I cannot say with certainty that it is the least important part of evaluating a beer, but appearance accounts for the least number of points (3) when a beer is judged in a sanctioned AHA/BJCP competition. Since I use the BJCP as a guideline for my own beer evaluations, I trust that allotment of points is for a reason.
It probably is far less important than the aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impressions of a beer, but is still a necessary step in evaluation. Recording a beer’s appearance really breaks down to color, head, and clarity. I would suggest any of those items might be pretty darn important as a source of a beer’s appeal to an individual before getting to taste it.
Color may seem the most obvious, but it been difficult for me to accurately describe at times. It is common for me to ask The Wife, “What color is this?” when doing my beer evaluations. I know what I see, but struggle at times to know exactly what color or shade it actually is. Fortunately (for me) some colors like amber, copper, straw, gold, and dark brown are pretty common and help me get by during many reviews.
An old favorite shows a good ranges of colors.
You may not think so, but judging a beer’s color can be very subjective. The type of lighting in the space can affect what you see the color as. Natural lighting can make a beer appear differently than incandescent or fluorescent light will. The color of the wall in the room you are in is also a variable when determining color. The general suggestion is to hold the beer up with a white paper (or ceiling in my case) behind it to take outside colors out of the equation.
The head on a beer is a desirable outcome (see “Pouring”). A beer should have it, but a lack of head (and trail) could be a glassware issue (soap residue, etc.) and is not necessarily an indicator of something wrong with the beer.
For me documenting the head starts with the height measured in (my) fingers, which provides a consistent description. Retention is next and a slower dissipation rate is often (but not always) an indicator of a quality brew. Any trail remaining on the glass should be noted as it, along with the head, can gives hints as to what to expect in flavor and mouthfeel. Describing the color of the head can be even more of a struggle for me than the beer itself since my ability to distinguish off-white from cream from light beige needs some work.
Clarity I could handle pretty well from the beginning and is, if nothing else, an immediate indicator of a filtered or unfiltered beer. I will hold the beer up to a light for a little assistance as condensation on the glass can blurry the vision a bit. Good clarity is something many see as appealing, but many others also look for cloudiness in their beer. I don’t discriminate!
Appearance is a valuable step to judging beer in/against a specific style since the color, head, and clarity are mostly consistent. The color tends to fall into a specific range, the head has a certain height and thickness, and the clarity is almost always the same. At home, appearance gives a slight hint to what the beer will taste like. Or at least what we think it will taste like.
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