Step 4:
Smell the beer
Like wine critics, serious beer critics use the term "nose" to describe the beer's aroma and bouquet. The first prominent aromas usually come from malting the barley, while secondary aromas often arise from the type and quantity of hops used.
Malting can make a beer smell annoyingly perfumey, richly sweet, and anywhere in between. Depending how dark the beer is, roasted, toasted, coffee or chocolate-like aromas may waft from the surface.
Hops produce a sharper smell that varies depending on the variety and amount of hops added to the boiling beer. Some beers are even "double-hopped," giving their scent a potency that announces itself as soon as the bottle is opened. Hops' smells are often described as spicy, herbal, floral, piney, citrusy, or even, well, cheesy if hops are old or oxidized.
Other prominent aromas, like fruit and alcohol, come mostly from the fermentation process. If you perceive a scent of plastic, cooked vegetables, rotten eggs, skunks or wet dogs, it's a sign of badly made or stored beer.
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