Agreed. This conjures the "super taster" discussion, as to if it is nature or nurture or a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B.
There are other foods I don't care for, largely because of their bitterness. Walnuts to me taste bitter; the only way I'll consume them is in/on brownies. Pecans are another nut I don't care for (unless it's pecan pie). Oddly though, I can handle beers and liquors with pecan as a flavor component. That also holds true, although less so, for walnut flavored beverages. I remember as a teenager having a discussion with my brother-in-law about water chestnuts. I thought they were sweet (and still basically do), while he thought they were bitter. I wonder if there's a connection?
I started noticing this more as I got into wine. Tasting certain aged wines like Pinot Noir can give off mushroomy notes, and all the grapes have specific characteristics, like Bordeaux blends having aromas of graphite, violet, cedar, forest herbs, etc. Same with the Hefeweizen and Belgian yeast giving the banana and clove taste. Some hops like Idaho 7 and certain English varietals give off a strong black tea taste to me too that I don't notice other people reporting in reviews often, so that may be a certain flavor I'm sensitive to in hops.
This is one of the things that I find intriguing about fermented beverages. The end product is not just about the ingredients, it's about what your microbes (i.e. yeast and bacteria) do which those ingredients via enzymes. I feel like a lot of people who reach a certain level of beer-geekdom know about the phenols and esters in weizenbier, 4VG and isoamyl acetate, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of the characters that you mentioned are probably terpenoids and volatile thiols. The interesting thing, to me at least, is how those things are produced by the interaction of raw materials with living micro-organisms. To me, that's the really neat part of beer, wine, mead, cider, etc.
Wow, I knew about the cilantro issue for some people (I love cilantro BTW) but did not know about the connection to hops. I am so sorry. But thanks for sharing the specifics.
Sounds like there might be a "supertaster" thing going on. This courtesy of Google AI: I believe I am whatever the opposite of this is. I love spicy, intense, bitter, funky, sour, and sweet.
I want so badly to like spruce tips in IPAs or pale ales but that flavor comes across in taste like what Pine Sol smells like. There's nothing like drinking a spruce tip beer while sitting in the men's room at the brewery.
I actually quite like spruce tips in beer. They taste like sweet lemon pine trees, but in a good way. A friend gave me a bottle of Giant Jones Canadian Style Spruce beer. It was quite nice, although not quite as good as Alaska Winter Ale. I’d be interested in trying more spruce beers, but they seem to be primarily winter beers.
I have the "cilantro tastes like soap" gene(s) but I've always enjoyed IPAs. I did notice based on my ratings here that I don't seem to care so much for NE/hazy IPAs. I don't think it's because I notice a soapy flavor though. Maybe I need to pay more attention the next time I try one.
I have the “I love cilantro and hops gene”. When I make Mexican food I have to have cilantro and always ask for extra at restaurants.
This is interesting. One of the reasons I love hazies is the umami kick, which I always suspected was due at least partially to the yeast particles in the suspended stuff that makes them hazy. Umami is another taste component that supertasters can be sensitive to. It's not definitive, but there might be a connection.
Cilantro = Revolting Hops = Enlightening Cilantro...No allergies or adverse reactions. If someone hands me a big fat homemade taco or burrito with cilantro all over it I will gladly eat it knowing I hold the leash on the leprechaun that hates the shit. Mind over matter. Now, for beer...It's pert near down the middle. I can live on a sweet, caramelized malty island for yonks as easily as I could a bracingly tart, fruity, lemon-grass-that-needs-some-cuttin' atoll. As long as the beer is fitting for my needs I'll enjoy it either way.
Some beer drinkers will discuss Hazy IPAs as having a chalky quality (and some will state it tastes like aspirin). I wonder if this is the situation for @Oktoberfest? Cheers! P.S. I sometimes pick up chalky but it is brand and age (beer too young) specific.
I pickup a vitamin taste, like those hard vitamins. It reminds me of flintstones vitamins when I was a kid
