Can You Taste It?
Carbonation helps lift the aroma from the beer to the surface and into a drinker’s nostrils. There, the scent of hops, malt and any other ingredient the brewer chose to use in the particular batch comes to life and gives the drinker a sense of what is to come.
But does the CO2 itself have a taste?
“We tend to think of beer as being basically hops on one hand and malt on the other hand. It is more complicated that than. Carbonation puts an acidic quality into beer,” says Randy Mosher, a Chicago-based author and beer consultant. “Beer is mildly acidic anyway, but carbonic acid adds more.”
Carbonation does play a crucial role in a beer’s mouthfeel and in some cases that is the strongest thing a brew has going for it. The acid can lend a bite to the beer and even a slightly sour taste.
Looking at the so-called mainstream pilsner beers, carbonation is the most intense sensory experience they offer. “There are almost no hops, there is not a great deal of malts, even the yeast is weak,” says Mosher. “So, what you’re left with is carbonation.”
But in other cases a mild tingle of carbonation is enough to stimulate the taste buds and give the drinker a chance to feel bubbles on the tongue while getting a kick of hops and tang of malt.
“It just makes the beer much more alive, more animated,” says Mosher. “Everyone one of those bubbles are full of aroma as well and they create that head on the surface. It does a couple of pretty important things in the overall experience of beer.”
But, again, it is important to brewers to make sure that the carbonation volume is where it should be when served.
“Higher carbonation can suppress flavors,” says Jurado. “If beer is 85 percent aroma, the more carbonated the product is the less flavor you will perceive.
