Chalkiness and soap in IPAs

Don't have any helpful information about what causes it but I have noticed it too occasionally. Got a soapy aftertaste with fresh squeezed.

 

Better than onions at least.

 

My girlfriend thinks every beer tastes like soap. I agree with her like 5% of the time. But anywho, I think that flavor comes from the hops. I notice that if you take a few more swigs of the same beer, that soap taste fades.

 

A lot of my friends think Bell's Two-Hearted tastes like soap.
I'm sure it's the floral character of the centennial hops that they are tasting.

 

Have you tried rinsing your glasses better after washing them?

 

Soap is a legitimate off-flavor. I've definitely noticed it before in IPAs and other styles. I don't know a ton about the different ways it can develop, but I know John Palmer has mentioned it can happen with the breakdown of fatty acids if it the beer sits on the trub too long. There are surly other ways it can happen. Smuttynose Finest Kind used to be a beer that would sometimes have a soapiness quality to it (not always). I haven't experienced that since they moved into the new brewing facility though (but I also don't like the changes they made to Finest Kind, but that's a different discussion!).

 

Could be the brewer is adding salt additions to lower the ph and increase the sulfate, which dries the beer out for a more dry clean bitterness.

 

floral hops = soap = floral fragrance found in most scented soaps

 

This is one way the OP may be getting what he tastes. Another is to much alkalinity in the water, not enough acid to neutralize it. Several new small breweries I visited recently in one area had this in the lighter beers they brewed.

 

The last time I had Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace, it tasted very odd. Chalky was the association I was making, but I could easily be making the wrong flavor connections in my head. I wondered if it was due to the hops used. Maybe a few weeks later, I grabbed a Brooklyn 1/2 Ale, and I got the same thing. 1/2 Ale also uses Sorachi Ace hops (among others), so that could be the culprit, but I was beginning to think that it might have had something to do with their house Belgian yeast strain. Once again, not sure if "chalky" was the best descriptor, but it's the impression I had. Regardless, I did not enjoy either beer.

I've gotten overwhelming soap in a local brewpub's blonde ale. I took at as an unintended brewing issue that the beer couldn't hide, but I actually enjoyed the beer (I like soapy candy).