“Ding Points” for beer reviews explained.

When I drink and rate a beer, I like to record five separate aspects of the experience under the following headings;

Pour, Nose, Palate, Mouth and Global

The five categories are explained in detail below, each being scored out of 100, which when taken together and weighted, give a final rating for the beer that I call the “Ding Points”, also out of 100.

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Pour:

How pleasing is the beer to the eye? Hue, including the appearance of the body, together with head (size and retention), lace, legs (where appropriate) all contribute to this part of the score.

Weighted as 15% of ‘Ding Points’ final score.

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Nose:

Does the aroma meet expectations? Can appropriate, distinct elements be detected?

Weighted as 15% of ‘Ding Points’ final score.

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Palate:

Put simply, how does it taste? Great, good, indifferent, poor or just plain ‘yuk’. Are the rrequisite elements in the taste, what about the aftertaste?

Weighted as 40% of ‘Ding Points’ final score.

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Mouth:

How does the beer ‘feel’ in the mouth. How does the body of the beer, critically often in the form of the carbonation and viscosity, work in the mouth. Is the level of carbonation appropriate?

Weighted as 10% of ‘Ding Points’ final score.

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Global:

What are the overall impressions of the beer? How moreish is it? A classic example of the style? Something that I would go back to? Something that I would recommend? How does the value for money stack up? Is it ‘drinkable’? Some, or all, may be considerations here, a catch-all category to add (or subtract) points.

Weighted as 20% of ‘Ding Points’ final score.

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Context

It should be stressed that whilst the style of the beer is certainly kept in mind when rating, my reviews are certainly NOT an exercise in formally matching the attributes of a brew to a strict set of style guidelines. There is no consideration of BJCP style guidelines for example for more than one reason.

Having said that, I DO expect what it says on the label to have a fairly strong resemblance to what is in the glass – that’s been a pet peeve of mine for years and I feel it is a reasonable expectation.