Do you believe in palate wrecking?

I really don't feel like hitting the journals, but sensory adaptation is a well-known phenomena. I would be incredibly surprised to find it didn't exist in gustation.

And it is absolutely quantifiable. In fact, you can't say it doesn't exist if it's not quantifiable.

 

Wrong! Sensory receptors becoming less responsive/desensitized is certainly a phenomenon that can be quantified, measured, and studied.

 

This definitely happens. I'm not sure how there are people voting "no". I remember sitting in Beer Revolution drinking glasses of Younger, and by the end of the third glass I just couldn't taste. I wasn't really enjoying the beer any more simply because my senses had been so numbed.

You can fight this effect in a variety of ways, but it absolutely happens, and not just with IPAs.

 

This is settled law. Not only with beer , but for any food or liquid you may consume that is spicy or bitter or even sweet. It will affect your taste buds temporarily.

 

I want this to happen to me.

 

Yes it happens, and it happens with way more things than beer. Anything with strong, robust flavors will swamp your taste buds, but with water and palate cleansing foods you should be good to go in a few minutes.

 

Definitely so, eat some hot spicy Thai or Indian and your taste buds shift for quite a while.

 

whatever you eat/drink influences your palate. this is part of the principle behind pairing.

but does high bitterness alone wreck one's palate and cause it to not be able to taste subtler flavors in subsequent beers? i don't know. sensory scientist stuff.

 

“but does high bitterness alone wreck one's palate and cause it to not be able to taste subtler flavors in subsequent beers?” There are a number of folks who would say that the answer to that question is “yes”.

When I am sampling beers (e.g., obtaining a set a 4 ounce samples at a Brewpub) I always progress from lighter tasting beers to heavier tasting beers. An example of a tasting order:

· Blonde Ale first
· Amber Ale second
· Stout/Porter third
· Pale Ale fourth
· IPA/DIPA fifth.

I think that hopfenunmaltz summarized this phenomenon well with his post of: “After a Racer X at Bear Republic, a Racer 5 tasted like water.”

Cheers!

 

I burped up some Supplication this morning...delicious

 

sounds reasonable to me, and i do the same thing. i'm just saying that i don't know if isolating bitterness and saying it particularly fatigues palates is correct. it probably is, it's just beyond my knowledge (for all i know, it's combinations with other flavors, or any flavor at all, i don't know).

 

“ …i don't know if isolating bitterness and saying it particularly fatigues palates is correct.” Fair point. I am by no means a sensory expert so I can’t genuinely comment on that particular.

My philosophy is that ‘heavier’ tasting beers can affect my palate. I include high bitterness within the criterion of ‘heavier’ tasting.

Cheers!

 

Your palate is very dependent on many, many things. One of these things is flavor that have been recently tasted. Of course there is a spectrum in which some things alter your palate more than others, but I would say excessively hoppy beers alter your palate considerably.

 

I assumed the OP was referring to "palate wrecking" in general, not just from the more bitter IPA/DIPA's. Was that not the case? My answer wouldn't change, regardless.

 

Palate wrecking is real and IPAs/DIPAs, all stouts/porters and sours leave my taste buds numb if I don't cleanse with water or cleansing food. However, I've experienced just as much or more with food than beer. Gnaw on a jalapeno or habanero then tell me if you can taste that grilled cheese sammich. Nope, didn't think so.

 

Prefer palate sexing.

 

Not when it's my palate!

 

I think palate wrecking is possible, but maybe not for the long term, or even the short term. I think if you're drinking a really bitter DIPA, your palate is wrecked for a bit. You need some time if you really want to take in the little details of the next beer you drink. For example, I drank a Stone Double Dry-Hopped Ruination today and then a Hill Farmstead Life Without Principle. Not the hoppiest beers ever, but they're bitter. Then I tried my girlfriend's stout she had. I wanted to give myself 10 minutes to drink it, but I couldn't, and I knew my palate was swayed because of it.

Does it exist? Yes. But for how long is the question... (And, I guess, it depends on the beer...)