Why Your Nose Does Most of the Work
Most people think beer tasting is all about the sip. In reality, your nose does most of the heavy lifting. Flavor is largely aroma, and beer is packed with volatile compounds that only reveal themselves when you smell correctly.
That’s why tasting beer like an expert is not one sniff and drink. It’s a sequence. Each step wakes up a different part of your sensory system and prepares your brain to understand what’s actually in the glass.
Let’s break it down.
1. Visual Inspection
Before you smell or taste anything, look at the beer.
Color tells you about malt choice and intensity. Clarity can hint at filtration, style, or fermentation. Foam gives clues about carbonation and freshness.
This step matters because your brain starts forming expectations. And expectations shape how you perceive flavor.
2. Drive-By Sniff
This is your first aroma impression.
Gently swirl the glass and pass it under your nose without diving in. Think of it as a preview. Your nose picks up lighter, more volatile aromas first, things like citrus, floral notes, or fresh malt.
This sniff prevents sensory overload and gives your brain a baseline.
3. Short Sniff
Now bring the glass closer and take a couple of short inhalations.
Short sniffs help isolate individual aromas. Instead of blending everything together, your brain starts separating notes. Fruit, toast, caramel, spice, hops.
This step is key because your nose fatigues quickly. Short sniffs keep it sharp.
4. Long Sniff
After another swirl, take one deeper, slower inhale.
This activates retronasal perception, the same system used when tasting food. Heavier aromas show up here. Chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, resin, oak, alcohol warmth.
This is where complexity reveals itself.
5. Covered Sniff
Cover the top of the glass with your hand, swirl briefly, uncover, and smell.
This traps aromas inside the glass, then releases them all at once. It amplifies intensity and can reveal hidden notes you missed earlier.
If a beer changes dramatically during this step, that’s usually a sign of depth and quality.
6. Taste
Finally, sip.
Let the beer sit in your mouth for a moment. Let it warm slightly. Swallow, then breathe out through your nose.
That exhale reconnects aroma and taste. This is where everything clicks. What you smelled now becomes what you taste. Sweetness, bitterness, body, balance, finish.
Why All the Sniffing Matters
Your tongue can only detect a few basic sensations. Sweet, bitter, sour, salty, umami.
Your nose detects hundreds of aromas.
Beer flavor lives at the intersection of smell and taste. Skipping the aroma steps is like watching a movie with the sound off.
Extra Tips to Level Up Your Tasting
- Use the right glass, shape concentrates aroma
- Avoid strong smells around you
- Taste slowly, not rushed
- Compare beers side by side when possible
- Talk about what you smell, there are no wrong answers
Tasting is a skill. The more you practice, the better you get.
Practice What You Just Learned
If you want to put these steps into action, you don’t need a textbook. You need a glass.
You can practice beer tasting every day at Bierbath, or take it further during one of our guided tasting events. Same steps, better beer, great company.
Your nose already knows what to do.
You just have to give it the chance. 🍺