LEGEND | | Whenever
you click on a link to a brewery, brewpub, or tap room, a page will pop up with
information about the brewery. For a better understanding on how to read the pages,
be aware what the below mean: |
| Depending
on where you see this, it means I highly recommend that brewery or I feel that
was the best beer available on tap when I visited. | | Food
is available. This can mean pub grub or main course meals. |  | No
beer. This means the place is available for touring, but does not have any beer
on tap for visitors to taste. | | Beer
is available. This may seem like a "duh" statement for a brewery, but
some places do not have tastings available because they are a bottling or kegging
facility. | | Not
open to the public for tours or tasting. |
RATINGS
All
beers are rated in 7 categories and on a 0-4 scale, 0 being low and 4 being high.
An "X" may appear in a category that was not rated. A sample rating
will read like this:
43XX332
The list of categories
go from left to right, Categories 1 through 7: |
Category
1
| Aroma:
This is the scent the beer gives off. The same scent may be appropriate for one
beer, but not for another. | Category
2
| Bouquet:
This is how strong the aroma of the beer is. A strong bouquet is usually desired. | Category
3
| Head,
visual:
A fluffy, full head is desired, but not too much. I let the beer sit for about
a minute before grading the head because many beers will have a nice-sized head
that disappears fast. Because most beers I've judged came in a 1-4 ounce sample
glass, it is inappropriate to judge this category, so an X is marked here quite
often. | Category
4
| Head,
flavor:
Since the head is made from the same ingredients as the beer, this might seem
redundant to Category 5. However, if the head tastes different than the body,
that is something worthy of noticing. It could be because the beer isn't balanced,
or that it has complex flavors that come out better through the head, which is
full of oxygen. Because most beers I've judged came in a 1-4 ounce sample glass,
it is inappropriate to judge this category, so an X is marked here quite often. | Category
5
| Flavor:
This is the most important of all the categories. This tells you how good or bad
the beer tastes. If the beer is particularly impressive, it might break out of
the 0-4 scale and get a 5. Only 1% of beers I've judged have merited a 5. Likewise,
only 1% have merited a 0. Most craft beers score a 3. | Category
6
| Aftertaste:
Depending on the style of beer, a strong or mild aftertaste might be preferred.
This also takes into consideration if the aftertaste that is there is actually
desireable. | Category
7
| Appearance:
The beauty pageant part of the beer. This part really makes Category 3 redundant,
but I still use Category 3 because I am obsessed with having a good head on my
beer. | | WARNING:
When I arrived in the Pacific Northwest in September 1999, my palate was not prepared
for the hop assault style. Because of this, many breweries early in my travels
have underservingly low ratings. |
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