As the taste preferences of American beer drinkers move towards full-flavored craft beer, we are seeing more resources from breweries and fellow beer lovers to help the craft beer drinker discuss and describe their beverage.
As your understanding of beer styles grows, it can be just as helpful to be able to pinpoint what you dislike in a beer as it is what you love. It’s important to be able to pick out flavors and determine if they don’t belong, or if the presence of a taste is acceptable to that particular style. Flavors and smells described as cardboard, buttered popcorn, creamed corn, green apple and many more can all be present in beer and aren’t desirable (for the most part
In their continued efforts to educate their fans, Stone Brewing Co., (Escondido, Calif.) has put out a Guide to Off-Flavors as a part of their Stochasticity™ Project to help you understand what off-flavors are, why they form and what can be done to remedy them at the brewing level.
If you are looking to learn more about what the flavors in your beer are and where they come from, this is a fantastic resource for brewers and beer lovers.
Ben Zeller is a homebrewer, beer and food enthusiast, certified beer server and is the current Craft Beer Program Intern for the Brewers Association. He is also a new father, skier and currently a student at MSUD, anticipating graduation this December. He hopes to learn as much as he can during his time with the BA and continue his career in the craft beer world.
CraftBeer.com is fully dedicated to small and independent U.S. breweries. We are published by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers. Stories and opinions shared on CraftBeer.com do not imply endorsement by or positions taken by the Brewers Association or its members.
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