"Robert Fraser" <"rf at paradise net nz"> wrote in message
news:4272109d$1@clear.net.nz...[color=blue]
>I want to identify a flavour I have had in a few of my pale ales (half
>mash).
>
> What I don't know:
>
> My palate and my ability to describe flavours is poor in the extreme, so I
> know I am not helping myself by not being able to compare it to something.
>
> I can't really identify the flavour from the descriptions in various
> books/ web sites (eg howtobrew.com), although I'll admit I don't know what
> horse sweat smells or tastes like.
>
> What I do know:
>
> I know from extensive research :-) in England and Scotland (and here in
> New Zealand) that this isn't a flavour that is normally present in pale
> ales. However, I have found this flavour in many Belgian ales - although
> from slightly less extensive research :-(
>
> The flavour was not present when the beer was very young (only two weeks
> after bottling), but has developed after the four - six weeks point.
>[/color]
-- -- --
If you can taste it you can usually smell it. Half fill a glass with beer
and swill it around a bit. Get your nose well into the glass and take a good
long whiff. This will help concentrate the aroma and you may well identify
the taste easier. For some off-ish flavours produced from yeasty
by-products, which are quite often the cause of unusual flavours they are
(1) ketones - comes through as diacetyl and smells like butterscotch candy
(2) Esters - some strong smells here and easily identified such as amyl
acetate, producing smells and tastes resembling bubblegum, bananas,
pineapples etc. (3) phenolics which can come from hops and malt also,
producing a somewhat spicy overtone.
Hops can produce more than bitterness.Each hop variety has a unique flavour
profile. If boiled for 60mins., most flavours are lost leaving only the
bitterness though, even then there is harsh bitter, spicy bitter etc. Hops
added late is another story and if overdone can overide the other tastes in
the beer and completely dominate.
Maybe you could come back to this thread and explain further, the tastes
you've been experiencing.
Steve W.