable yeast
population in suspension  extra fermentation
é natural carbonation

Brewing: continued
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1
3. Filtering
* stabilize flavour
* gives beer polished shine and brilliance
23
Diatomaceous earth and yeast : Kieselguhr

hopped product
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Most common modern definition,
taking knowledge of
fermentation into account

hopped product
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Historical Definition, still in
Oxford Dictionary

hopped product
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Definition in Belgium.

4) Duvel (blonde/golden ale)
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8.5% ABV
Light blond; pear-like
and spicy-hop aromas; citrus-
bitter, very dry palate; lots of
carbonation; bitter, granny
smith apple-like finish
Slightly fruity, dry aroma, well-
hopped beer and with a slightly
bitter aftertaste

5) De Koninck (amber)
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5% ABV

A. Your beer glass is contaminated by oils
and fats.
B. Bubbles on the side of the glass are
formed due to specific proporties of the
glass, such as roughened surfaces
C. The beer is brewed with specific cultivars
of yeast.
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What’s up with bubbles on
the side of the glass?

Brewing: the last steps
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After the fermentation there’s nothing left to do but
• Bottling or canning
• Optional pasteurization (short heating at 60/70°C)
• Shipping

Green vs. Brown bottles
Hops component 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol (3-MBT)
 SKUNKY flavours (roasted garlic, sulfur)
Conversion under influence of UV-light.
Brown glass filters UV light much better than green glass
Less important for lagers (few hops) and marketing
reasons
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Bottles vs Cans
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Pros cans:
 Protect beer from the 3 major spoiling factors:
heat, oxygen, (UV)-light
 More light-weight, easily stackable
 Cool down quicker (but heat up quicker too)
 Blind-tastings don’t reveal differences in taste
 More environmentally friendly
Cons cans:
 More expensive than bottles for the brewers
 Reputation: cans are for ‘loutish lads’
 Tradition and marketing

Beer glasses
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5) De Koninck (amber)
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5% ABV
Brilliant amber
colour; yeasty, fruity, malty
palate; medium-bodied;
finish is nutty, spicy-hoppy,
and lightly toasted.

6) Rochefort 8 (trappist)
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9.2% ABV

Trappist beers
• Trappist order originated in
the Cistercian monastery of La
Trappe, Normandy in 17th century.
• Very strict rules = Strict
Observance. Includes self-
supportiveness.
• Most monastries and breweries
destroyed during the French
Revolution and the World Wars.

Trappist beers
Criteria for recognition International Trappist Association (ITA)
o The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the
monks themselves or under their supervision
o The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should
witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
o The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the
living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds.
Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need
o Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of
their beers

Trappist beers
11 trappists: 6 in Belgium, 2 in Holland, one each in Austria, Italy and USA

Distribution and Popularity
Traditional alcohol belts
Blue: wodka
Red: wine
Yellow: beer
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Distribution and Popularity
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6) Rochefort 8 (trappist)
The lower gravity cousin to Rochefort 10.
Nicknamed "Spéciale" (’The Special’), this beer is
the most recent production. The Rochefort 8 has a
more tawny colour and a more pronounced
aroma, with an even richer fruitiness (a slight
undertone of fig?) and a little more spiced
dryness, like that of a cake, which gives a
balanced finish to the final notes.
Dark copper; figs, coriander,
and brown sugar in the nose
and palate; complex and full-bodied, with a
warming alcohol finish
9.2% ABV

7) Old Gueuze Boon (lambic beer)

8) Lindemans Kriek Lambic (fruit)

The unique lambic brewing process

Lambics
• Typical for Pajottenland, valley of the Zenne
• Origins around 1300
• Spontanuous fermentation, over 80
microorganisms identified, including
Brettanomyces bruxellensis and B. lambicus
• Maturation in old port or sherry barrels from
Portugal or Spain or old oak
• Velo de flor of yeast protects against oxidation
• Traditional Specialty Guaranteed status by EU

Gueuze / Gueze
• Made by blending young (1-year-old)
and old (2- to 3-year-old) lambics,
which is then bottled for a
second fermentation
• Carbonation  Brussels champagne
• Dry, cider-like, musty, sour, acetic
acid, lactic acid taste
• Faro = lambic with extra candy sugar

Fruit beers
• Kriek: originally 200-400g cherries / liter lambic
• Spiderwebs in brewery keep flies away
• Other fruits: raspberry, peach, blackcurrant, grape, strawberry,
apple, banana, plum, pineapple, apricot, blueberry, lemon,
blueberry, cloudberry
• To meet rising demands syrups are also used
• Not always made with lambic! E.g. Liefmans uses old
brown ale as a base.

7) Old Gueuze Boon (lambic beer)
Light amber; nose of
spices and wood;
intense astringency
and vanilla in the palate;
dry and balanced finish.

8) Lindemans Kriek Lambic (fruit)
Intense in cherry flavor, somewhat
complex and perfectly balanced with
both sweet, sour and tart elements.
It begins with a burst of sweet cherry
over a rich malt background that is
biscuit in nature.
In the middle, a rich tartness
effervesces. As the sweetness fades, a
subtle sour undertone emerges.
The finish is a slow fade of tart black
cherry over a subtle sweetness and just
a hint of sourness.

More information
Books:

More information
Online:
• Beer Hunter series
• Beer U modules (World Class Beer Channel)
• How beer saved the World
• Ratebeer.com / beeradvocate.com
• Untappd

More information
Order in France:
• www.saveur-biere.com
• biere-speciale.be
Where to go in Paris?
http://thesavvybackpacker.com/guide-to-best-beer-in-paris/

Beertasting - the basics

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