Help me understand biscuit

Check out some of the descriptions in the Salute to Saisons thread.

 

The reference came out the brewing and hip hop scene in the late 80s, as one of the leaders in the movement was once quoted in not one, but two seminal artistic endeavors, Doowatchalike in 1989, then the Humpty Dance in 1990, both of which referenced the same line referencing biscuits.

"I'm the one who said grab 'em in the biscuits and doowatchalike"

"I sang on Doowhutchalike, and if ya missed it
I'm the one who said just grab 'em in the biscuits."

"People say you brew like Indian Wells on crack Humpty"

 

I like lychee, where does that flavor show up?

 

Certain strains of brett/wild beers, especially if they have a hoppy component.

The Goose Island strain gets that way after a few years also- like in Sofie and Matilda.

 

As @JackHorzempa mentioned, references to bready like quality are common, but boy does bread and flour vary in taste and aromas!

I always like to think of a biscuity flavor as something like a digestive cookie, that to me is a real distinct "biscuity" like quality almost graham cracker too but that's a bit darker in caramel/brown sugar notes...

mmm... tasty...

 

I fetched my beer nosing kit, and found I still couldn't identify a lot of the aromas without peeping. And they are strong smells.

Still a lot to learn around here...

 

Gewürztraminer wines from Alsace.

Cheers!

 

The question becomes who is your intended audience when you are describing the flavors in a beer (or for that matter anything else). Stone fruit or any other similar description is an absolutely wonderful term if your audience consists of people who spend a lot of time on forums such as these. It is much more poetic than saying "it tastes kind of like a nectarine or peach". Even if you don't read these forums or have never heard the term before you likely can guess generally at what a stone fruit is, perhaps not every type, but I'd fathom that most would say nectarine, plum, or peach.

When a brewery uses a term like this within their descriptions do they really want to have people guess? My original point was that if we want people to try more complex beers then the terms we use matter. We don't need to dumb things down but we can choose words that appeal to a broader audience (unless a brewery does only want to sell to a very select clientele). Reviews on forums like this can be argued have a much narrower audience where stone fruit or any other term is fairly readily understood (though the discussion here has shown there is a bit of ambiguity). On the flip side perhaps more people would review beers if they didn't feel like they needed to know every aspect of every term we use. I don't know what the right answer is but I do know that if you ever told someone in a grocery store "It's in the aisle near the stone fruit" that they'd likely think you were daft.

 

So buttcheeks are what you are referring to if you use biscuit as a description?

 

beersnopes rated this claim "mostly true".

 

This post from Milk The Funk on THP has some valuable flavor language. Perceiving, Identifying, communicating flavor is really complicated. We should all (as advocates) smell everything in the grocery store just for the flavor memory.

 

I'm betting a lot of people would go and look near the peaches, plums, and nectarines.

 

@JuliusPepperwood seems to have nailed this with his links. For those who have the book, it is also covered on page 129 of The Oxford Companion To Beer, edited by Garrett Oliver.

 

In the US at least*, one doesn't even have to own the book, it's available as a searchable Google Book https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Companion_to_Beer/Ga4MYyZq-RMC?hl=en&gbpv=1

* I've run into cases where some Google Books aren't viewable outside the US, and vice versa.

 

I can't access the full google version, but I have it on kindle, but there are no pages there . Which alphabetical entry is it? Thanks!

 

"Biscuit Malt" is the entry on page 129

 

From the Biscuit Malt entry:

Interesting enough the nutty aspect is underlined.

 

Prunes as well.

 

Prunes are prunus. Dried though.

We could be on a dangerous slipping slope here. Think about what kilning does to malt. Malty?