Morten Meilgaard is an unsung hero of the brewing world. A brilliant chemical engineer and real ale enthusiast, he basically invented the language used to describe beer. Although human beings have been enjoying the taste of beer for centuries, it was not until Meilgaard developed his now famous Beer Flavour Wheel in the 1970s that they could actually tell anyone.
My dad recalls the frustration of this caused during his early brewing exploits:
We’d crack open a couple of bottles of latest brew and take a sip. Then I’d turn to my mate and say:
“Wow! This beer tastes!”
“I know.”
“No reallly. I mean… it does.”
“Yeah.”
I’m not sure how useful this really is for the average drinker or homebrewer, but it certainly provides the pretentious beer-drinker with plenty of interest adjectives to make it sound like he knows what he’s talking about. Fendog will love it!
For a pretty detailed and scientific guide to using the beer flavour wheel, check out this Introduction to Sensory Analysis at BrewingTechniques.com