{"id":506,"date":"2008-03-11T06:04:05","date_gmt":"2008-03-11T13:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/words-to-describe-the-beer-you-are-tasting\/"},"modified":"2020-05-09T05:53:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T11:53:10","slug":"words-to-describe-the-beer-you-are-tasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/words-to-describe-the-beer-you-are-tasting\/","title":{"rendered":"Words to describe the beer you are tasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

More adjectives:<\/strong> 107 words to describe hop aroma and flavor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Until robots take over<\/a> our tasting world we’re left to consider how to communicate the aromas and flavors we experience with beer.<\/p>\n

A review of “Perfumes: The Guide”<\/a> in the current New Yorker<\/em> magazine makes that point.<\/p>\n

The words and the references are really useful only to people who have had the same experiences and use the same vocabulary: those references are to a shared basis of sensory experience and a shared language. To people who haven\u2019t had those shared experiences, this way of talking can seem like horse manure, and not in a good way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book was written by Tania Sanchez and Luca Turin, and since Turin was the protagonist in the delightful book “Emperor of Scent”<\/a> five years ago it gives me an excuse to quote this vaguely relevant passage:<\/p>\n

“Look at beer, which is a very interesting cultural product. Beer smells like a burp. Gasses from someone’s stomach. Lovely. Again a product of fermentation, which is to say decay. Decay enhances smells and flavors, yet we have a sharp ability to identify decay, because decaying things will kill you. Bacterial and yeast decomposition.<\/p>\n

“Which can give you ‘I wouldn’t touch that in a million years’ and, at the same time and in the same culture, mind you, ‘I will pay great sums to consumer Rodenbach,’ which is a miracle of a beer from Belgium. A miraculous, powdery apple flavor. Those Rodenbach yeast have an I.Q. of at least two hundred. Fucking genius yeast.”<\/p>\n

Returning to the point. A shared tasting vocabulary serves a certain purpose. So I pass this along to do with as you please. It comes from the Merchant du Vin newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n

1. Words to describe malt flavors:<\/strong> Malty, biscuity, breadlike, grainy, rich, deep, roasty, cereal, cookie-like, coffeeish, caramelly, toffee-like, molasses-like, malt complexity, smoky, sweet, autumnal, burnt cream, scalded milk, oatmeal, rustic, layered.<\/p>\n

2. Words to describe hop flavor and bitterness:<\/strong> Piney, citrusy, grapefruity, earthy, musty, spicy, sharp, bright, fresh, herbal, zippy, lemony, newly-mown lawn, aromatic, floral, springlike, brilliant, sprucelike, juniper-like, minty, pungent, elegant, grassy.<\/p>\n

3. Words to describe fermentation flavors deriving from yeast:<\/strong> Fresh-baked bread, clovelike, bubblegum, yeasty, Belgiany, aromatic, tropical, subtle, fruity, clean, banana-like (and for some sour or extreme beers) horseblankety, earthy, musty.<\/p>\n

4. Words to describe conditioning (carbonation):<\/strong> Soft, effervescent, spritzy, sparkling, zippy, pinpoint, bubbly, gentle, low carbonation, highly carbonated.<\/p>\n

5. Words to describe body & mouthfeel:<\/strong> Rich, full, light, slick, creamy, oily, heavy, velvety, sweet, dry, thick, thin.<\/p>\n

6. Words to describe warm ethanol (alcohol) flavors from strong beer:<\/strong> Warm finish, heat, vodka, esters, pungent, strength.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More adjectives: 107 words to describe hop aroma and flavor. Until robots take over our tasting world we’re left to consider how to communicate the aromas and flavors we experience with beer. A review of “Perfumes: The Guide” in the current New Yorker magazine makes that point. The words and the references are really useful … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beer-food","category-beer-wine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-8a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15947,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/15947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}