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title: The Palate Deck Industry Preview
short-title: The Palate Deck
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permalink: /preview/
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      <img src="/images/logo.png" alt="The Palate Deck" />
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      <p>The Palate Deck is a brand new kind of beer education tool. It launches on Kickstarter in September, and I'd like your help!</p>
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    <h2 class="header-primary">What It Is</h2> 

    <p>The Palate Deck is a series of playing cards that encourage conversation while drinking beer. By offering multiple levels of gameplay and evaluation tools, a player begins within their comfort zone and can level up their knowledge and description ability at their own pace as they become more confident.</p>

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    <h2 class="header-primary">How It Works</h2>

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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Give it a try">
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          <img src="/images/howto-1.png" alt="Pint glass with clear golden IPA and foreground grapefruit, hops and pine bough">
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          <p>The cards in the Palate Deck give the player common aromatic and culinary cues that they're already familiar with. Players are asked to match these to flavors and sensations they might find in a beer.</p>
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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Break it down">
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            <img src="/images/howto-2.png" alt="Cards with the words Hoppy, Floral, Fruity">
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          <p>So let's say you're drinking a tasty new IPA. You've already noticed the obvious things about how it smells and tastes. It's hoppy, of course, and maybe you're picking up some fruit or floral notes.</p>
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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Let's talk appearances">
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          <a href="/images/howto-3.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/howto-3.png" alt="The same cards, with the addition of Evaluation cards saying Appearance, Aroma, and Taste">
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          <p>The guide cards let you show relationships. 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.</p>
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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Be more specific">
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          <a href="/images/howto-4.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/howto-4.png" alt="The same cards, with the addition of Gold and Clear cards">
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          <p>As the saying goes, we eat with our eyes. And we drink with them too, so how the beer looks is important. This is a very clear beer, and the color seems more deep gold than yellow.</p>
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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Let's talk intensity">
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          <a href="/images/howto-5.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/howto-5.png" alt="The same cards, with the addition of Citrus, Tropical Fruit and Pine cards">
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          <p>You can probably be more specific with the character of this beer. Perhaps the fruit is coming across as disctinctly tropical, with some citrus notes. Maybe you get some pine too.</p>
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      <li class="faux-carousel-pane" data-next="Go at your own pace">
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          <a href="/images/howto-6.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/howto-6.png" alt="All the cards plaid so far re-arranged on a grid with the Intensity Scale">
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          <p>You can even indicate 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 citrusy. And now you have a pretty complete visual grid of this beer's flavor profile, and all the words necessary to describe it.</p>
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          <p>This progressive evaluation style allows players to stop at any stage along the way. They only have to go as far as they're comfortable when tasting and describing the beer they're drinking.</p>

          <p>In many ways, the cards are a way to start conversations about tasting beer. The design suggests similar tastes and experiences to add new ideas and vocabulary to the discussion.</p>

          <p>It's great if they spark healthy debate over nuances of a beer; the purpose isn't to be correct, it's to find consensus. Because hey, tasting is subjective after all.</p>
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        <a href="/docs/tasting-cards.pdf">
          <img src="/images/illustration-card-guide.png" alt="Guide to the Palate Deck card design">
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        <figcaption><strong>The Card Design</strong> &#8212; each tasting card contains one primary word or phrase that drives gameplay &#9313;. But in addition, it offers similar words that offer clarifying context &#9315;, a technical description about why that flavor or sensation may be present in a beer &#9316;, and basic information on categorization &#9312; and frequency &#9314;. <a href="/docs/tasting-cards.pdf">More explanation</a> is available if you're curious.</figcaption>
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      <h2 class="header-secondary">What's in the Box</h2>


      <p>The Palate Deck will launch its initial funding campaign on Kickstarter this September. The Kickstarter edition includes two decks of cards, Level I and Level II, with all the cards necessary for a few different styles of basic to intermediate gameplay and evaluation.</p>
    
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          <a href="/images/cards-evaluation.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-evaluation.png" alt="Evaluation Cards">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Guide Cards</h4>
          <p>The four primary Guide cards are the basic traits used to organize the other cards in most game modes, and are the common aspects used in beer evaluation: Appearance, Aroma, Taste, and Mouthfeel</p>
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          <a href="/images/cards-intensity.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-intensity.png" alt="Intensity Scale">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Intensity Scale</h4>
          <p>A five-point scale for ranking the intensity of the flavors, sensations and appearance of a beer.</p>
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          <a href="/images/cards-colour.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-colour.png" alt="Beer Color Cards">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Beer Color Cards</h4>
          <p>The spectrum of beer color in card form to help you evaluate a beer’s appearance.</p>
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          <a href="/images/cards-character.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-character.png" alt="Character Cards">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Character Cards</h4>
          <p>Physical properties of a beer aside from its flavor and aroma, with attributes related to appearance, body, and other sensations.</p>
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          <a href="/images/cards-family.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-family.png" alt="Tasting Family Cards">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Tasting Family Cards</h4>
          <p>These are common and fundamental flavors and aromas people should already be familiar with from cuisine and other drinks.</p>
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          <a href="/images/cards-tasting.png" class="image-zoom">
            <img src="/images/cards-tasting.png" alt="Tasting Cards">
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          <h4 class="header-inline">Tasting Cards</h4>
          <p>Tasting Words that relate to the Family Cards, but cover more specific flavors and aromas.</p>
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      <h3 class="header-secondary">Future Editions</h3>

