How has your palette changed?

[wollffy]

Someday I'd like to be in a setting where someone has all of these things in front of me, and presents them one at a time to help me learn and see if I can tell the differences.

I'm very much in the "I like it" or "I don't like it" level of sophistication. Maybe someday...

+1 for sure.
Interesting post Kealia. More studying to do on this end.

[haerbob3]

It has changed. I preferred balanced or sweeter beers. Then it was IPA's, for awhile Belgiums, now it is pretty much open. Tend to be preferring variety now. No one style being a favorite.

But can you pick out more details than you could previously?

Yhea but I could not say it was to style or not. Sometimes I can tell if a lager yeast was used or an ale. Can not really distinguish the different grains.

[Kealia]

Sometimes I can tell if a lager yeast was used or an ale.

That's pretty impressive.

[Kealia]

You mean that's not an off flavor?

Um, no.

Cat ass? Yes.
Hefeweizen? No.

[philm00x]

Fruity hops have allowed me to enjoy pale ales, but the bitterness of an IPA is too much for me. Malt-forwardness is still my preference, as I love drinking rich brown ales and Belgian ales the most.

[Root Skier]

When drinking commercial beers, I'm trying to be more mindful of what went into making it.

[Yankeedag]

It's just made it real easy to just say NO to commercial beers.

[FedoraDave]

It has changed. I preferred balanced or sweeter beers. Then it was IPA's, for awhile Belgiums, now it is pretty much open. Tend to be preferring variety now. No one style being a favorite.

But can you pick out more details than you could previously?

Yhea but I could not say it was to style or not. Sometimes I can tell if a lager yeast was used or an ale. Can not really distinguish the different grains.

Interesting. I can more easily distinguish hops and grains than I can yeast. The local brewpub, Defiant Brewing, now has two of their standards in bottles, so I always get some Muddy Creek Lager on bowling night. One of my bottles was apparently from a batch where the Biscuit malt really stood out, and I was sipping slowly and just holding it in my mouth before swallowing, savoring the bready influence. I'm pretty sure they use Hallertau, too. I only know they use lager yeast because it says on the label that it's a lager.

[swenocha]

I've thought of getting one of those kits... It can be used for 20 people, and costs $50 if a member, so for a club or group it's really not a bad investment. I find that I can certainly pick out some of those flavors, and I think I might on others, but I may not have the right word for them. I've had a few beers that have nagging off-flavors that I really can't describe, so it's really hard to pinpoint what may have gone wrong. Something like this may actually give the flavor a name and let me better understand what occurred.

Overall, I definitely grown to the point where I am able to pick out some yeasts, grains, hops and adjuncts, which is kinda cool. I wouldn't say I have a judge-level palette, but I've come a long way in that in the last several years. Certain hops are easy for me (amarillo, citra, n. brewer, simcoe, pac jade, nelson sauvin, PoR [grr...], etc.), while others are more region based (noble v. new zealand v. american). I can totally nail any bit of Munich/biscuit/victory/rye and some other grains as well. In addition, there are some obvious yeasts to me (conan, t-58, kolsch, some belgians, some british, specialty yeasts [saison/hefe/etc]). To haerbob's point, I can tell in some cases if a lager yeast was involved, primarily b/c of the clean/crisp character as opposed to a fuller ale finish. It's a fun parlor trick to take a whiff and sip and immediately declare an ingredient to the brewer or taproom people, though outside of that limited audience most people think it's weird/geeky/who cares/whatever, so it doesn't have much real-world application...

[Brewbirds]

Kealia I've seen you post before about tasting some of the beer mail offerings you've received where something stood out that you didn't like and I wonder if it could be one of the dark malts.

One of the guys at my LHBS can't drink rye beers because to him rye malt tastes just like strong soy sauce.

I know to some people cilantro taste like bar soap.

I'm curious if you are having a taste reaction similar to that from say, chocolate malt.

I wonder if you were to steep some small batches of specialty grains you could nail down the off flavors that way?

[myhorselikesbeer]

One year in and I am just enjoying trying different styles. Trying to get the "off-flavor" thing down. Some of my batches were good in the beginning and now have a sour taste. Still trying to figure the diacetyl taste out??? Know what the over adjuncted cidery taste is. Oxidized...I've wet cardboard smelled it, tasted it.... not sure it has been in my beer yet. I have been doing mini SMASH to learn the flavors/characters of individual ingredients. But if I get an off flavor with those then I am no better than when I started. I'm learning.

[Kealia]

I find that I can certainly pick out some of those flavors, and I think I might on others, but I may not have the right word for them. I've had a few beers that have nagging off-flavors that I really can't describe, so it's really hard to pinpoint what may have gone wrong. Something like this may actually give the flavor a name and let me better understand what occurred.

That's exactly why this interests me, too. Some tastes I know I don't like, and some I know are "off" but I can't always describe WHY or HOW it's off. I would love to be able to say, "oh, that's due to X" and know that is in fact what it was/is instead of guessing. Diacytel I'm pretty confident on, the rest not so much.

It's a fun parlor trick to take a whiff and sip and immediately declare an ingredient to the brewer or taproom people, though outside of that limited audience most people think it's weird/geeky/who cares/whatever, so it doesn't have much real-world application...

Meh, the real-world isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway

[Kealia]

Kealia I've seen you post before about tasting some of the beer mail offerings you've received where something stood out that you didn't like and I wonder if it could be one of the dark malts.

One of the guys at my LHBS can't drink rye beers because to him rye malt tastes just like strong soy sauce.

I know to some people cilantro taste like bar soap.

I'm curious if you are having a taste reaction similar to that from say, chocolate malt.

I wonder if you were to steep some small batches of specialty grains you could nail down the off flavors that way?

It's definitely the dark malts, but likely not chocolate. I've used that in an English Ale before and I use it in small amounts in Levitation and I don't mind it at all. Then again, if it were in higher quantities maybe I might....It's the darker roasted malts that bring forth the roasted or toffee notes that I don't care for much. They have an astringency like coffee that I find to not be enjoyable in my beer. I can pick THAT out pretty quickly.

But ask me what type of yeast a beer used and I'll look like this -->
(Exceptions for yeast like hef, belgian, etc.)

Like Dave, I appreciate that I spend more time TASTING now that I ever did before and that it's allowed me to pick up some things like rye, biscuity notes, that I never would have a few years ago.

Beer is good, it's educational!

[haerbob3]

Interesting. I can more easily distinguish hops and grains than I can yeast. The local brewpub, Defiant Brewing, now has two of their standards in bottles, so I always get some Muddy Creek Lager on bowling night. One of my bottles was apparently from a batch where the Biscuit malt really stood out, and I was sipping slowly and just holding it in my mouth before swallowing, savoring the bready influence. I'm pretty sure they use Hallertau, too. I only know they use lager yeast because it says on the label that it's a lager.

To me lager yeast seems drier. Now when I want to break down a flavor profile. I have my wife and our boss the head chef sample what I want to create. I have no sense of taste when compared to those two!!! The chef can really pick out the different flavors of the hops.

[swenocha]

It's definitely the dark malts, but likely not chocolate. I've used that in an English Ale before and I use it in small amounts in Levitation and I don't mind it at all. Then again, if it were in higher quantities maybe I might....It's the darker roasted malts that bring forth the roasted or toffee notes that I don't care for much. They have an astringency like coffee that I find to not be enjoyable in my beer. I can pick THAT out pretty quickly.

That that cold mash/steep technique (in another thread in these parts) is what I've recently found to avoid this. I wonder if a process like that would make a difference...