‘So I’ve been listening to a lot of what I have learned about beer has come friends, podcasts, and the beeradvocate.com. One of the greatest tips I learned was from the podcast beerschool.com. It is as follows…it takes three drinks of a beer to really know if you like it.

Before you look at the reason for three drinks, go to the beeradvocate.com article on How to Taste Beer. There are certain steps to drinking a beer (Look, Agitate, Smell, Taste).

This one sounded a little weird to me when I first heard it, but I have found it to be so true. Here is the reason why. Drink one cleans your pallet from all the weird tastes that are already in it (for instance I have the coffee taste in my mouth right now). Drink two is for the retro-olfaction process.† This is where you swish the beer around in your mouth and exhale after you drink the beer.

“This process of exhaling is called “retro-olfaction” and will release retained stimulations at the mucus and mouthfeel level, but at a higher temperature.” – beeradvocate.com

Drink Three gives you your final overall taste of the beer giving you a full experience of what the beer really tastes like.

Like I said I thought this was crazy talk. But as I started doing this, I noticed that certain beers that I thought I didn’t like after one drink I started to like after three.† As a side note, this works for any drink: beer, wine, Dr. Pepper.

So here is your homework for this tip. Take a beer that you had discredited before and give it the three drink chance. You never know you might find that you’ve found your new favorite beer.

Until next time, enjoy your beer.

For those of you who have been waiting, here is the inaugural Beer Tip of the Day. I know you have been waiting, hoping, and praying for this day. Well it has finally come. For my very first tip, I’m going to give you the tip that changed the world of beer as I know it forever.

When I first started drinking beer, I only knew of one way to drink it…from the bottle (just a side note…if it comes in a can…it’s probable only good for three things…getting drunk, fertilizer, and making beer butt chicken….mmmmm beer butt chicken).

Well through much research, and a little help from the wife, I learned that the best way to experience a nice cold beer is not from the bottle. The true connoisseur drinks their beer from a glass. Chefs have known for years that your sense of smell drastically changes the ways something tastes (that is why you can blindfold someone and plug up their smell they can’t tell the difference between an onion and an apple). Drinking from a glass allows the beer to breath. This also allows you to enjoy the full flavor of the beer as it engages your sense of smell in the beer drinking process.

You will find that this can drastically change the flavor of your beer. When you drink from the bottle (or God forbid can) you’re nose is limited in doing it’s job. I thought it was a bunch of crap until I started trying it. My wife bought me some pilsner glasses as a gift. When I started drinking my beer in them, I noted a remarkable difference in the taste. To the point that I don’t like New Castle except straight from bottle…the glass changes the flavor to much.

There are also certain glasses for certain beers…but I won’t get into it that much. To learn more about different glasses for different beer, check out the Beer Advocate. These guys know their beer.

So that is my first Beer Tip of the Day. Until next time, enjoy your beer.

So I’m trying to get myself to do more blogging. I have a friend who does an occasional blog post called LotD (Link of the Day). The idea is that when he comes across a cool link…he posts it. It isn’t about frequency…but about having a link for that day. So I was thinking I might start doing the same thing. But I don’t come across cool links that often (except for when my friend posts a new one…hint…hint…).

Well for those of you who don’t know, I have recently acquired a taste for the wonderful alcoholic beverage called beer…Yeah I know. A Christian drinking bee. Not only a Christian but a former youth pastor. I’ll give you a few seconds to compose yourself… Ready…Ok… for those of you who think I’ve gone off the deep end and need to repent and ask Jesus to help, let me give you some context.

First, I don’t get drunk (it’s amazing…you can drink and not get drunk…it really is possible). Second, I don’t drink around those you have a problem with alcohol. I understand that there are people out there who have a problem with alcohol. That is completely understandable…and I won’t drink around you. Third, I am of legal age to be drinking beer (and I don’t advocate the drinking of those who aren’t).

Now before you come at with me with comments on how I’m wrong for drinking, read the entire Bible and show me where it says that I’m in the wrong (by the way you’re not going to find anything unless you take things out of context…or just simple make things up…my pastor did a recent blog on this which was really good).

So now that is of the way, lets get back to the topic at hand. Oh yeah…I like beer and I want to blog more. So I came up with the idea of a Beer Tip of the Day. This is where I will post the most recent tip that I’ve learned for beer. The topics will range all over the place from recent beers that I’ve tasted to how to pour your beer (and there is a correct way). I don’t know how consitant they are going to be…but I’m going to try for once a week. Let me know what you think (as long as you follow the rules above).