Op www.ratebeer.com/ vind ik waarom sommige ratings op die bierfora zo uiteengeschreven zijn. Er is uitleg bij:
AROMA
APPEARANCE
TASTE
PALATE
OVERALL
AROMA
Aroma is one of beer's most complex features. Aroma is propelled by lively CO2 and dampened by pillowy heads - especially nitrogen foam. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Malt
caramel, bread, hay, cereal, chocolate, coffee, nuts, toast, roasty
Hops
resin, floral, grass, spruce, citrus, herbs
Yeast/Bacteria
dough, barnyard, cheese, basement aromas, leather, earthy, leaves
Other
alcohol, banana, bubblegum, butterscotch, clove, cooked vegetables, cough drop, ginger, licorice, raisin, rotten eggs, soy sauce, skunky, smoke, vanilla, woody
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
APPEARANCE
Appearance is how a beer appeals to the eye and includes notes on color, the liquid's visual texture and the head -- the beer's foam top. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Color
pale, golden, amber orange red brown black
Liquid
clear, hazy, cloudy, sparkling
Head
rocky, frothy, minimal, white, tan, brown
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
TASTE
Taste is what can be appreciated with the tongue. It's easy to mistake aromas for tastes -- the tongue only senses sweet, bitter, sour, salt and umami. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Sweet
light, medium, heavy
Bitter
light, medium, heavy
Sour
light, medium, heavy
Other
salty, umami
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
PALATE
The palate includes touch sensations on the lips, tongue, gums and roof of the mouth. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Body
light, medium, full
Texture
thin, oily, creamy, sticky, slick, thick
Carbonation
fizzy, lively, average, soft, flat
Finish
astringent, bitter, abrupt, long
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
OVERALL
Your overall score quantifies how much you enjoyed all the beer's elements combined as a sensory experience. Was this a standout beer? Were your expectations met? Did the beer go well with your food? Would you recommend this to a friend? This isn't about how well the beer conformed to its style definition -- it's about a measurement of your own appreciation.
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
Er valt nog wel wat over te twisten:
I have often had beer which had very little aroma but was good to taste. Is the proof of the pudding not in the drinking? How much does aroma matter?
Most people review our "Taste" category using aroma des criptions (like "chocolate" or "grapefruit", whereas taste des criptions are succinctly what DrSilverworm pointed out), so they effectively duplicate the Aroma category. Some folks, including myself, use the Taste category to instead score the magnitude and balance of the sweet, sour, and bitter flavors. Judging from your reviews, it appears you tend more to the latter behavior.
As for which is more important, that too is personal. If a beer is too sweet or too sour or too bitter, then it doesn’t matter how nice the aroma is. But vice versa, an unpleasant aroma can ruin the ability to want to drink the beer too (www.ratebeer.com/forums/should-flavour-count-more-than-aroma-in-rate-beer-ratings_278085.htm).
How to rate beer depends to some extent on why you want to rate beer. Aside from people who drink beer mainly to get drunk, most beer drinkers will usually drink beer they like. As soon as you start to do that you are effectively rating beer. Most beer drinkers tend to try a few beers and then stick to their favourites, but more and more people are now trying a wider range of styles and imports. Once you’ve tasted more than about 20 different beers your ability to remember if Nottingham Pale Ale was better or worse than Robin Hood’s Bitter becomes more and more difficult. Tasting beers in a consistent way and keeping some sort of record of what you thought of those beers is fun, useful in making future purchases and to be able to recommend good beer to mates......I like to have my bottle opener, pen and notebook handy (being a super nerdy beer rater, I also sometimes use a thermometer as well!). My preference is to rate in as quiet a situation as possible, with minimum noise and distractions. That said, rating with friends is fun because you can discuss each beer in detail and help each other to come up with words to describe the aromas and flavours.
Rating
Make sure the beer has as close as possible to the correct size head for the beer style. Ideally you should pour yourself a full serve so you can observe the proper head. This becomes a bit harder when sharing beers but you should still be able to get a good bit of foam on top of your sample.
Appearance:
After pouring I then look at the beer and write down as many things as I can about its visual appeal, including the colour, clarity, carbonation, and head size and longevity. Later I also note the extent and pattern of lacing on the glass. I then award a mark out of 5 for this feature. Basically the mark is awarded for how tantalizing does the beer look - how much does it say “Pick me up and drink me!”
