"Complex" is a Useless Beer Descriptor

LEVELS OF FLAVOR!!!

 

Used in the right context in a review it's fine.

Having said that:

1. I bet there is a directly proportional trend for many BAs, between "complexity" and the ABV level. Stronger doesn't equal complex.
2. The times when I can't stand the word complex are in the threads about what beer to give a wine lover. Invariably the responses are "you should give them westy/dark lord/bcbs because they are complex like wine and your friend will appreciate it more"

 

The owner of the brewery of the number 1 rated beer in the world (on this site) disagrees with you.

 

It's a complex issue generally explaining complex. For instance, how about smoked malt and genetic memories of woodfires? Great beer offers descriptive opportunity and makes our lives more complex and meaningful only if we are lucky. It is very easy to get hung up on some words.

 

I'm along this line of thinking. I don't have anything against it, but it's a crutch.
I had Evil Twin Yin last night and would have called it complex, but only because there was a flavor I couldn't identify somewhere between vanilla, chocolate, maple, and coffee (I was pretty stumped...). If I could have pinned it down, I'd have named it instead of calling it complex, and my description of it would be better for that.

 

So is "one dimensional" also a "bad" term to describe beer? Seems to be the opposite of complex...

I use the term one dimensional to describe simple beers with straight forward flavors. They are usually lighter beers and often only use one hop and no specialty grains or wacky yeast strains. Some are bad, and some are good.

I use the term complex to describe a beer that is all over the place. Sweet, salty, boozy, 7 different types of hops, dry hopped, 11 herbs and spices, cherries and pineapple, etc. Same with one dimensional - some of these complex beers are good and some are bad.

As for beers with odds flavors I can't put my finger on... I tend to describe them as "interesting" Like a belgium style brewed with coffee, grape juice, basil and halls cough drops.

 

I use the term when there's more going on in the beer than I can describe.

 

I'd rather read a review that says "complex" than:
" I taste figs, dates, raisins, grapes, plums, dark cherries, bread, toast, croutons, bread crumbs, pizza dough, cereal and an earthy character"

 

I read the first 3 paragraphs and couldn't go any further. That guy needs to get over himself...

 

This piece seemed like a very long-winded way of explaining his personal association of the word complex. Is brewing beer "complex" relative to bridge-building? Absolutely not. Can one beer have a "complex" aroma/flavor profile relative to another beer of the same style? Absolutely. Seems like he has one narrow definition of the word and wants everyone to perceive it the same way.

"I recently came across a new brewery’s web site where every single of one its beers was described as complex. It comes off pretentious..."

The guy dislikes people overusing the word "complex". I get it. But to suggest that the word should never be used when describing a beer seems much more annoying than the overuse itself. Complex does not equal good. Simple and straightforward does not equal bad or boring. It's an adjective, that's all. Sure, some people will use it incorrectly or in the wrong context. But it's certainly nothing I would waste time complaining about.

 

Complex is such a useless term now, and Alcahuete has it right. People use it as a descriptor for in your face flavors. I hear that word used with a stout and I go 'oh he means someone threw it in a barrel and there's chocolate/coffee/bourbon flavors going on and it's probably really intense'.

If your palate is educated and refined enough, you will find just as many flavor notes in a Boston Lager or a 90 Minute as you would a bourbon barrel aged stout, they just may not be hitting your face as much as the flavors in the stout are.

 

stopped reading at

"I’d like to discuss what I think is the most overused and unnecessary word in the world of craft brewing. The word I love to hate is “complex.”

Beer is not complex. You know what is complex? A suspension bridge, brain surgery, a commercial jet air liner — these things are complex."

this is idiotic. the author needs to look up the word 'scope'.

complex is a fine word. some beers have several distinct flavors, some don't. some are straightforward, some aren't.

 

complex is a perfectly fine descriptor, particularly if you can put it into context what you are evaluating.

Other peoples reviews really don't make me angry... so there ya go..

 

Just because it's misused is no reason to write it off.
I too find greater complexity in modest beers.That's because it's possible to pick out different layers , nuances, hints etc.A strong beer doesn't allow this, there's a great mass of flavour but too much of it to unravel.

 

“Complex” is a Useless Beer Descriptor

no, it's not...

 

"Complex: 1. composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite"

Seems like using it once is perfectly reasonable as a praise of the beer and its ability to deliver a pleasing blend of flavors that are also described when reviewing. It's not a descriptor itself, but the idea that using it once is "too much" is just bullsh*t trolling like most online "journalism".

 

It has to do with who uses it and in what context, and if they'll make an attempt at describing why it is complex.

Most people don't do that. And most people, especially on this site, use it to describe a beer that hits you in the face with flavor, which isn't what complex means.

 

While I have come to appreciate the subtleties of beer tasting, I do shake my head at some reviews. Oh really, you tasted goji berries grown in the Yellow River's southern floodplains and picked 6 days before they were ripe? Wow! Your palate must be so refined!

 

This article, this discussion: Complex, yet simply fruitless.

 

Why did my response to this thread get deleted? I don't get it. All I said was that complex was a better descriptor than epic. The word epic is used constantly when describing beer and it's completely useless. Complex, love it or hate it, at least gives you some expectation of experience. Epic is a hollow term.