New Updates to the Beer Experience

Over the last couple of months, we have been making progress on the Beer Experience! During our annual Studio Party, we debuted a prototype of the beer tasting software on the Tasting Table. We are excited to share the new features we’ve included in the software. 

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New beer tasting features

The development of the Wine Experience gave us a good understanding of how to facilitate a digital tasting experience. Beer, however, is quite different from wine, so our research started with a series of books on beer and the beer-tasting process. From there, we developed a first version of the beer tasting wheel. We tasted many different styles of beer during a series of paper prototype tastings in which we refined the wheel and tried out different ways of capturing the other elements that are part of beer, such as body and carbonation. 

The dedicated beer tasting wheel features 64 flavors and aromas. The wheel is divided into two categories, hops and malt, the two most prominent ingredients that impart flavor and aroma to beer. Guests get the option to choose 2-5 flavors and aromas from a wide variety of categories, which range from baked and toasted to tropical and floral. 

Additionally, and completely different from the Wine Experience, the Beer Experience features a tasting triangle. In developing the tasting software, we tasted many different styles of beer. One thing we found is that most, if not all, beers have one or more of three qualities: bitterness, sweetness, and dryness. We decided to use a triangle, shaded with three different colors, to have users indicate to what extent these qualities are present in the beer they are tasting. 

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Compare and share your tasting profile

Other new developments, that are also included in the Wine Experience, are a new comparison feature, which allows users to compare their tasting profile with the wineries' or breweries' tasting profile. Users can take this profile home by scanning a QR code that loads a webpage with the profile on their phones. This webpage also includes links to the wineries’ or breweries’ websites and webshops. 

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Follow along for more beer tasting news!

We are grateful to our craft brewing friends at Steel Bender Brewyard and Laughing Sun Brewing Co. for their support and feedback. The Beer Experience will be available with the purchase of a Tasting Table later this summer. To follow along, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram for further updates and pop-up beer tasting events.