Factors that Influence Tasting

My brother read the review I had of his Almond Wheat and emailed me a correction. The beer he sent was an American Wheat, there was no almond in it at all. I felt rather embarrassed to say the least, but he would not take an apology, stating that I had planted the seed in his mind to do an almond flavored beer. However, all this got me thinking, what factors influence our sense of taste, especially when it comes to beer?

I have long been a believer that what a person says they taste is what they taste. Taste, along with smell and touch, are very hard to verbalize and put into words what we experience. It is more almost like a guided free association, where you try to describe what you taste using correlations with your own experiences. As such, people will likely not use the same words or "descriptors" to describe what they are tasting. I am a believer that what words a person uses to describe their sense of taste are right for that person. I tell this to people I taste beer with in our homebrewing club, and I tell it to my wife when she says "You know I am not very good at this sort of thing . . ."

All that being said, how much did my thinking there was almond in my brother's beer influence my taste in it. I guess I will never know, but I have a feeling that it influenced it to some degree. Perhaps I would have described a portion of the flavor profile with another word, other than almond. Perhaps not.

I am not sure where I am going with this post, other than to say I find it very interesting. I wonder if other people think about these sorts of things. Or, maybe it is just another sign of how much of a beer geek I really am.

Cheers.

Jeff's Almond Wheat

I am finally getting around to trying another one of my brother's beers. He sent three down to me, the first being the award-winning Irish Red I have already reviewed. He also sent two wheat beers, an Almond Wheat and a Cherry Wheat. My brother's wife has discovered a love of wheat beers with a dash of something special. Jeff is wisely supporting this interest by supplying excellent homebrew to meet the need.

He always was a very smart person . . .

The beer pours a slightly cloudy dark amber color, though the amber leans more towards red than burnt orange. The head is comprised of coarse off-white foam that lasts for the entire pint. It leaves a nice lacing down the glass that is very pretty. I would expect a nice head on the beer, given that it has a large portion of wheat in the recipe. The beer smells is very clean and neutral, with just a hint of floral aroma and a little bit of sweetness.

The first thing I taste is a hint of caramel that has some alcohol warmness. I next get a touch of almond, with its warm nutty character. This is most akin to the liqueur Amaretto, though not nearly as sweet. I found it very pleasant. The flavor finishes slightly sweet, but not in enough quantity to build on the tongue and limit drinkability. I could definitely drink another pint.

It is a very nice drinkable beer. If I could make any suggestions about it, I would recommend increasing the almond flavor a bit to make it more immediately identifiable. I would also increase the hopping slightly, maybe with a floral or herbal hop that would mesh well with almonds. I would not increase either of these elements too much, maybe 5 IBUs more of bitterness and just a bit more almond. The beer has balanced itself well as it aged and I think these changes would just help make it stand out a bit more.

Another good beer, Jeff. Thanks for sharing!