Beer tasting

The beer tasting or beer inspection serves, similar to the wine tasting , to check the quality of the beer by tasting (smell and taste test) and with the help of computer analysis .

Beer tasting

In addition to the sense of smell and taste, the eye also plays a role in beer tasting in order to assess the result of the brewing process . With good lighting and translucent glasses, clarity, color, foam and blistering are checked. With the sense of smell, hops, yeast and their fermentation by-products are assessed; A distinction is made between primary smells and secondary smells (perceived with and without movement of the glass). The “body” of the beer is assessed with the sense of taste: the flavor (“ liveliness ”), acid and sugar content, as well as alcohol and bitter substances from the hops. Instructions for beer tasting can be found at Stiftung Warentest .

Legends

Illustration from the 19th century.

According to the late 19th century arisen Legend use was supposedly in the 15th and 16th century with the help of leather pants a curious and quite intuitive method of beer tasting. This required a natural beer bench made of oak . The brewer poured the first draft measure of the freshly brewed beer evenly over the wooden bench. Now two or three fellows with their lederhosen sat on it and sat quietly for an hour or two (after the hourglass ). During this time the boys were given plenty of food and drink and waited patiently for the leather in the bottom of their pants to soak up the beer and for it to dry into their lederhosen. Then all the boys got up at the same time. If the bank did not stay on the ground, but went up with it because it was “stuck to the boy's bottom (!)”, The brewer had not saved on malt and the brew was a success. There was enough sticky malt sugar in the beer. The brewer had passed the test and the beer was allowed to be served and sold.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Taste beer like the pros , test.de from May 26, 2014, accessed on February 5, 2015.