What Makes A Beer Great?
When I’m teaching beer appreciation classes, one question I am frequently asked is, “What do you look for in a great beer?” What makes a beer great? What separates the “best of the best” from the “also very goods.” It’s a good question, one worth pondering.
The first things that I look for are balance and articulation of flavors.
Balance is one that some people argue with, especially those who like their beers big, brash, and bitter. To me balance is not about having all flavors equal. Rather it’s about having a strong counterpoint to whatever flavor is dominant.
I like to think about beers fitting onto a triangle graph. On each corner of the graph is one of the three main beer ingredients, malt, hops, and yeast. Every beer can be charted into this graph based on what ingredient is dominant. For instance, American IPAs would be charted in hop corner, German wheat beers in the yeast corner, and Scottish ales in the malt 
corner. But none of these beers can be graphed only according to the dominant character. IPAs always have some malt underlying the hops. Cracker-like wheat character is a big flavor component of the hefeweizen. And Scottish ales need some balancing bitterness to keep them from being cloying.
This is how I approach balance. I look first for the dominant character and then consider what other flavors are there to counter it. I like Double IPAs that have considerable and complex malt to back up the bitter. While beautifully dry, tart, and funky, a good gueuze will still have some residual wheat flavor lurking in the background. While I may like some beers that are only bitter, only sweet, or too heavily bourbon barreled, I probably wouldn’t put them into the “great beer” category.
Two beers that to me brilliantly display this sense of balance are Russian River’s Pliny the Elder and Rodenbach Grand Cru. Pliny the Elder is extraordinarily dry and bitter, with huge citrus hops through and through. But the strong malt backbone with its grainy sweetness and subtle caramel flavors don’t allow the hops to totally take control. Bacterial fermentation makes Grand Cru gloriously tart and funky with loads of juicy fruit flavors. But in the background is a rich caramel and lightly toasty malt that leaves a slight residual sweet to balance the sour.
Anyone who has eaten in a four-star restaurant knows what I mean by articulation of flavors. In a well-prepared dish, every ingredient can be tasted individually, yet they all work together to build a harmonious whole.
When I encounter this flavor articulation in a great beer I can almost visualize the flavors stacking up one on top of the other. The hops pop, be they citrusy, floral, or herbal/spicy. The bitterness leaves a crisp bite on the tongue and at the back of the throat. The rich flavors of malt can be picked out one by one, caramel, biscuit, toast, and coffee. The delicate, yeast derived fruit of an English ale or the black pepper bite of a saison stands out in clear contrast to the other ingredients. And yet, in the end they all come together to give a single and unified beer experience.
A great example of flavor articulation in beer can be found in Coniston Bluebird Bitter. This English bitter has those separate layers of flavor, malt, hops, and yeast, all melding together in balanced beauty. I also find this character in Furious and Bender, the flagship beers of Minnesota’s Surly Brewing Company.
There are other things that make a beer great. But for me balance and articulation of flavors are paramount. What are your keys to a great beer?
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Great article. For me the distinction between good and great lies with the individual. Few people will dislike a truly great beer, many will think it’s very good and you will have a large number of people who will proclaim its greatness.
On the individual level though, if you’re absolutely in love with a beer and can’t get enough, that beer is great. Your opinion may differ from that of others, but can anyone else tell you what beer you have to like, dislike or love?
Last weekend I drank my share and then some of Reality Czech from Moonlight. I chose that keg to take camping because I think it’s great. Thankfully others agree and we didn’t have too much left over. Even if they didn’t agree, it’s still a great beer in my eyes.
Very nice article. Cheers for posting it.
I think you did a very good job of distilling things down to the essence of what makes a great beer and how these things can be cognitively addressed by a person, no matter how much or little experience they have with beer. I would be quite interested in attending one of your seminars to see you expand on this article.
thank you for mentioning Blue Bird Bitter as well, a beer that I have absolutely loved in the past…but never really considered why exactly. I will have to re-visit this beer soon if I can.
Good read, thanks!
Balance and Articulation is exactly why Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter is the best beer in the world, and better than so many, more extreme, imperial stouts.
Trev,
Bluebird Bitter is my desert island beer!
I teach beverage classes to servers and consumers, and balance is the main reccuring theme among all parts of the beverage curriculum. I like using the old scotch wheel (chart), and adapting that visual representation to wine and beer is helpful, as you suggest.
The personal experience that makes me like an unbalanced beer on occasion is the complement of a spirit, liqueur or whisky. For example, I find Left Hand’s Sawtooth to be a bit too bready, but it works perfectly with a sip of sweet Irish whisky. Complementary balance, then, can be attained between two beverages or a food-bev pairing it seems.
[...] in Uncategorized I recently read a good article by Michael Agnew called “What makes a great beer”. It’s a good article and brought up some important points. I felt like I should also discuss [...]