Have you ever had a smell/flavor in a beer that you either liked or considered inoffensive suddenly become a smell/flavor you can't stand? Lately I've had a few milk stouts or beers with lactose in them and I keep smelling/tasting sour milk. I never had this before - I love milk stouts and lactose has never bothered me. And yet, the last 3 or 4 I've had I just can't get over the smell/taste. And just to clarify they've been beers from different breweries and bought at different places, so its not like I'm just drinking a bad beer. Anyone else experience something similar?
After a night of drinking wine, didn't want to splurge for another bottle and they had some beer bottles in the cooler so I tried a Three Philosophers and it started my path into good beer and away from wine. I found that I never could appreciate the Belgian yeast so I tended to avoid them. Now I find myself sometimes having to have one, like craving a burger & fries, I need/crave either a Belgian Pale or a Belgian IPA, which seem to be my favorite styles now
If you are getting sourness in a beer with lactose and the brewer didn't specifically intend this, I would imagine that the beers were either very old or poorly made... or you are making a mental association that is influencing your experience (something I think we all do). Maybe I'm wrong.
I'm inclined to believe its a mental association that is influencing my tastes. At least 2 of the beers that Im thinking of were both very fresh (brewed within the last month) and from breweries that don't put out a poorly made beer.
I totally think it's possible. I think I had this with what I call (and some others do, as well) an "oniony" note, both smell and taste, that is generally associated with big[ger] DIPAs. I think some consider this note "garlic-like." Regardless, I used to like that note in my beers, but at some point, I really started not liking it. Not to the point of hating a beer, but given so many options out there, I tend to avoid them now. For instance, I rarely buy Stone's Enjoy By any more because I get that note often enough in that beer. And I am sure I have rated them quite highly.
Your tastes could be changing, but that isn't only thing that could be happening. It might be the beers, as pointed out by @zid . But another possibility is that what you eat or have been eating on a particular day can influence the flavors and aromas you pick up that from a beer that evening. I've had two beers from the same six pack (and so filled at basically the same time from the same batch of beer) poured into the same glass, seem unpleasantly different on two different nights, with one night the beer seeming really nice and the other the beer was hard to even finish. Yet another possibility. Not too many years ago my Physician had me taking a particular prescription for a couple of weeks. She warned me that for a while some things might have different flavors than I was used to but that when I finished the prescribed medication things would slowly return to normal. She was right. (But on the other hand I took almost two weeks off from having any beer at all. ) Finally, there can be gradual changes in the flavors and aromas you pick up simply because new taste buds, etc. are slowly but continuously dying off to be replaced by new ones. About 7 years ago you had a completely different set of taste buds than you have now, but there is no guarantee that your new set is exactly the same as the old one.
Happens to me all the time. There have been several styles of beer that go into an "off" period for me where they no longer taste or smell good. Then after a few months or perhaps a year, I come back around again to them and love them once more. Saisons, wheat beers, and stouts have all had "off" periods for me. Wheat beers are right now in my 2nd "off" cycle in my beer drinking life.
Pumpkin. Had my favorites, and grabbed them up each year. Last year, the love affair was over. This year, the divorce was final.
Lately every DIPA I've had has tasted like I'm drinking wood. Maybe it's a certain kind of hops, but I no longer enjoy that woody, cedar taste in certain IPAs
I feel like saying this may be bad round here but I'm similar to JuicesFlowing in that I can't get over the piney taste in heavily hopped beers. It seems like it's a prominent taste in the cascade and Chinook laden hoppy US beers that have become ubiquitous in the UK. I can still drink them but I don't find the taste really pleasant. Fortunately other US styles are becoming easier to find in the UK and I'm loving it! The only style that I struggle to drink is Rauchbier, especially the Shlenkerla beers. It's what I imagine straining the juices from a German sausagemaker's apron would taste like. That said, I keep trying them to see if my tastes change!
They can be that way, I have had one smoked beer by BrewDog that was akin to drinking beer out of an ash tray. This is one of my favorite styles, next time you have/try one make sure you are eating something that will go with the smoke, BBQ or sausage. They work well together
I'm yet to find one I really like. The Shlenkerla Helles is palatable, but I wouldn't pick it. I've had a few British smoked beers that I just don't get on with, either, one tasted like a leather boot. I'll have to give them a try with food, shame BBQ season is over!
My tastes have actually changed to include more styles, not less. I like more and more beer all the time that I didn't used to like. However, with some styles, particularly IPAs, my tastes have shifted. The market is saturated with IPAs, and only the best of the lot still impress me. I'm no longer impressed by the countless crystal-malt, Cascade-based IPAs. I actually think my increased pickiness with IPAs is what has driven me to expand my portfolio. I'd rather buy a good pilsner, brown ale, or porter than a mediocre IPA.
