These Are the 8 Most Common Beer Flavor Notes

Learning how to taste the best beers isn’t just an activity for would-be critics and writers – it’s actually a key point in your evolution as a true beer connoisseur. After all, how can you differentiate one beer from another and seek out more brews you’ll enjoy if you don’t have the words to describe what you’re tasting? Having the ability to critique every aspect of a beer will only deepen your experience as a beer lover – and learning how to describe a beer’s flavor profile is the most important part of that process.

Experiencing a beer to the fullest extent isn’t just about appreciating its flavor. It’s also about the beer’s aroma, the appearance, the head – even the shape of the bottle. Nothing is more fundamental to the enjoyment of beer, however, than the way it tastes – and that’s going to be the focus of this article.

The best way to understand the flavor profile of a beer is to break it down into its constituent flavor notes. When you can use those notes to describe the overall flavor of a beer, you’ll find it much easier to understand and describe what you like – and that’ll help you find other beers that you’ll enjoy in the future.

These are some of the most common flavor notes that you’ll taste when drinking beer.

Bitter/Hoppy Flavors

Bitterness is one of the five basic taste categories that also include sweet, sour, salty and umami. It’s usually considered undesirable because many poisons and medications taste powerfully bitter. On the other hand, bitterness is also a delicious component of much-loved flavors like coffee and dark chocolate. In beer, the addition of hops as a flavoring agent imparts a bitter flavor that helps to balance out the sweetness of the grain. Hops are added to almost all beers, and the amount added determines whether the beer tastes balanced or bitter. To fully experience the bitterness that hops can impart to beer, try an India Pale Ale.

Malty Flavors

Along with hops, malted grain – usually barley – contributes the bulk of beer’s flavor. Grain is malted by wetting it – which starts the germination process – and then drying or roasting it. Malting the grain helps the fermentation process by triggering the production of enzymes that facilitate the conversion of starch into sugar. Even after fermentation, beer will often retain a pronounced malty or grainy flavor. This flavor note is particularly evident in beer styles that use dark roasted malt, such as stout and porter. A malty beer will often exhibit a distinct sweetness.

Yeasty Flavors

Hops, malt and yeast – that’s the trifecta that produces almost all beer. Yeast consumes the sugar in the malted grain, releasing alcohol and carbon dioxide. Although brewer’s yeast is the most common type of yeast used in the production of beer, many other strains are also used – including wild strains present in the air. A yeasty note in beer is sometimes considered an “off” flavor because it can be a sign of incomplete fermentation. In this case, the beer may have a flavor note resembling uncooked dough.

Some brewers, however, actually encourage yeasty flavors to develop by adding yeast cultures to beer during the bottling process. This is called bottle conditioning. In a bottle-conditioned beer, you’ll notice a little cloud of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Many people enjoy drinking the yeast culture, but you’re also free to leave it in the bottle if you prefer.

Fruity/Ester Flavors

Now, it’s time to explore some of the more advanced flavors that you might encounter when drinking beer. A number of different esters may be produced during the fermentation process, and the presence and prominence of those esters depend on factors such as the fermentation temperature and the strain of yeast used. Isoamyl acetate is one of the more common esters that you’ll encounter in beer. It’s produced by ripening fruit, and it tastes a bit like banana. To taste that ester on its own, run to your local vape shop and grab a banana e-liquid – it’ll probably contain isoamyl acetate.

Earthy Flavors

If you’re on the hunt for a beer that’s a little out of the ordinary, you might like to try one with an earthy flavor note. People may also use words like “funky” and “barnyard” to describe earthy flavors, which are often imparted by aging beer in oak barrels. Wood adds a unique flavor to beer because it can harbor certain microbes that aren’t present in stainless-steel vessels. Brewers may further accentuate the unique flavor that barrel aging can provide by using barrels that were previously used for wine or whiskey. Many Belgian beers are aged in barrels.

Chocolatey Flavors

Chocolatey flavors tend to be most evident in beer styles using deeply roasted malt. In fact, an entire beer style – chocolate stout – revolves around accentuating the chocolatey flavor that roasted malt imparts. Some brewers even add a little chocolate to push the flavor further into that spectrum, but it isn’t necessary. This beer flavor note is very similar to the chocolatey note that you might taste in a dark roast coffee.

Smoky Flavors

If you’re a big fan of barbecue or always keep a bottle of liquid smoke in your refrigerator, you absolutely must try a beer with a smoky flavor note. A smoky note in beer is achieved by roasting the malt over an open flame, producing a flavor a bit like what you’d get if you cooked a meal on a charcoal grill. German rauchbier is the style best known for using smoked malt.

Spicy Flavors

Although a large part of beer’s characteristic flavor comes from hops, some brewers go far beyond hops when they want to impart some unique flavor notes to their beers. Some of the most common spices that brewers might use to flavor their beers include anise, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, juniper, ginger and lavender. Some brewers even go so far as to add real chili peppers to their beers to impart some serious heat. If you’re not sure how to get started in the world of spicy beers, clove-flavored beer is always popular during the holiday season. If you’re a gin lover, try a beer flavored with juniper.