Start Where You AreA Sensory Program Pep Talk

Liz Pratt, Sensory SpecialistRising Tide Brewing Company

Liz Pratt

Sensory SpecialistRising Tide Brewing Company

liz@risingtidebrewing.com

● Beer volunteer

● Aeronaut Brewing Company

● Night Shift Brewing Company

● Tufts University Sensory and

Science Center

● Rising Tide Brewing Company

Liz Pratt

Sensory SpecialistRising Tide Brewing Company

liz@risingtidebrewing.com

● Beer volunteer

● Aeronaut Brewing Company

● Night Shift Brewing Company

● Tufts University Sensory and

Science Center

● Rising Tide Brewing Company

What To ExpectToday

● What is a sensory program?

● How sensory skills are used

every day in all departments

● How we run a sensory

program at Rising Tide

● What results we get

● Where to go next

Where Are We?

What is SENSORY ANALYSIS?

Using human senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound) to evaluate consumer products.

What is a SENSORY PROGRAM?

In our industry, this refers to a system of evaluating the characteristics of beer (and ingredients) by

appearance, aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel.

Producing the Best BeerLorem 3Lorem 1 Lorem 2 PackagingBrewers

Water

Malt

Hops

Yeast

Cellar Folks

Gravities

VDK Force

Tests

Blow-off

buckets

Go / No-Go:

Appearance

Aroma

Flavor

Mouthfeel

Carbonation

...Selling the Best Beer!Marketing

Communicate

product

character

Meet customer

expectations

Servers

True To Brand

Freshness

Carbonation

Cleanliness

Sales

Fulfilling

requests

Serving at

festivals and

events

Innovation

Recipe

improvement

Product

development

How We Do It

This is not how everyone does it. This does not have to be how you do it.

Rising Tide Sensory Sessions

● Limited time

● Use what you have

● Twice a week sensory

training or practice

sessions

● All staff are invited!

Rising Tide Sensory Tools

● Printer, paper, pens

● Glasses and caps

● Beer or ingredients

● Eight hours a week

Do-It-Yourself “Spikes”

Lightstruck or skunky: set a pitcher outside

Oxidation or hop aroma degradation: keep a beer library

Diacetyl: artificial butter flavoring

Acetic acid: white vinegar

Citric acid: check the baking section!

Mineral hardness: baking soda

Forms and Data Collection

What is most important to YOUR team?

I set up and ran my sensory sessions!

Now what?

Organize your data

Digitize your data

Use specialized sensory

apps like DraughtLab

What I Know About Our Sensory Program

I trust our brewers and cellar folks to catch impurities in our ingredients

before they go into the brew.

I trust our cellar team to perform VDK force tests and correctly identify

extremely low amounts of diacetyl before beer is moved to the brite tank.

I trust our packaging team to evaluate our finished product and make the

correct go/no-go call before packaging.

I trust our bar and sales teams to pull product from the shelf if it’s outdated,

oxidized, or otherwise not true to brand.

Just a few more things...

Include everyone - no assumptions!

Choose manageable goals

Set the tone

Stick to a schedule

Trust your results

ALL SENSORY IS GOOD SENSORY!

What is needed, and what is possible, is different for every brewery and every team.

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good!

Protect your market share, control costs,

make and sell the best possible beer you can!

SENSORY IS NOT AN OPTION.

Where to go next...● MBAA online resources

● Tufts University Sensory Science Center

● Brewer’s Association

● American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC)

● Evaluating Beer (1993), Brewers Publications

● Taste What You’re Missing (2012), Barb Stuckey

● Email me any time!

Questions?