Coconut adjunct question

Here is my philosophy around additives like coconut and vanilla.. If you cannot afford, or do not have the desire or ability to use real ingredients, don't bother brewing that type of beer.
Artificial flavors stick out like a sore thumb in a beer. Vanilla is the worst offender.

 

Victory at Sea had a very fake vanilla to it, which I found to be not that great. On the other hand, Duclaw uses artificial PB in SBJ and FPS (at least I think they do). I find those beers very enjoyable.

 

As in Immitation vanilla extract?

 

I haven't personally experienced that. Sorry for using your thread to get on a soapbox. I would check on some recent reviews of Hawaiian Speedway. That beer had an incredibly strong coconut flavor when it was fresh, and rumor has it, that it is really starting to fall away. I can't see why coconut would turn bitter, though. It's so sweet.

 

I didn't/don't find that to be the case, but it should be pointed out that real vanilla beans are being used, not extract.

 

Ive heard people comment that an addition tasted "fake" WAY too often. These breweries are using the real ingredients, and when they are present enough to really get the flavor, suddenly it tastes "artificial" or "fake."

 

Why would it become bitter? Personally it doesn't make sense to me. Sounds like a a case of "a guy once told me x" and then that person belived it then told another person and so on.

Talking of coconut extract. I find coconut extract to have great aroma but the taste to be a bit off. Extract can be good in a small amount coupled with the real stuff to give the beer more coconut aroma but the majority of the flavor coming from real coconut.

 

I would think that this would be true with certain beers, especially something like a strong imperial stout, simply because as the coconut flavor falls off, the roasty bitterness of the stout becomes more apparent. I can't see why people would want to purposefully age a coconut beer though, unless it's just too boozy or one doesn't like coconut in the first place.

 

Do you have any verification on the use of real vanilla beans in VAS (or any other real ingredients in any flavored beers that BP produces for that matter?). I feel like they are one of the worst offenders in regards to the use of extracts/imitation flavoring. Would be great to find out I'm mistaken.

 

I've had aged coconut beers and it just falls off, it doesn't get bitter. As far as aging a beer on coconut, cant see it getting bitter given how sweet it is. Plus, if you're aging a beer on coconut, it doesn't long at all to get the desired flavor.

 

I think that they use PB2 (dehydrated peanut butter) to make SBJ and FPS. Ive heard that Terrapin uses it for Liquid Bliss as well

 

Just so we all know, extract vanilla is real vanilla. Not sure if that also counts for coconut extract, or any other, but yeah. Immitation vanilla is just so weak and watery, I doubt they would be using that.

 

Beers that use real vanilla beans clearly say so, which VAS does not. I had a bottle of Jackie O's Dark Apparition with vanilla beans and something else (chocolate?) and it tasted different. VAS just says artificial flavors, which I'm always suspect of, especially at their scale.

I, of course, can't verify, but it definitely tastes different than the beer mentioned above and Fundamental Observation. But almost everything else is different about those beers...

 

has that always been the case though? 4-5 or so years back i tried V@S on tap a couple of times, had a couple of bottles (over a couple of years releases) & it struck me just as the other member described. the vanilla flavor seemed like it was intense extract, almost like those French vanilla creamers that are for cutting / sweetening coffee. time-frame i'm talking about, it was sold in bombers with the brighter blue label.

last couple of years, since it went to 12oz / packs, the vanilla has been less intense & tastes much more like natural vanilla bean.

is it just what @raynmoon suggests? they were using so much bean or the 'natural' flavor was so pronounced then, for someone like myself, it seemed artificial? regardless, for my taste preference, that was way too _________ (not sure what the exact adjective is) but it was a negative attribute for me.

 

Except coconut isn't an adjunct, so there's that.

 

If we could stop saying flavor additions/ spices are adjuncts that'd be greaaaaaat.

 

Right, but does coconut/ vanilla bean/ spices produce carbohydrates/ fermentable sugars to wort?