Lessons in the art of tasting beer

October 5, 2007: An American website has come up with a beer tasting kit, designed to train all levels of enthusiasts to better taste and appreciate beer.

	TASTE YOUR BEER
	TasteYourBeer.com was started in November of 2006 and is privately owned and operated in Houston, Texas. Its mission is "to provide our customers with everything they need to appreciate their beer to its fullest and to broaden their horizons in the appreciation of beer".

While the concept of a wine tasting kit has been around for a long time to help train the palates of wine drinkers, the concept of a beer tasting kit is new.

"Most people don't realise that beer has a much more diverse flavour profile than wine," said Brian Lewis, owner of TasteYourBeer.com

"Wine is basically made of grapes, water and yeast, but beer can draw upon literally hundreds of different ingredients to product an almost limitless flavour potential. It only makes sense that the beer drinker today could use a helping hand in understanding these flavours.

"Most people are ignorant of what good beer tastes like and what their choices are. Really, there is no such thing as a person who doesn't like beer and anyone who says they don't is unaware of what beer has to offer. With a little understanding there is a beer for everyone."

The new Beer Tasting and Hop Appreciation Kit, from TasteYourBeer.com, is designed to help people better taste, appreciate, and learn about beer. Previously, if someone wanted to learn more about beer's complex flavors and aromas first hand there were no simple options. They had to practically start a research project and invest the time of reading books or hunt online for scattered bits of information.

If someone wanted to discover the different hop flavors of beer there really were no options available to them other than brewing up a batch for themselves and experimenting with different recipes, which is what most of them did. Now, with the aid of a beer tasting kit, anyone from the beginner to the avid home brewer can learn to taste beer like a pro.

The main component of the kit is the 13 different hop samples that provide a large range of aromas. These are a key part of the kit, due to the unfamiliar nature of hops to most people.

"Most people wouldn't know what a hop is if it came up and bit them on the nose," said Brian. "The hops really bring home to people the inner workings of beer. We feel like we are making beer discovery easier and more fun — now anyone can understand beer and get to know its soul."

Also included is an in-depth Beer Appreciation Guide to teach the user how to properly appreciate beer and how to use the kit. A Quick Start Guide is included for the impatient. To help train the eye, a colur chart consisting of 12 different shades of beer is included. Finally, a scent refresher is provided to help reduce scent fatigue after repeated sniffs of hops and tastes of beer.

To complete the beer tasting experience, access to a pair of point and click, online databases are included with the kit. The Hop Database is an industry first, publicly available tool, which pairs hundreds of commercial beers with the hops that are found in them.

The Terms Database consists of an extensive list of terms used to describe beer and possible causes of those characteristics. Both of these databases are currently open to the public at TasteYourBeer.com under the Know Your Beer section.

"By providing everything you would need, all in one package to explore some of the complexities of beer, I am hopeful that beer will gain its rightful image as a sophisticated beverage."

The idea for TasteYourBeer.com occurred after a series of events that lead Brian to the idea. "I had a light bulb kind of moment that was a direct result of taking allergy medicine, home brewing, my wife not being able to read my mind and my desire to make everyone love beer as much as I do.

"I had recently started taking allergy medication after having no real sense of smell my whole life, a result of living in Houston. I was brewing a batch of homebrew and trying to explain to my wife how hops affect the beer's flavor. In frustration I pulled the remaining bits of hops out of my fridge and told her to take a sniff and taste the beer. She complied and looked at me with a somewhat exasperated look on her face and said: 'Why didn't you just say to do this to begin with?'

"I also took a smell and thought, wow, the flavor of the hops really jump out when you smell the hops and the taste the beer together. The essence of the beer had never come through so clearly because I could finally smell for the first time in my life. That's when I realised that everyone should be able to experience what I was experiencing."

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