What skills do you need to be a professional beer taster?

What skills do you need to be a professional beer taster?

Jeff Evans (Freelance beer Writer) gives expert video advice on: What is a beer writer?; What do you write about?; What is a beer taster? and more...

To drink beer professionally for a living, whether it's as a beer writer like myself or working in the industry, you really need to have a good appreciation of the different styles of beers that are out there. The ability to know what's an ale, what's a lager, and beyond that, the various shades of ales, miles, stouts, porters, bitters, best bitters, barley wines and so on. Also knowledge on the various types of lagers, be they pilsners, helles lager from southern Germany, rauch beers, smoked beers, or kolsch, which is a cologne style lager. Basically, you've got to know your subject. Once you do that, once you've tasted your way around the world of beer, then you're in a position to know what's a good beer and what's not a good beer.