Assessing Quality in Craft Beer:Style Guides and Taste Descriptions in Beer Judging Practice

Wright, Steven (2021) Assessing Quality in Craft Beer:Style Guides and Taste Descriptions in Beer Judging Practice. In: Researching Craft Beer. Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 129-147. ISBN 9781800431850

Abstract

This chapter explores how quality is assessed in craft beer through describing tastes and aromas in relationship to categories of beer style. Drawing on documentary sources, it explores the development and formalisation of definitions of beer styles, and the development of the contemporary language used to describe and assess taste. It then ethnographically explores how these are combined in the practice of craft beer judging at a competition through a novel assemblage of different methods. The empirical work contributes novel methods for exploring tasting practices, detailed ethnographic description of beer judging and an exploration of how the organisation of style guides and taste descriptions have contributed to defining and assessing quality in craft beer.