The first beer’s for tasting, the second beer’s for drinking.
---Ian Postlewaite-Smythe
I suppose professional beer tasters, and beer critics don’t need to consider their surroundings when they taste a new beer. I figure the professionals have a beer laboratory they work in, or they get invited to the tap rooms of the breweries where they sit, tasting notebook in hand to taste and rate the newest creations. Novices, posers and wannabes like me don’t have the luxury of working in a sterile, quiet, unhurried setting, consequently we should consider adding information about the setting and circumstance when we taste and rate or review a new beer.
What do I mean by “setting and circumstance”?
I’ve coined the term “setting and circumstance” and used it here a few times in the past. I’ve included it in many of my reviews in an effort to impart a degree of honesty to what I’m writing. There are so many variables that can alter or impact a beers performance or taste from one sitting to the next. (Indeed, from one setting to the next as well.) As geeky as it sounds, the way a beer is poured can have a marked effect on the way it looks and tastes. Thus, the pour is a feature of setting and circumstance.
Location and atmosphere are part of what I call setting and circumstance, for sure. Was the room crowded and noisy as you worked through the tasting process? Did you actually taste the beer? It’s obvious that there is a difference between drinking and tasting beer. Postlewaite-Smythe said it succinctly enough when he noted that the first beer is tasted, while the rest go a’ drinking. In a crowded room, I’m sometimes too self-conscious to take the beer tasting seriously, fearing that someone will think I’m a beer snob. I try to taste new beers when I have the house, or at least the kitchen, to myself. Sometimes, I’ll buy just a couple bottles of a particular beer solely for the purpose of tasting the stuff and offering comment. Other times I might have the beer laying around and simply be enjoying it – drinking it. Sometimes I like to quickly down a cold one right after mowing the lawn – if I do that, it’s not a beer tasting, but there may be some aspect of the experience that warrants a blog posting here. In some cases, I’ll refer to that setting as a “beer moment” that stands not as a review so much as a remembrance of the beer and the occasion.
To date, all my reviews (I’m refraining from actually rating beers on Beer Rant.) have been done at home but I suppose there will come a day when I’ll venture to a local tavern to sample something and write about it. In that case, my posting will reflect that fact. I have tried thus far to also indicate how a particular beer was poured and if it was poured and tasted twice with different or similar results. I’ll continue to stick to this method since the exercise is as much for my satisfaction as anyone’s.
Will “setting and circumstance” become a standard part of the beer tasting process in the future? Beats me. I think it would be cool if that happened, but in the meantime, I’ll use those criteria when they are appropriate and when they offer something for the reader or for my own personal future reference. Furthermore, if necessary, I’ll explain it all again when I understand it myself.
---Ian Postlewaite-Smythe
I suppose professional beer tasters, and beer critics don’t need to consider their surroundings when they taste a new beer. I figure the professionals have a beer laboratory they work in, or they get invited to the tap rooms of the breweries where they sit, tasting notebook in hand to taste and rate the newest creations. Novices, posers and wannabes like me don’t have the luxury of working in a sterile, quiet, unhurried setting, consequently we should consider adding information about the setting and circumstance when we taste and rate or review a new beer.
What do I mean by “setting and circumstance”?
I’ve coined the term “setting and circumstance” and used it here a few times in the past. I’ve included it in many of my reviews in an effort to impart a degree of honesty to what I’m writing. There are so many variables that can alter or impact a beers performance or taste from one sitting to the next. (Indeed, from one setting to the next as well.) As geeky as it sounds, the way a beer is poured can have a marked effect on the way it looks and tastes. Thus, the pour is a feature of setting and circumstance.
Location and atmosphere are part of what I call setting and circumstance, for sure. Was the room crowded and noisy as you worked through the tasting process? Did you actually taste the beer? It’s obvious that there is a difference between drinking and tasting beer. Postlewaite-Smythe said it succinctly enough when he noted that the first beer is tasted, while the rest go a’ drinking. In a crowded room, I’m sometimes too self-conscious to take the beer tasting seriously, fearing that someone will think I’m a beer snob. I try to taste new beers when I have the house, or at least the kitchen, to myself. Sometimes, I’ll buy just a couple bottles of a particular beer solely for the purpose of tasting the stuff and offering comment. Other times I might have the beer laying around and simply be enjoying it – drinking it. Sometimes I like to quickly down a cold one right after mowing the lawn – if I do that, it’s not a beer tasting, but there may be some aspect of the experience that warrants a blog posting here. In some cases, I’ll refer to that setting as a “beer moment” that stands not as a review so much as a remembrance of the beer and the occasion.
To date, all my reviews (I’m refraining from actually rating beers on Beer Rant.) have been done at home but I suppose there will come a day when I’ll venture to a local tavern to sample something and write about it. In that case, my posting will reflect that fact. I have tried thus far to also indicate how a particular beer was poured and if it was poured and tasted twice with different or similar results. I’ll continue to stick to this method since the exercise is as much for my satisfaction as anyone’s.
Will “setting and circumstance” become a standard part of the beer tasting process in the future? Beats me. I think it would be cool if that happened, but in the meantime, I’ll use those criteria when they are appropriate and when they offer something for the reader or for my own personal future reference. Furthermore, if necessary, I’ll explain it all again when I understand it myself.
Thought you ought to know.
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