Beer Server and Off Flavor Training

Perhaps some breweries ought to train staff for the occasional bad keg, or batch. My thinking is that any bad product should be noticed and culled before it's sold.

 

Well, I'd say that depends on the knowledge of the server. More than once I've been served a different beer than I orders. (In a busy place I'm reasonably tolerant of this). The more knowledgeable servers I've encountered often have a quick taste of the beer before returning it to the bartender and explaining the problem.

(But then I tend to repeat at places that have a well curated beer list beer, bartenders who know their job, and knowledgable servers, and avoid the others. )

 

With all due respect, the great majority of people that go out even occasionally do not need a wine steward or cicerone. Polite service is always fine.

 

I've heard diacetyl is a technical brewing flaw.

 

I agree with @zid why would a brewer owner allow a beer with off flavors be served in the first place.

 

At a couple of local taprooms (JL Beers franchise), I note that they encourage the staff to sample the beers so that they are familiar with them - and probably also so they can be the first to note an off taste. Their nametags even lists their favorite beer currently on tap. Most of their staff are crafties that go to the local beerfests, even if hosted by a competitor. I see other local taprooms where the staff sample. I'd be bad for that job and would not last long, due to overachieving on sampling..

 

Indeed, why would a noticeably flawed beer even be offered in the first place.

 

Well, according to a speech given a few years ago by Gatza the head of the Brewers Association, he'd found more than one such beer on offer at a beer festival he attended to sample some beers. The point of his talk was that there were brewers in the business offering beers with noticable brewing flaws which they apparently did not realize were a problem or a flaw.

@Squire123

 

In some beers it is acceptable at low levels. English Ales and Czech lagers are examples (I get it in Samuel Smiths, and Pilsner Urquell -sometimes).

Diacetyl can also form in packaged beer if the precursor is exposed to O2 in the filling, or from O2 difussing into the bottle.

Lastly, Diacetyl can come from dirty tap lines, as some bacteria produce it. The keg might be fine, by the time the beer is in the glass, it is not. Edit I see That was what you responded to.

Edit 2 - sometimes the brewery has to turn the beers faster than they would like to keep the pipeline full. It happens. New breweries often run out of beer the first week, and the next batch is put out too early.

Edit 3 - there are all levels of perception of Diacetyl. Some times a brewer is not sensitive too it, while some of their customers are at levels a brewer will release.

 

Jeff (@hopfenunmaltz) provided a thorough response but permit me to ‘repackage; this discussion.

Diacetyl can occur in beer for a number of reasons:

1. The fermentation can be ‘rushed’ in the brewery to meet production demands. If the brewery instead provided sufficient time in the fermentors to permit the yeast to ‘process’ the diacetyl that was produced during the early phase of fermentation than perceptible diacetyl would not exist in the finished beer.

2. If the beer has a sufficient amount of the precursor that can form diacetyl and the beer is packaged with elevated levels of dissolved oxygen than diacetyl can form in the packaged (e.g., canned) beer.

3. If there is a bacteria called pediococcus present (e.g., in dirty draft beer lines) then diacetyl can be formed via this infection.

Items 1 and 2 above are a brewery issue. Item 3 could be a brewery issue if the bacteria pediococcus is present within the brewery. If the pediococcus is introduced outside the brewery (e.g., the draft beer lines at non-brewery bar) then obviously this would be a non-brewery issue.

We can all speculate which of the above is the most likely cause for a beer to have perceptible diacetyl in a beer. For the case of a canned beer we can state with certitude that the issue of perceptible diacetyl is a brewery issue.

While there are certain beer styles where a bit of diacetyl may be permissible (e.g., certain English Ales and Czech Pilsners) if somebody is tasting a ‘stick of butter’ in an APA or American style IPA then something is definitely amiss here.

Cheers!

 

And it's a pretty common flaw among IPAs, I find, at least in my area. A biproduct of the 'drink immediately' mindset.

 

Some reasons:

- production schedule
- $
- refusing to dump a batch
- lack of skill
- off flavor growth over time
- intentional design
- not caring
- already booked the mobile canner

It certainly happens.

My thinking is that if a brewery is training their servers to detect off flavors, and that training proves very useful, then they are putting their energy into the wrong spot of the process.

 

The right spot to put their money would be?

 

While a brewer should catch and prevent infections and other off taste, servers are the last line of defense and they protect the reputation of the taproom/bar. Great idea to have the training and to encourage reasonable sampling by staff.

 

Exactly, if you want a high quality/performance team you not only give them each a role but you help the each to understand and possibley even able to do at least a small part of someone else's job.

Overlapping areas of expertise improve overall performance of the team as a whole.

 

A diacetyl rest.

 

But, but, but that would take time and we have a beer release scheduled this Wednesday!!!

Cheers!