Strange hop "off-flavor" spanning multiple breweries

Well it's probably quite real, but seems puzzling indeed.

There are other things that can have an effect on your sense of taste.

E.g., Have you been taking any medication over the past year or changed your eating patterns over the last year?

 

Unless it ends up that there is a common hop supplier, then the commonality is you. As @drtth wonders, a medical issue or medicine could mess with your sense of taste. You certainly don't need to tell us anything, but consider that it could be you.

 

I get the same reaction w/beers brewed w Ringwood Ale yeast.

 

It may be ruled out since its just certain brewers and it seems to have come on recently, but it could be genetic. I've seen this in home brewing forums as well, but stuck with Wikipedia for a reference to what is commonly called "elevated taste response". There are off tastes that present themselves as soapy if bottles are sanitized incorrectly, fermentation tremperatures get too high or fatty acids are present in trub - but I doubt most of those brewers you mentioned would experience that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

 

Well, given that the only consistencis are you and high levels of Hop use in brewing.... it is most likely to be physical.

Some taste buds die off gradually every year for about 7 years and get replaced before the whole process is repeated over the next 7 years. There's also no guarantee the replacements will be identical with the older ones they replace.

You may just have to learn to live with it.

 

I am personally not familiar with many of the beers you are mentioning but...

My hypothesis is that the beers you are mentioning all have the same thing in common: they are all very highly hopped beers.

One the the new beer styles that is very popular now is the Cloudy IPAs (i.e., the so called 'NE' style IPA). On multiple occasions Michael (@TongoRad) has posted that he is not a fan of these Cloudy IPAs and if my memory is serving me correctly he used similar verbiage as yours to detail why he does not enjoy this new style of beer.

Hopefully he will chime into this thread and perhaps his input will be useful.

Cheers!

 

I know a drinker who was being put off by a flavor in some IPAs. Turned out that flavor is Citra hops.

 

Thanks for the tag, Jack. I can't get into things in too much detail right now, but yeah, you can't swing a cat in the NYC area these days without hitting an IPA or Pale Ale done in this style.

To be brief, there's a green stemmy quality that comes out as the initial hit of fruity nectar dies down. Also, many will have a raw bread dough quality on the finish; that's the yeast in suspension right there. Other problems can involve overripe fruit, or what strikes me as a sort of juice concentrate. Too much of a good thing, iow.

A lot of times, these beers are good and enjoyable for a glass on draught before the flaws show. Obviously, they are made to give you that initial juicy hit, but really lack any sort of staying power by favoring such late hop additions.

 

I think there are a lot of factors that cause weird off-putting flavors. IMHO, I think the main factors that cause this are.......Medications that you are taking............what you drank before you had said beer.............what have you eaten before said beer...........what styles did you drink before said beer................there is probably lot of reasons. One example that comes to mind for me is a day that my drinking buddy and I had several sours and goses and then finished with 5 beans porter from Sixpoint. The Porter was too sweet to enjoy and then we realized that because of all the sour beers we had drank, the porter seemed too sweet. Just like eating any type of sour or tart food and then switching to a milder, sweeter food and it becomes too too sweet. Does that make any sense?, lol

 

How would tell the hops were possibly off as opposed to just being a shitty beer? I've had shitty beers they just are what they are, I've never stopped to consider any single component causing that, I just chalked it up to the Brewer.

 

If the brewer used shitty hops, than it's still the brewer brewing a shitty beer. Good hops are possible to get even for small brewers, you just have to be vigilant and refuse to settle for subpar stuff.

I would caution that blaming an entire variety is rarely the way to go. Lately, a lot of Citra beers have had onion/garlic flavors. That is a problem that is specific to certain growers and their lots. Good Citra shouldn't have those flavors. It's up to the brewer to do the leg work to find the good growers.

 

So you don't think it possible for someone to simply not like Citra hops?

 

Sort of... There is so much variability between lots that some lots are completely indistinguishable as the same variety of hops from a different lot. Citra in particular this year has been inconsistent. If a large supplier is blending lots and many breweries are purchasing the blended pellets (which is happening and is common), it would make sense that someone might think they don't like Citra. At my brewery, we went to great lengths to get an unblended lot of Citra and we bought the amount we need for a year of production to combat that problem. I suppose I'm more suggesting that if you (or in this case, your friend) taste something off that you attribute to a hop variety, it may be worth trying a few more examples from breweries in different regions and/or breweries of different quality levels.

 

objective flavors in beer are always a hot topic. imo carbonation is not subjective and some flavors are but off flavors usually are not. I like the fact that this year in the oktoberfest thread someone mentioned abv and dryness. I have tasted soapy before. I cant say i have in any enjoy by. I think the thing that i find off about some ipa's is the bitterness. Or the imbalance between the hops that did not last and what is left of the rest of the hops in the beer. One thing everyone struggles with is how to say I just don't like it. Empire brewing for me shows me flavors I think are off or that I am not expecting. I also have a strong dislike fo r a hop I think tastes cheap and really weedy. I don't know which hop it is but I had it in boddingtons. Shaving cream and mint . cheap tasting weeds. there I said cheap tasting. ><

I am expecting anyone soon to say but maria those are hallertau hops your favorite.