The Nose Knows...Beer

I had a friend who always took a big whiff of me whenever we met up. Sounds odd, I know, but she always followed that with "I love the way your house smells!" She was clearly not at my house, but still, my scent reminded her of it.

Our noses are one of the most effective gatekeepers of our memories. Physically, the olfactory nerve is located near two areas of the brain associated with memory and emotion: the hippocampus and the amygdala. The connection also goes the other way...if those areas of the brain are damaged, the sense of smell is also affected. We associate things with their scents; things we smell trigger memories far faster than any of our other senses.

And to be perfectly honest, the sense of smell actually IS our sense of taste! Since our tongues only detect the 4 basic flavors (sweet, sour, bitter, salty), the nose adds in all the extras! Aroma is the first thing we experience when we eat or drink; the smell of that dish hits us before we ever put a morsel in our mouths and when the food actually is placed in the mouth, those aromas drift up through the retro nasal canal to the brain to be interpreted as "flavors" . So the nose knows flavor!

Why is this important to beer? Because there are far more than 4 flavors in the fine craft beers we are experiencing these days! I would hate to be limited to beers that are sweet, sour, bitter, or salty! How could we ever describe that floral or fruity quality of our IPA if the only descriptor was bitterness (even if an IBU rating of 50-70 IS important in this brew)? If "sweet" was the only flavor, where would we categorize the chocolatey/caramel of a Belgian Dubbel? Thank goodness for the NOSE!

So when you taste your next fine draft, let your nose help. Smell that brew first--without swishing or stirring, bring the glass to your nose and inhale with your mouth closed. What do you get? The possibilities are almost endless...nutty, biscuit dough, pine, kiwi, clove, cinnamon, sweaty, woody, acrid. Experience just the scent.
Now go on and swirl that beer to stimulate the carbonation and take another big sniff. Take note of the differences...more intense? entirely new smells? This is a second 'nose taste' to give you a deeper understanding of the beer you'll be drinking.

Finally a taste! Sip the beer but DO NOT swallow it. While the brew sits on your palate, breath out through your nose so you allow the Olfactory Bulb to identify those flavors your tongue cannot discern. When you swallow the beer, take note of the finish. How long does it last? The tongue can help out here--sweet? bitter?

Now you have truly experienced that finely crafted beer your local brewmaster has created. Since those local guys have dedicated their craft to making many varieties and styles, many flavors and feelings with their beers, you owe it to them to have the full experience...and that means listening to how your nose says your beer tastes! Now go out there and smell something fabulous!