By just looking at beer, you find out a whole lot about the beer style:the colour: blond, amber, brown, white, cherry red, red-brown...
the clarity: turbid, or not turbid (lambic and white beer are not filtered at the end and always remain somewhat cloudy).

• the foam: fine or coarse bubbles, remains stable or goes down quickly, either or not sticks to the glass, has a distinctive colour according to the beer style. 
• sparkling: rising bubbles (carbonic acid gas), medium, strong or not at all sparkling. 

Just like in wine tasting there is a specific jargon to name the different smells of beers.
Even though beers may have very divergent smells, a good rule is that beer should have a natural flavour that inspires confidence.

Trained beer noses thus distinguish the following three main groups in the aromas:

• hop aroma and herbs: the volatile ingredients from hops and herbs.
• malt aromas: sweet caramel and honey-like smells.
• yeast aromas: on the one hand usually fruity ester aromas (apple, pear, banana), on the other hand sulphur aromas. 

After having watched and nosed, it is now time to taste.

The tongue

The taste buds actually have a different "speciality" according to their position on the tongue.
As the drawing below illustrates:

therefore, the complex taste of a beer can be unraveled by detecting where it prickles the tongue.

The mouth feeling

In addition there is an overall "mouth feeling" you perceive not only on the tongue but also on the palate and the cheeks. How does a beer feel in the mouth: tender, dry, "sticky", refreshing, chalk-like, sharp...?

The aftertaste

Finally, it is of major importance that the beer has a good, pleasant aftertaste and goes down easily. Indeed, is there anything more annoying than a bad aftertaste or a sticky or sour feeling that keeps lingering in your throat?