Astute to Stout

Tasting session 8

Beer 1 Choices: American Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Imperial Stout, Irish Extra Stout

Beer 2 Choices: German Pils, Kölsch, Cream Ale, Festbier

Score: 1/2

Beer 1 things to look for:

American Stout: bitter, US hops, clean yeast

Oatmeal Stout: esters

Imperial Stout: booziness

Irish Extra Stout: US stout style w/o US hop character

Notes:

This panel was another good one- solid differentiators to look for. In addition, the beer tasted really good so that was cool. My first impression after a smell and sip was that this beer was certainly not boozy (Imperial Stout crossed out), and there were no prominent fruity yeast esters so I eliminated Oatmeal Stout. American Stout vs Irish Extra Stout (IES) was a challenge since my note for IES was basically “American Stout without American hops”. Is that a fair way to think about it? 

Compared to IES, I’d expect most American Stouts to be more bitter and place an emphisis on US hop flavor (pine, weed, grapfruit). IES’s flavor profile often features the malt upfront and center, with hops lending a less bold and characterful bitterness. I went to college in Eugene, Oregon so grew up drinking fresh beers from the pacific northwest packed with US hop character. Both beers can be pretty bitter, but I recognized that familiar profile of dank pine trees and went with American Stout. Also that bitterness really lingered around for a while after swallowing, and that sealed the deal.

Beer 2 things to look for:

German Pils: clean yeast, bitter

Kölsch: esters

Cream Ale: corn/malt/crisp

Festbier: maltier Helles, clean yeast

Notes:

I first began this one with a smell test and it smelled not so great: like I can’t believe it’s not butter. My initial thought was Cream Ale - those beers feature a lot of corn in their malt bill and I sometimes mix up the off-flavors of corn and butter that can occur in beer. Cream Ales aren’t supposed to taste like corn per se; corn flavors can range from a corn-bread like sweetness to barely detectable. Like a lot of American Light Lagers, Cream ales sometimes use corn because it’s a more neutral flavored grain than barley. Our guidelines even say they're like American Lagers, “but with more character” (saucy BJCP guidelines).

The sample lacked the bitterness usually present in Pils, the esters found in Kölsch, and the toasty bready notes Festbier. 

Turns out it was a Festbier. I don’t think I just blew it on this one - I’ve had good Festbier before and something was for sure off. My thought is that the beer went bad and the flavor I tasted, and thought could have been corn, was actually butter. During beer fermentation, the chemical that produces the buttery flavor in beer (Diacetyl) is eventually reabsorbed by yeast and turned into a compound that doesn’t express significant flavor. My guess is that since this beer was old and likely mishandled, the yeast remaining in the beer went bad and excreted the flavor-active compounds that were once absorbed. When yeast die, they break and leak out the compounds they initially absorbed. My theory is that this happened: Diacetyl was absorbed during fermentation, then re-released upon the beer getting old and yeast dying inside the bottle. But, ultimately, who knows?