Online beer tasting group

[ctninh]

Hello all,

I've been planning out a beer tasting group for a bit now. We might as well do it online. I would like to get a Study group for the BJCP exam and the Cicerone tasting exams. It is to learn beer styles and help improve your skills as a beer taster. Other topics may come up, but they will not be a focus. These meetings will be outside of regular club meetings. Everyone is invited even if you are not seriously getting into beer tasting.

For the 1st meeting (May 14), I want to get some ground rules down. This includes sharing of resources and telling what to expect for online meetings. I also want a beer tasting. Below are my ideas. I kept it broad on style or brand since I cannot speak for everyone's situation. Feel free to message me on suggestions. Hopefully, this give you time to safely hunt for some beers.

-Fermentation - Belgian beer, farmhouse, yeast-driven, non-sour, non-spiced preferred
-Hops - IPA (any variation), hoppy lager/anything, dry-hopped beers
-Malt - Stout, porter, Scottish beers, Vienna lager, Oktoberfest
-Pilsner/light beer, for comparison

With the environment now, I suggest a way to re-cap/close bottles since it is a tasting. Spare bottle caps and a bottle capper is good since you likely have one. If you have cans or corked bottles, I cannot help you there. If anyone needs bottle caps, I am willing to get rid of a lot of them. Buying singles is a preference, but you are all adults.

You may also want (but not needed):
-Tasting glass/cup (clear or glass, at least 2 oz)
-Water
-Palate cleaners: Pretzels, oyster crackers, bread, unsalted Saltines

All are invited and I will post a meeting link when I get confirmation with Greg for a Zoom meeting. Again, the meeting is on May 14th. I plan it to be at 7PM - 8:30 PM.

From,
Calvin

[hjw]

I will be getting a hop aroma kit this month that has 12 different aroma's that hops create. Of course this will have to wait until there are in person meetings. The kit is good for 6 months.

[Megastout]

Sounds good, I am in

[Mosaic1492]

I am in as well and can follow instructions - thanks Calvin!

[glenn973]

I'm in! Thanks for organizing this!

[ctninh]

For the beers, there are stores that sell single 12 oz bottles/cans. BevMo and Total Wine does that. If you get a 6-pack of beers and are staying at home, I have a suggestion to test your taste buds. It will be described at the meeting.

This 1st meeting will focus more on tasting techniques and identifying descriptors. If you can, get a beer in each group. If not, you can still use any beer as we are getting used to descriptors.

For the hop aroma kit, I saw it too and was thinking of having one. It seems great to have when in-person meetings can happen.

Please bookmark/download/print these below and check them out before the meeting. If there are any questions, please post here.

BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines
https://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf

BJCP Checklist scoresheet
https://www.bjcp.org/docs/Beer_checklist.pdf

BJCP Faults/Off-flavors list
https://www.bjcp.org/docs/Beer_faults.pdf

Beer flavor wheel - you can Google this for better graphics
https://www.popsci.com/science/article/ ... vor-wheel/

Introduction to Beer eBook - Cicerone ebook, nice to have, use code "IntroToBeer20"
https://www.cicerone.org/products/the-c ... ef58dac73f

Jim Wilson's (BJCP Grand Master 2) Lexicon
This is attached. Contact me if you have issues. This is a Microsoft Word doc.

[ctninh]

Hi all,

Meeting is in 2 days. Here’s a quick sheet on what is needed. If you just want to join in just to join, go ahead. For beers, any beers will do. You can have 1 beer if you want. The focus will be on the categories below. I listed some more categories to help.

May 14th. I plan it to be at 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM. I will be on around 6:30 PM.

Zoom info
Meeting ID: 861 8799 6757

Beers
-Pilsner/light pale lagers, American Light/Standard beer
-Fermentation - Belgian beer, farmhouse, yeast-driven, non-sour, non-spiced preferred, saison, Belgian ales, Trappist ale
-Hops - IPA (any variation – session, single, double, triple is better), hoppy lager/anything, dry-hopped beers
-Malt - Stout, porter, Scottish beers, Vienna lager, Oktoberfest, Strong American ale, Amber, Brown,

Please avoid spiced, oaked, honey, fruited beers. Any beers without additions or adjuncts

Stuff needed
-Tasting glass(es)
-Copy or access of the materials in the post where I showed a bunch of links

Other optional stuff
-Water
-Bottle capper/other sealer if you don’t want all 4 beers that night
-Snacks

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edited for meeting link

[ctninh]

meeting link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86187996757

[JonW]

I found a cleaner/clearer version of the same flavor wheel that Calvin referenced in the first post. I combined the wheel with the article text from Calvin's link and put this into a 2 page PDF to easily print.

Beer-Flavor-Wheel.pdf

(827.77 KiB) Downloaded 522 times

[JonW]

Calvin - thanks for putting this together. I will have a house of 4 participating tonight!

[ctninh]

All are invited. Come & participate or hang out for the meet.

Bring 4 beers, bring 1 beer (although you will super analyze that one beer). See you all in a bit.

Remember
-Beers
-Tasting glasses/cups
-Water
-Snacks if needed
-Materials I posted (printed or online/phone)

-Calvin

[ctninh]

About to start. See you there.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86187996757

[ctninh]

Attached are the notes from the meeting.

For the next meeting, the idea was to get regional/common beers that everyone can get 1 can/bottle of so we all taste the same beer. That should show insight on different perspectives. I'll post a list of 4 beers for next meeting to give people a head start. I assume everyone has access to Total Wine or BevMo to either but a bottle or schedule a pick up (stay safe out there).

Also, I gave the task of tasting a beer at 9 AM to understand how their senses work. I approve of this and done it myself while training. As a BJCP judge, most competitions start around 8-9 AM. The palate acts differently at that time. People must understand it to become great beer judges. I gave homework to taste a beer you had before responsibly at this time and take notes. I hope this is justification for people who need it in order to taste beer at 9 AM when explaining it to significant others. Otherwise, you are SOL.

For those on Untappd, I hope to see complete descriptors of beers posted. When I trained, I filled in a much as I can when I drank beers. It is good practice.

We had a glorious meeting. I'll incorporate feedback for next time. Next time is most likely another online meeting. Enjoy the beers.

-Calvin

[Mosaic1492]

Calvin, appreciate you putting this together and sharing your knowledge.
Looking forward to the next one/

Bob

[Megastout]

Great job Calvin!