Aroma:
Now smell the beer. The very first smell is the one you need to pay most attention to, as your nasal sensors will quickly saturate. Move the glass away from you and breathe normal air and then try again. I look for and note down any attractive, unusual or bad aromas. Hop character, malts, sweetness, fruitiness and other aromas. Swirling the glass can release some of the fainter more subtle aromas that are not evident the first time around. If you need word descriptors, see the excellent Aroma/Flavor Checklist, by ecrvich. [URL="http://www.ratebeer.com/documents/tastingform2.doc" target="_blank">Click here for a Aroma/Flavor Tasting Form[/URL]. Finally, I award a mark out of 10 for this feature.
NOW YOU CAN TASTE THE BEER!
Palate:
This is a difficult one to put your finger on. It’s basically the “feel” of the beer inside your mouth and (unlike wine tasting!) as you swallow it. How does the beer feel around the front of your mouth, the back of the mouth and as you swallow it? Is it velvety smooth or harsh, mouth filling like a stout or is it thin bodied like a watery lager? Sticky or cloying like a over sweet soft drink or does it strip your mouth out like vinegar? Is it balanced, or one-dimensional? I usually concentrate on the body or fullness of the beer and any other special feature of how it feels in the mouth. I then award a mark out of 5 for this feature. The Aroma/Flavor Checklist has a number of useful terms to help you describe the palate.
Flavour:
This is how the beer tastes. How many different tastes and flavours can you identify? How does the initial flavour vary from the start, the middle, finish and aftertaste of the beer. Here you can describe the intensity of the bitterness, sweetness and sourness of the beer. See the Aroma/Flavor Checklist once again for useful descriptors. I award a mark out of 10 for flavour.
Overall:
Finally the beer is rated overall out of 20 marks. This can be a way of balancing up other features about the beer or anything else you like or dislike about it. You might be a cost conscious beer drinker and include price. How likely are you going to want to buy this beer again? When you finish the beer, how do you feel about it?
Now is a good time to write your comments into the Ratebeer comments box. High quality writing is not a requirement. I use short sentences with some abbreviations and with just enough punctuation to keep it readable. Keep in mind that your credibility on the site is judged more by your comments and much less on your number of ratings. At least some comments are better than no comments at all. You can always edit your ratings as your skills improve or your impressions of a given beer change over time (www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=103).
AROMA
APPEARANCE
TASTE
PALATE
OVERALL
AROMA
Aroma is one of beer's most complex features. Aroma is propelled by lively CO2 and dampened by pillowy heads - especially nitrogen foam. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Malt
caramel, bread, hay, cereal, chocolate, coffee, nuts, toast, roasty
Hops
resin, floral, grass, spruce, citrus, herbs
Yeast/Bacteria
dough, barnyard, cheese, basement aromas, leather, earthy, leaves
Other
alcohol, banana, bubblegum, butterscotch, clove, cooked vegetables, cough drop, ginger, licorice, raisin, rotten eggs, soy sauce, skunky, smoke, vanilla, woody
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
APPEARANCE
Appearance is how a beer appeals to the eye and includes notes on color, the liquid's visual texture and the head -- the beer's foam top. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Color
pale, golden, amber orange red brown black
Liquid
clear, hazy, cloudy, sparkling
Head
rocky, frothy, minimal, white, tan, brown
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
TASTE
Taste is what can be appreciated with the tongue. It's easy to mistake aromas for tastes -- the tongue only senses sweet, bitter, sour, salt and umami. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Sweet
light, medium, heavy
Bitter
light, medium, heavy
Sour
light, medium, heavy
Other
salty, umami
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
PALATE
The palate includes touch sensations on the lips, tongue, gums and roof of the mouth. Click on a term below to add it to your tasting notes.
Body
light, medium, full
Texture
thin, oily, creamy, sticky, slick, thick
Carbonation
fizzy, lively, average, soft, flat
Finish
astringent, bitter, abrupt, long
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
OVERALL
Your overall score quantifies how much you enjoyed all the beer's elements combined as a sensory experience. Was this a standout beer? Were your expectations met? Did the beer go well with your food? Would you recommend this to a friend? This isn't about how well the beer conformed to its style definition -- it's about a measurement of your own appreciation.
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/rate/240079/)
Er valt nog wel wat over te twisten:
I have often had beer which had very little aroma but was good to taste. Is the proof of the pudding not in the drinking? How much does aroma matter?
