The OBC put on a workshop last Sunday to help brewers suss out off flavors in beer. So while those little cups look normal, they’ve all been doctored to produce papery, Acetaldehyde (green apple) or 22 other flavors.
Twenty four flavors is a lot to try and pick out over the course of an afternoon. Certainly, some flavors were far easier for me to catch than others; DMS (creamed corn), Ethyl Acetate (esters, caused by bacterial infection), Spicy were all flavors I got pretty easily. But Metallic or Lactic or Acetaldehyde were all more challenging for me to glom onto.
What was far more likely was that I would notice the mouthfeel, often as a sensation of dryness, usually on the sides of my tongue, that told me something wasn’t right: Mercaptan (a skunky note) or Isovaleric (cheesy, usually from old hops) wouldn’t present as negatively, except when it came to how it felt. This was a little weird and I think I’ll need some more practice with detecting flaws but this was a very cool way to learn, and thanks to the OBC for setting that up.
Also, I’ll be out of town starting tomorrow, so no post for Friday!
