Clove vs Coriander

If you want to really get familiar, just go to the grocery store and buy whole cloves and whole coriander. Grind them up and smell them... that should give you and idea

For me personally I rarely smell coriander in brews that have it particularly when it's expected to style, say Witbier, or as an added ingredient in other brews. I know what it smells like, I grow cilantro in my back yard and get plenty of bolted seeds which are the coriander, but it's very tricky for me to recognize it if it is often in the brews recipe, it just never seems obvious unless it is huge to me.

Clove is personally more obvious, it's stronger, a bit hotter, spicier, and I find them in certain Hefes, Doppelbocks and other bocks sometimes. Plus it seems to pop up from time to time in many other styles.

Everybody gets different reactions, so everyone is different, but for me clove or "clove like" aromas are more obvious to me.

 

Yeah, I've never noted a coriander aroma or flavor, myself, though I do pick up a clove character from those big, yeasty Belgian brews, especially Belgian Strong Pale Ales, and from certain saisons (mostly American saisons).

 

Smakawhat has the answer. Just try the fresh stuff. Personally, I would rather concentrate on the big picture, that is, all of the flavors working together and not one particular flavor. But to each their own. You buy the beer and it's your choice how to enjoy it.

 

I love cilantro though... although lots of people hate it, they think it smells to perfumy or like dishsoap

Man I want a big tub of salsa or guac and chips with it right now thinking about it..

 

You're killing me. It's Monday - time to behave myself.

 

I get the cloves analogy but I find it slightly obscure. Coriander (seeds) though is spot on. Look for cloves in Duvel, although it's more of a peppery sort of quality. You'll get coriander in La Chouffe or pretty much any Belgian witbier.

 

Coriander seeds taste citrusy, very citrusy like fake orange flavour.

 

Funny you should mention that. Working at home today and just finished a quick mid afternoon "snack" of chips and salsa with lots of Avacado and Cilantro as ingredients along with the tomato and onions....

 

Clove is probably coming from the yeast they use, while the coriander is coming from the added seeds they probably toss in at some point in the boil or during fermentation. When it comes to clove it's a very strong spice which gives off a warming flavor to a beer, it can be used sparingly in most beers and still give a lot of flavor and aroma. Coriander to me smells a lot like kids cereal, citrusy and sweet on the nose like a potpourri. I really like Coriander and have used it in several Saisons, Quads and other Belgian style beers I've made in the past.

 

Its interesting that the Brewers themselves do not think of clove or coriander as part of the flavor profile. Here's what appears on the Boulevard website:

"A straw colored, light to medium bodied beer with an earthy, spicy, grapefruit aroma and flavor, a soft, sweet malt flavor and a prominent hop bitterness.

Aroma Floral, citrusy hops, Belgian yeast esters
Malt Soft, light, sweet flavor
Hops Prominent hop bitterness and citrusy, grapefruit, peppery flavor
Balance Hops
Body Light/medium to medium
Ingredients

Malt: Pale Malt, Malted Wheat
Adjuncts: Corn Flakes
Hops: Magnum, Bravo, Amarillo"

 

The clove flavor in beer doesn't come from cloves, it comes from 4-vinylguaiacol, a phenol produced by some yeast strains. This is especially noticeable in German HefeWeizen.

The coriander flavor/aroma in beer comes from the addition of actual (ground) coriander. This is especially noticeable in Belgian Witbiers.

A coriander flavor/aroma is not a yeast byproduct. A clove flavor, however, is.

 

I looked at my notes from my review. I noted coriander in the nose, not in the taste FTW.

 

Lots of good discussion in this thread.

I homebrew and I use coriander seed in brewing my Wits and I obtain clove flavors in my Hefeweizen beers from the German Hefeweizen yeast strain I use.

@Mike_Aguirre has it correct wrt coriander in beer making; the freshly ground coriander seed will impart a citrus flavor/aroma to beer. I do not 100% agree with the “fake orange” description but it is most certainly a citrus flavor/aroma.

@Hair is correct that clove in a beer like a Hefeweizen is a phenol (4-vinyl guaiacol) which is produced by the German Hefeweizen yeast strain interacting with ferulic acid. Some folks use a more generic term like “spicy” to describe these sorts of flavors.

It has been a while since I had Tank 7. There is certainly a citrus component to this beer which IMO is from the Amarillo hops; I get a lot of citrus from Amarillo when I homebrew with it. I don’t specifically recall noting a flavor that I would personally associate with “clove” but there are certainly spicy and pepper flavors there. It is my understanding that Boulevard uses the French Saison yeast strain (i.e., Wyeast 3711) and I always get a lot of spice/pepper when I homebrew with this yeast strain.

Cheers!

 

Paging @TheJermis .

Cheers!

 

I just got an "orange" candy from my nephew and it tasted just like fresh ground coriander seeds, that´s my reference hahaha. Regards!

 

Get Indian coriander if you want citrus/orange aroma.

 

I associate blue moon with coriander. The taste is strong to me and more of a mild spicyness instead of citrus-like. And it seems almost every wheat beer Ive had has clove and that artificial "banana" type flavor. Unless it's a shandy. Or it's just me. no idea. I guess I also need a lesson on clove haha

 

Coriander = Cilantro seeds.