Because beer is widely available in a variety of different styles, describing it isn’t as easy as it used to be. Knowing a handful of colorful beer descriptors comes in handy when discussing beer with others. Here’s a sample list to get you started:
- Aggressive: Boldly assertive aroma and/or taste
- Balanced: Malt and hops in similar proportions; equal representation of malt sweetness and hop bitterness in the flavor — especially at the finish
- Complex: Multidimensional; many flavors and sensations on the palate
- Crisp: Highly carbonated; effervescent
- Diacetyl: Buttery or butterscotchy aroma or flavor
- Estery: Fruity aromas
- Floral: Full of aromas reminiscent of flowers
- Fruity: Flavors reminiscent of various fruits
- Hoppy: Herbal, earthy, spicy, or citric aromas and flavors of hops
- Malty: Grainy, caramel-like; can be sweet or dry
- Roasty/toasty: Malt (roasted grain) flavors
- Robust: Rich and full-bodied
The following are two other terms commonly used to describe a beer, but they don’t describe taste:
- Mouthfeel is the tactile sensory experience of the whole inside of the mouth and throat — warmth (alcohol) in the throat, dryness, carbonation, and so on — and includes a sense of body.
- Body describes the sensation of fullness, or viscosity, of a beer on the palate, ranging from watery to creamy; beer is generally described as thin-, light-, medium-, or full-bodied.
