My favorite part of studying beer isn’t too surprising, it’s tasting it!
Malt, hops, and yeast produce endless flavors in beer, and this constantly shifting flavor matrix fascinates me. Since my first real craft beer more than 10 years ago, I haven’t stopped wanting to learn. I’ve tasted beer blindfolded, taken several tasting seminars (the best by far being held by Aroxa), and read up on the chemistry of flavor not just in beer, but generally.
How to Describe Beer: A New E-Book
As I’ve been collecting study resources for those looking to take the written portion of the Certified Cicerone exam online, I compiled all the notes I have about flavor compounds. What I ended up with is a 30-page e-book! Like I said, this is my favorite aspect of studying so getting all of the info I know down in one place feels great.
The e-book thoroughly explains 17 of the most-discussed flavor compounds in beer. Beyond those, there are over 100 flavors and descriptors categorized by their ingredient or process of origin and analyzed. Plus, at the end there is a template and examples of putting beer descriptions together. (If you’re wondering…yea those 30 pages get very text heavy, ha!)
I spent a few days cross checking everything with papers from the American Society of Brewing Chemists and books in my collection to make sure the information is accurate and up-to-date. And I made note of the flavors the Cicerone syllabus explicitly describes for those of you studying for the Certified or Advanced exams.
It took a lot of work to lay it all out logically and literally years of studying to get to this point so this is my first resource that is for sale. It’s just $4 but I’ll put that toward making more free resources, and videos, and study tips, and beer adventures for you.
I’m excited to what you think. The table of contents and a sample page from ‘How to Describe Beer’ are below!
Great Stuff. Thank you!