Describe the Description #1 - Phenolic

Phenolic: yeasty, plastic-like resin

 

Well phenols are alcohols with the exception of the hydroxyl group being bound to a carbon ring instead of a single carbon. These are known to be aromatic by nature. I typically get the "phenolic" taste from really heavy bourbon beers and other fresh high ABV beers. Over-ripe tropical fruit is a good way of describing it because alcohol is what you would get from overly ripe fermented fruit... I just think of it as a sweet burn

 

I've always thought that 'phenolic' meant a more clove-like or 'spicy' flavor. I know different beer ingredients (yeasts, water, etc.) can impart different phenolic flavors, and there isn't just one. But I could just be whistling Dixie through a bomber of Moylan's Hopsickle...

Oh, and good thread topic.

 

Phenols have the taste and aroma of spices, smoke, medicine, plastics.

I am not fond of phenolic beers. Never saw the overripe tropical fruit before.

 

I love this thread and would love to see many more like it. Phenols are clove like flavor in the hefe, the flavors described as peppery or spicy also. So there's the bandaid and plastic kind but then also these others which have to with yeast I think.

 

Smells like Band-aids...I would also equate this as more of a spicy and clove-like character as mentioned by a previous poster

 

Aroma or flavor ranging from clovey, to plastic, to magic marker, to medicial/band-aid, to chemical, to plastic.

 

The first thing that comes to mind is Band-Aid.

 

Right, this compound has so many types of flavors/aromas that it is a very wide brush - plastic/band aids to a nice subtle spiceyness such as found in Belgian Ales and German Wheat beers.

 

There are three "chemical" tastes found in beer. Esters, phenols, and alcohols. Ethyl caprylate gives tastes like pear, apples, and anise. Hefeweizens have 4-vinyl guaiacol which gives a clove spiciness to the beer. 4-ethyl phenol is produced by Brettanomyces that give a barnyard taste. The alcohols in beer can change characteristics such as sweetness, bitterness, warming or drying on the palate, etc. There are many others that can be produced dependant upon the yeast and the reactions created.

 

I can only use it in one context that I am familiar with, which is metallographic mount material which when heated gives off a very strong odor, or burnt electrical insulation, obviously both polymer materials, couldn't tell you the exact chemistry of the aromas, but if I smelled a beer reminiscent of those odors I might not drink it.

 

I typically think of this word as describing any of the following: sharp alcohol burn, metallic, plastic or bandaid aromas/flavors. I do not typically enjoy beers with these qualities.

 

It's very simple: smells like antiseptic and tastes like medicine.

 

When I took organic chemistry (what a miserable class) I remember we made a bunch a bunch of different phenols in one lab. Small changes in molecular structure led to drastically different smells, though most of the ones we made were very fruity. I have never used pheonlic as a descriptor, and based on the range in opinions as to what this word means it doesn't seem to be very effective.

***EDIT: After reading for a minute I think we started with phenols but converted into different esters. Maybe this is a source of confusion for others too.
Phenols apparently cause a range of smells: astringent, smokey, clove, medicinal, ect.
Organic chem was not my best class...

 

I just drink the stuff.
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/phenolic-flavors.html

 

I guess I'm not sure how one is supposed to describe an entire range of characters in one phrase.
what do clove, smoke, barnyard, vanilla, pepper, and medicinal really have in common, except that all are common phenolic characters?

 

I describe it as uncoated Aspirin or Tylenol. Astringent. Drying, chalky.

 

"Medicinal" came to mind, although that isn't always correct. I don't really think of most weissbiers are being medicinal tasting even if they are mostly (except maybe Erdinger and 1-2 others) phenolic.

 

I've equated phenolic smell to be like antiseptic smell of a Band-Aid or the scent in a hospital.