Palette Awareness

Tonight I had the pleasure of enjoying an Anchorage Bitter Monk Double Style IPA (w/ Brettanomyces). A very complex beer that had a ton of different flavors. I could taste a lot of different things going on; a lot of hops following by the sourness of the Brett.

When I looked it up on ratebeer.com, I found one review that stated:

"Funky barnyard aroma, citrus, lemongrass, grapefruit, perfume, brett, dandelions, oak, sourish vinous, caramel, pineapples, mango, some hay. Woody vinous flavor, dandelions, grapes, floral, grapefruit, citrus, oak, pine, lemongrass, yeasty, retr, barnyard notes, leather, some rubber. Floral finish with oak, white wine, brett, barnyard, earthy notes, grapefruit, perfume, citrus, some pine. Complex beer, very good."

By my count, there are about 20 different flavors described there. Is that really possible? Are some people really getting 20 different flavors from beer, when I get about 3-5 on a good day? Or was whoever wrote that review trying to sound way more sophisticated than is humanely possible?

Since I've started homebrewing and studying beer, I've definitely increased my palette and can taste more in the beer I drink, but are the tasting notes in that review actually possible or is it just BS?

Haha, we are in the same boat. I swear people try to one up each other, especially on Beer Advocate. A lot of those descriptions are redundant, IMO, quantity over quality.

I remember my sister telling me about a tasting experiment at her work.She has been in the wine business for ten plus years and has a great palate.They did a blind tasting with 50 dollar and up wine and 20 and below.80% of her co workers and wine snobs thought the cheap wine was the better of the two.This experiment has been done before but it goes to show sometimes people can get a little pre tensious about things.

I like wine and beer but of course beer wins out.My sister has complimented me many times for having a nice wine palate although my girlfriend is better with that.With both beer and wine if you are picking up on twenty plus things you are reaching a little...Not everyone has the same palate but nor is anyone so sharp with sense that twenty plus notes come through.Calling BS on that kind of review,just keep it simple and realistic.