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Footnote: As you can see from the video I was rather excited at the prospect of trying this vintage Leffe and caught up in the moment I gave it a top score of 5. Several hours later I revisited the bottle when I had more time to sit, ponder and reflect on its aromas and flavours and felt that my original score was somewhat over enthusiastic. It was still a great tasting beer with layers of complexity and texture but it also showed signs of tiredness that I didn’t pick up on camera. Therefore I’m going to downgrade it to a 4. Still great but not perfect.
Why do I mention this at all when I could just have kept my mouth shut? Because I think it proves an important point. Tasting beers spontaneously as I often do for the first time on camera is NOT a particularly good way of tasting beers. Relying on first impressions may work if you’re drinking simple macro European lagers but it often does not do justice to beers of complexity that require time to sip, savour and enjoy.
Remember that most of the beers that appear on BSTV are also reviewed in depth on the blog afterwards. There I have more time to break them down properly and sometimes (although surprisingly not that often) revise my score from the show up or down as necessary.
This experience also demonstrates the effect anticipation and expectation plays when tasting beer. Like being served a dusty bottle of highly acclaimed vintage wine at your restaurant table your mind can become hot-wired into thinking a beer is going to be good just because expectation says it should be. This sense of expectation can be brought on by several factors, such as the beer being a certain vintage, coming from a sought-after brewery or because it is a rare beer that is highly regarded and rated.
Trying to ignore these influences in an effort to taste objectively is difficult (as you can see I still haven’t mastered it). I could argue that it is exactly these influences that contribute to a great beer moment. Either way I’m going to continue rating beers spontaneously on the show and correct myself if ever I get too carried away (again).
