That relationship was described by the English chemist William Henry, and today it rules everything from the bottle cap to the regulator on a keg. That is why a British ale, a weissbier and a Czech pilsner can feel so different in the glass.
Several mistaken ideas about beer tears are going around, and they come from the world of wine and whisky. That they reveal quality, that glycerol produces them or that they form because alcohol concentrates at the top of the glass.
From Asturian natural cider to Quebec ice cider, discover the main types of cider, the laws that define them and how they compare in the glass.
Learn how to taste cider like an expert, from color and aroma to sweetness, tannin and faults, with BJCP scoring and the Asturian escanciado.
In beer tasting, crisp has nothing to do with crunch. It describes a dry, clean, fresh finish, and the BJCP defines it as an abrupt turn to sharpness.
A blind tasting is one where you don’t know which beer you’re tasting, nor its brand, its price, or its label. It lets you judge what is in the glass, not what you expect to find in it.
A juicy IPA tastes of passion fruit or grapefruit with no fruit added. What the BJCP says, how it differs from a hazy or NEIPA, and which molecules explain it.
The popular myth is simple and says that the more papillae you have on your tongue, the greater your ability to taste flavors and, as a result, the more bitter beer tastes. The most recent published studies show that reality is quite a bit more complex.
The most studied kokumi substances, γ-glutamyl peptides, activate the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), a close relative of the T1R1, T1R2, and T1R3 receptors, which detect sweet and umami tastes.
Taste is what the tongue perceives, the five basic tastes. Flavor adds smell and mouthfeel. What ISO, the BJCP and the science say about beer.
Everyone seems to understand it, but no one defines it the same way, although brewing research has been trying to pin it down since 2005 with the first review of the concept published in the journal of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas.
With its registration as a protected geographical indication (PGI), the European Union protects a brewing method documented in West Flanders since 1851 and kept alive today by very few breweries.
