A couple years ago my friend Charlie said, “Hey, you know I’ve started homebrewing? I’ll bring you some of my bottles if you help me out with some feedback.” I instantly translated that as FREE BEER! The only trouble was, when I received my FREE BEER, he gave me some official-looking score sheet from the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). Somehow I was supposed to look for Acetaldehyde, Diacetyl, and Dimethyl Sulfide flavors in the beer. WTH?

There is a quote that I’m often forced to listen to: “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.” Maybe we need to alter that to “If you can’t identify why your beer tastes strange, you can’t fix it.”

We plan to introduce the six most common off flavors in beer.

Acetaldehyde

Isoamyl acetate

Diacetyl

Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS)

Trans-2nonenal

Infected

That is just the tip of the BJCP iceberg.  There is tons of material to read. It takes hours just to read the guidelines for the 28 Official Beer, Mead, and Cider Styles. You can attend the Dukes of Ale and Worthogs home brewing club meetings. You can practice judging by comparing your results against “professional” judges (online or Zymurgy magazine). Seek out high-scoring beers to understand what differentiates them from others. We have multiple local competitions where both home brewers and professionals compete.

I want nothing more from this next Tap Room Summer Series than bragging rights. Image heading to a bar tasting a local draft beer and noticing something a little funny. Think about throwing out words like isoamyl acetate or diacetyl to your friends. You’ll become a beer hero! You and your pals will never drink a poor batch of  beer again!