Love Beer? Learn Beer.

Understanding beer helps you appreciate the great ones even more. The Palate Deck makes learning about the beer you’re drinking, any beer, easy and fun.

What It Is

The Palate Deck is a set of cards that fuel your conversation while drinking beer. You and up to 3 other people play cards that feature common flavors and sensations to match what you’re tasting. More than just playing cards though, it’s an in-depth beer education that even tells you about what you’re experiencing in a beer and why… for any beer.

How It Works

The cards in the Palate Deck start with common aromatic and culinary cues that you’re already familiar with. You match these to the flavors and sensations you find in the beer you’re drinking.
So let’s say you’re drinking a tasty new IPA. Chances are you’re noticing a few things about how it smells and tastes. It’s hoppy, of course, and maybe you’re picking up some other sensations like fruit or floral notes.
The guide cards let you easily show relationships too. Maybe what you’re smelling is unmistakably floral, but what you’re tasting is more hoppy and fruity. So you play the cards where they best fit.
As the saying goes, we eat with our eyes. And we drink with them too, so how the beer looks is important. This was a very clear beer, and the color seems more deep gold than yellow.
You may have found more specific character in this beer. Perhaps the fruit character is more distinctly tropical, with some citrus notes. Maybe you even get some pine.
And you might even be able to talk about how strong or weak of each of these tastes and smells are. The pine isn’t that prominent, but the tropical fruit sure is, and the hops are noticeably citrus-like.
This progressive evaluation style allows you to stop at any stage along the way. You only have to go as far as you’re comfortable when tasting and describing the beer you’re drinking.

And that’s what the Palate Deck is all about. Casual, easy beer tasting that you can conduct at your own pace.

Guide to the Palate Deck card design — **What’s on a Tasting Card** — every card contains one primary word or phrase that drives gameplay ②. But you’ll also find complimentary words that offer similar tastes ④, a technical description about why that flavor or sensation could be present in a beer ⑤, and basic information on a tasting word’s categorization ① and frequency ③.

What’s in the Box

The Kickstarter edition of the Palate Deck includes two decks of cards, Basic and Advanced, with all the cards necessary for a few different styles of simple to intermediate gameplay and evaluation.

Guide Cards

The four main Guide cards are basic beer traits used to help you organize all other cards in most game modes.
Beer Color Cards

The spectrum of beer color in card form to help you evaluate a beer’s appearance.
Intensity Scale

A five-point scale for ranking the intensity of the flavors, sensations, and appearance of a beer.
Character Cards

Physical properties of a beer aside from its flavor and aroma.
Tasting Family Cards

These are common, general flavors and aromas you’re already familiar with from cuisine and other drinks.
Tasting Cards

Related to the Family Cards, these include many more specific flavors and aromas.