Hmm. As I've often had fresh, unskunked, non-metallic Heineken, I can say my palate prefers the beer without known faults. But to each his own.
It might just be my palate changing over the years, but I feel like Heinken's hop character has decreased over time. Not in a massive way, but it went from tasting pretty close to a pils to something more like a Jupiler or 1664. The green bottle skunkiness gives it some additional character that it kinda needs now. Make no mistake, I don't like that flavor, but the beer is pretty hollow when it doesn't have it. Try it from a can or from a paper-covered 12-pack sometime. It's chuggable and certainly not bad, but just a bit bland. That's all while Moretti and Carlsberg still taste the same as ever (to me), so I think it's a Heineken thing.
One person’s fault is another’s Guinness Extra, Pilsner Urquell, American Wild Ale, New England IPA …
Are you telling me you smell/taste skunk in these beers? Talk about disparate palates. Never tasted it in Guinness Stout of any style and not in Urquell since they went to brown bottles.
No. Guiness and Pilsner Urquell have diacetyl that in some beers is considered a fault; NEIPAs often have a turbity that many used to consider a fault; etc. My point is that the skunkiness in Heineken isn’t a fault, it’s a feature. It’s fine if you don’t like it.
Okay, but key word there is *some* beers. A touch of diacetyl is considered okay for Bohemian Pilsner -- and I've never tasted diacetyl in Guinness Extra (my favorite of the Guinness Stouts). OTOH -- I don't think skunk is ever considered to be okay at any level in a beer, but maybe I missed a specific style.
Interesting. Never picked up any diacetyl from a Guinness before. It does sometimes have a little "gas station wine" sour twang, though.
Weed that reeked of road kill skunk was (maybe still) very popular, but the smell was a dead giveaway as to who was growing it, so most of the skunkiness was bred out of the “skunk” strain in the Netherlands. I think the popularity of skunk was due to an association with high THC more than people actually enjoying the smell.
I don't even remember the last time I had a Beck's, and was willing to get one of each beer while shopping today but all this store had was 12 packs, so it'll have to wait. Heineken is fortunately easy to find in stovepipe cans. It also seems that Stella has become the Euro lager of choice.
It’s long been rumored that Guinness used 3% soured beer to get the signature “twang”. People in the know indicate that they now just add some acid to the beer and bypass the sour addition. Like you, that sour note really draws me to Guinness over the other Irish stouts.
Bias against mass distributed big beer. If your local brewery slapped a different label on it and sold it, the ratings would be higher.
There's a bit of skunk in green bottle saisons and lambics, but it meshes with the "farmhouse" character.
That's often been pointed out as unintentional, much like all green bottle beers. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/129/ Lotta odd characters listed, but no skunk.
