It’s never too early to establish a sensory evaluation program, says Lindsay Barr, head sensory scientist at New Belgium Brewing.
“A lot of brewers assume that if they don’t have the ability to run the kind of robust statistical analysis that we run, then a formal sensory program is beyond their reach,” Barr says. “But you can do some flavor training. You can define your brands and determine whether something is true to brand. I would tell smaller breweries to start right away.”
The American Society of Brewing Chemists’ sensory subcommittee, of which Barr is chair, advises as much in a one-sheet guide it recently released. Titled “Grow Your Lab,” the document details various sensory tools a brewery should consider putting into place at various stages in its growth.