...Should Flavour Count More than Aroma in RateBeer Ratings? (www.ratebeer.com/forums/should-flavour-count-more-than-aroma-in-rate-beer-ratings_278085.htm)
Most people review our "Taste" category using aroma des criptions (like "chocolate" or "grapefruit", whereas taste des criptions are succinctly what DrSilverworm pointed out), so they effectively duplicate the Aroma category. Some folks, including myself, use the Taste category to instead score the magnitude and balance of the sweet, sour, and bitter flavors. Judging from your reviews, it appears you tend more to the latter behavior.
As for which is more important, that too is personal. If a beer is too sweet or too sour or too bitter, then it doesn’t matter how nice the aroma is. But vice versa, an unpleasant aroma can ruin the ability to want to drink the beer too (www.ratebeer.com/forums/should-flavour-count-more-than-aroma-in-rate-beer-ratings_278085.htm).
How to rate beer depends to some extent on why you want to rate beer. Aside from people who drink beer mainly to get drunk, most beer drinkers will usually drink beer they like. As soon as you start to do that you are effectively rating beer. Most beer drinkers tend to try a few beers and then stick to their favourites, but more and more people are now trying a wider range of styles and imports. Once you’ve tasted more than about 20 different beers your ability to remember if Nottingham Pale Ale was better or worse than Robin Hood’s Bitter becomes more and more difficult. Tasting beers in a consistent way and keeping some sort of record of what you thought of those beers is fun, useful in making future purchases and to be able to recommend good beer to mates......I like to have my bottle opener, pen and notebook handy (being a super nerdy beer rater, I also sometimes use a thermometer as well!). My preference is to rate in as quiet a situation as possible, with minimum noise and distractions. That said, rating with friends is fun because you can discuss each beer in detail and help each other to come up with words to describe the aromas and flavours.
Rating
Make sure the beer has as close as possible to the correct size head for the beer style. Ideally you should pour yourself a full serve so you can observe the proper head. This becomes a bit harder when sharing beers but you should still be able to get a good bit of foam on top of your sample.
Appearance:
After pouring I then look at the beer and write down as many things as I can about its visual appeal, including the colour, clarity, carbonation, and head size and longevity. Later I also note the extent and pattern of lacing on the glass. I then award a mark out of 5 for this feature. Basically the mark is awarded for how tantalizing does the beer look - how much does it say “Pick me up and drink me!”
Aroma:
Now smell the beer. The very first smell is the one you need to pay most attention to, as your nasal sensors will quickly saturate. Move the glass away from you and breathe normal air and then try again. I look for and note down any attractive, unusual or bad aromas. Hop character, malts, sweetness, fruitiness and other aromas. Swirling the glass can release some of the fainter more subtle aromas that are not evident the first time around. If you need word descriptors, see the excellent Aroma/Flavor Checklist, by ecrvich. [URL="http://www.ratebeer.com/documents/tastingform2.doc" target="_blank">Click here for a Aroma/Flavor Tasting Form[/URL]. Finally, I award a mark out of 10 for this feature.
NOW YOU CAN TASTE THE BEER!
Palate:
This is a difficult one to put your finger on. It’s basically the “feel” of the beer inside your mouth and (unlike wine tasting!) as you swallow it. How does the beer feel around the front of your mouth, the back of the mouth and as you swallow it? Is it velvety smooth or harsh, mouth filling like a stout or is it thin bodied like a watery lager? Sticky or cloying like a over sweet soft drink or does it strip your mouth out like vinegar? Is it balanced, or one-dimensional? I usually concentrate on the body or fullness of the beer and any other special feature of how it feels in the mouth. I then award a mark out of 5 for this feature. The Aroma/Flavor Checklist has a number of useful terms to help you describe the palate.
Flavour:
This is how the beer tastes. How many different tastes and flavours can you identify? How does the initial flavour vary from the start, the middle, finish and aftertaste of the beer. Here you can describe the intensity of the bitterness, sweetness and sourness of the beer. See the Aroma/Flavor Checklist once again for useful descriptors. I award a mark out of 10 for flavour.
Overall:
Finally the beer is rated overall out of 20 marks. This can be a way of balancing up other features about the beer or anything else you like or dislike about it. You might be a cost conscious beer drinker and include price. How likely are you going to want to buy this beer again? When you finish the beer, how do you feel about it?
Now is a good time to write your comments into the Ratebeer comments box. High quality writing is not a requirement. I use short sentences with some abbreviations and with just enough punctuation to keep it readable. Keep in mind that your credibility on the site is judged more by your comments and much less on your number of ratings. At least some comments are better than no comments at all. You can always edit your ratings as your skills improve or your impressions of a given beer change over time (www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=103).