      <p>Future expansions are planned too, depending on the success of the initial Kickstarter Edition. With a strong campaign the <a href="#" class="preview-expand-link" data-expand="second-edition">Second Edition</a> will be offered as a stretch goal and fulfilled early next year, with the other editions like the <a href="#" class="preview-expand-link" data-expand="sensory-edition">Sensory</a> and <a href="#" class="preview-expand-link" data-expand="oddball-edition">Oddball</a> Editions coming later.</p>

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        <h4 class="header-inline">Second Edition</h4>
        <p>Two new card decks with more specific tasting options. Includes Level III and Level IV decks. The Taste guide card from the first edition will be broken into four distinct phases common in the wine world to allow for more nuanced beer evaluation: Initial, Mid-Palate, Finish, and Aftertaste. Extra beer color cards will allow more complete color evaluation, including tints attained from various additives. Tasting cards become far more specific, referring to character found in very few beers.</p>
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        <h4 class="header-inline">Sensory Edition</h4>
        <p>This edition reverses the card design of lower levels and replaces earlier cards by putting chemical compounds up front, and matches them to flavours. Paper becomes Trans 2 Nonenal, Pineapple becomes Ethyl Butyrate, Floral becomes Geraniol, and so on. The Sensory Edition is for people who are studying beer in a more professional capacity.</p>
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        <h4 class="header-inline">Oddball Edition</h4>
        <p>Provides a vocabulary for those strange, unexpected flavors and aromas that don't occur naturally in a beer. Everyone has experienced this at some point: a strange character present in a beer that is undefinable, until someone comes up with just the right evocative flavor association that somehow fits it perfectly. Some examples: Bicycle Tire, Bug Spray, Incense, Olive Oil, etc.</p>
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    <h2 class="header-sub">Why The Palate Deck?</h2>

    <p>There has never been more interest in great beer, or more people talking about what they're tasting while sampling it. Existing beer education often uses tastes and smells as a means to explain styles, ingredients and off-flavors.</p>

    <a href="/images/illustration-box3.png" class="image-zoom">
      <img class="box" src="/images/illustration-box3.png" alt="">
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    <p>But why not approach that from the other direction too? What if there were beer education tools that <strong>started</strong> with the flavors and the aromas themselves, and connected those more accessible culinary terms to beer styles, ingredients and process?</p>

    <p>Once they start recognizing familiar sensations in their favorite beers, even those new to tasting may be encouraged to reach the next level in their beer understanding. And that's the Palate Deck.</p>

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        <h2 class="header-sub">How can you help?</h2>

        <p>Okay, so. I'm reaching out to you personally because you're someone in the beer industry who I greatly respect, even more so for your focus on beer education and outreach.</p>

        <p>If you think this project is a neat idea, would you consider providing a very brief (one or two line) quote that could be published and attributed to you? I'd also like to send you a mostly-finished prototype copy so you can get a hands-on look at what this thing is really about.</p>

        <p>If you think you can help, please <a href="mailto:mezzoblue@gmail.com">pass along</a> a mailing address so I can get a copy out to you ASAP. Thank you so much for your consideration!</p>
          
        <a href="mailto:mezzoblue@gmail.com" class="button button-large">Get in Touch</a>

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      <h2 class="header-sub">Who's behind this?</h2>

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          <a href="https://twitter.com/mezzoblue/"><img src="/images/avatar-large2.jpg" alt=""></a>
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          <p>Dave Shea is a <a href="https://www.cicerone.org/us-en/users/dave-shea-0">Certified Cicerone®</a> and BJCP-certified beer judge. He&#8217;s a co-founder of Vancouver&#8217;s <a href="http://farmhousefest.com/">Farmhouse Fest</a> Saison and Wild Ale Festival, and a long-time home brewer who finds the occasion to brew commercially every so often.</p>

          <p>(Outside of beer, <a href="http://daveshea.com/about/">Dave</a> is also well known in the web design &amp; development community.)</p>
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