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• Beer Geeks 2: Don your lederhosen and meet Matt and Eric for a hefeweizen

Hello, and thank you for watching Beer Geeks. Last week, we looked at Unibroue’s Fin du Monde, and talked a little about how we like to talk about beer. This week, we try an Ayinger Bräu-Weisse.

When we try beer, we talk about five things we look at when we talk about beer. When we tried the Fin du Monde, we pretty much walked through these steps in order. You might want to get a bottle, and try and follow and long and see what you can pick up from it.

Eric and I came across this five-part system at Beer Advocate (which, by the way, is a great resource for learning about beer). The five things we look at are appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and drinkability. Each one is pretty much what it sounds like.

Appearance is how the beer looks in the glass. What color is it? Is it clear, hazy, or totally opaque? What does the head look like – small or big bubbles? Smell and taste are exactly what they sound like. When you smell your beer, there might be distinct smells from the malt, hops and yeast. Generally, malt smells sweet, hops smell floral or spicy, and yeast smells bready. When you taste the beer, you should taste the malt, hops and yeast, too. Different types and different combinations give you different flavors, so try things out.

Mouthfeel is also pretty self-explanatory. It’s how it feels in your mouth. Sprite tastes different from a milkshake. One’s light and bubbly, and the other is thick and flat. The differences between beers aren’t quite that extreme, but still noticeable. A pilsner or lager will be a little lighter, while a porter or stout will be thicker.

Drinkability, the last thing we look at, is a little different than the others. While Bud Light has tried to claim drinkability all for itself, it’s really a way of figuring out how a certain beer is going to fit into your night. Generally, beers with high alcohol contents or strong flavors will be less drinkable, while beers with lower alcohol contents and more mild flavors will be more drinkable. A beer might be strong and interesting, but you wouldn’t want to drink two in a row. On the other hand, a beer could be less fantastic on its own, but still be a nice beer to drink with your friends (we call these “session beers,” we’ll talk about them in a later episode).

So, there’s our beer glossary. We like this system because it’s fairly easy to remember, and lets us get a good grip on how to describe a beer quickly. If you have any questions, think we missed anything, or have a favorite beer you want to share with us, leave us a comment. Prost!