Can You Taste the Brewing Flaws in Beers with a Bunch of Additives?

Try an Anheuser-Busch Wild Blue, that's the best example of a high abv beer with a ton of additives that just sucks.

 

It does suck but that does not mean that Wild Blue is flawed. Since Anheuser-Bush brewed it is not flawed. It's well made and tastes exactly how they intended it to taste. Ba may not enjoy it but it's not flawed.

 

I can't count the number of times I've heard respected brewers state that low ABV clean lagers easily expose brewing "flaws" and that big IPAs, stouts, and added flavors are much better at hiding brewing "flaws." I'm not stating this as a value judgment as I think others here might. I wouldn't interpret "hiding" as "completely concealing."

 

I guess if it has flaws you may detect them, but if it is a big beer with loads of flavor it may be harder to detect them, just depends on your skill level at picking things out, etc.
Do breweries go into making a beer with the intent of having flaws?

 

That's pretty much what I was going to say. I've had brewers tell me they didn't originally intend to add flavors to a specific beer but when it came out with flaws the flavorings were tossed in to conceal mistakes. Or just to improve an otherwise disappointing flavor outcome.

 

Isn't a beer sucking and being sweet as hell a flaw?

 

Most do not, but sometimes there are brewers who don't even realize they're making flawed beer and think what they've done is oK. Also, sometimes s**t happens that's not part of the plan.

 

not if that is the way the brewer intended it to be.

 

It is?

 

A good brewer would go into making a beer with an understanding of their system, schedule, ingredients, and any resulting compromises and limitations.

 

I would say there are two types of flaws. Process flaws that create off flavors such a Diacetyl, DMS etc. I would think that an ipa with tons of hops can hide those flavors.

The second is recipe flaws. If you brew an ipa with too much bittering hops, or not enough late hops etc or a pastry stout with too much vanilla that it’s too sweet or that’s all you taste.

With big beers or beers with a lot of ingredients or additives the hardest part is getting all those flavors to blend together while tasting each one. To me it’s an art to find the right balance and not over do one single aspect and not having one you can’t even taste.

 

For me, more often than not, I want spices and flavorings to blend together so that I can't taste each one. I know I'm probably in the minority.

 

If so, it's a minority I'm happy to be part of. Anyone can throw a shit load of vanilla beans, coffee, and cinnamon in a beer and beat you over the head with the flavors. It takes a certain level of skill to use "just enough" to make you question what flavors/spices were used or for that matter whether there's actually any vanilla or coffee in there or if it's just the malt, hops, and yeast combo playing a trick on your taste buds.

Also, in regards to OPs post, I don't think "hiding the ABV" is a universal qualifier of being good. The alcohol "heat" that presents itself in a beer like Rochefort 10 is a vital piece of the overall package, and I think the beer would suffer if it was completely hidden. Again, that comes down to knowledge of the yeast you're using and the skill to control the fermentation schedule to create the desired outcome.

 

That's actually 'brewing', as opposed to 'making a flavored beverage'.

 

Hops might hide diacetyl for the first few ounces or so, but eventually it'll show its ugly head.

 

I agree. I’ve noticed it in a lot of poorly made iPas along with DMS.

 

Yes, many flaws can still be tasted in beers with lots of additives and ingredients. Most beers brewed with mangoes have a distinctive chemical-like aftertaste, for example, that's quite unpleasant.

 

You can have a lot of flavor additives in a big stout, but the one flaw than anyone can taste regardless of all of those additives is the SOUR from a bacterial infection. Sour beer lovers might still like the taste of it and consider it to be a happy accident, but many drinkers won't finish the beer. Plus, often a violent gushing occurs as part of the opening process, and no one likes that mess!

 

While I agreee there are also times I want to taste the flavors. If beer a says it has coconut, peanut butter, Bourbon barrel aged, coffee etc I want to taste those flavors as I am often buying beer based on what I expect. If a beer has coffee but I can’t actual tell it has coffee, to me that is kind of a fail. But on the flip side if all I can taste is coffee that’s a fail too.

Overall though it has to be balanced.