Nitro vs Non-Nitro

I've had Odell 5 Barrel on nitro and regular, I think that the nitro brought out an interesting creaminess in the body and it fits Odells 'bringing new elements into beer to make it special' thing they do, I preferred the original over the nitro though.

I much prefer nitro on stouts,porters etc. As others have mentioned, Left Hands Milk Stout is something extra special when on nitro

 

Had a few beers on nitro tap and i have to say the smaller bubbles makes the beers feel thin and flat...did anyone else feel the same way and warm up to it?

 

Never really liked nitro. There's just something not right about it.

 

Tastes sorta watered down to me.

 

I enjoyed the "novelty" of it from widgets in cans early on, but to be honest, I am not a huge fan these days.

 

I find into okay for single flavor beers. For beers with layers of flavor or nuance, it mutes the whole experience. For some people, it is all about mouthfeel. Personally, I want to taste the beer as it was intended.
To each their own.

 

You can brew a beer knowing that it will be on a nitro line. This can change your brewing decisions.

 

The only beer on nitro I've really enjoyed and would order again was Southern Star's Buried Hatchet Stout. The others I've had seem like they gave up aroma and some flavor for the nitro mouthfeel. I really hated Dales Pale Ale on nitro, ruined the beer. So definitely stick to nitro stouts/porters.

 

Nitro mutes flavors, without question. I'll have a Guinness now and then (most often when it's the best thing available or it's St. Pat's Day), but even then as I'm drinking it, I recognize that it doesn't really taste anything like the best characteristics of my favorite stouts. ALL of the flavors that might be there--roasty, sweet, bitter--are almost nonexistent. Why else do you think Guinness Bombs are so easy to down? It's so smooth and lacks any of the depth or complexity that I find in things like Founders RIS, Old Rasputin, Sammy Smith's Imp Stout, etc.

And I've had an IPA on nitro once. Never again. IPAs on nitro might be good if you don't like the bitterness and pungency of hops. Of course, one might argue that if you don't like the bitterness and pungency of hops, you probably don't like IPAs.

 

Warlock on nitro...make sense to me

 

It's interesting how you say nitro "brought out an interesting creaminess in the body"

It's actually the opposite. Nitro imposes that "creaminess" by an artificial, external effect. It comes from the sensation created by the thousands of tiny nitro bubbles released after the beer is pumped through a plastic aerator. It's not something that exists naturally in the beer and can be "brought out".

 

I prefer Left Hand Milk Stout in the non-nitro version. And I prefer Left Hand Sawtooth Ale in nitro.

 

Don't all tapped beers have a blend in them? I know Founders uses a blend in theirs that's like 80/20 CO2/Nitro...

 

Many do, but so-called nitro beers have a considerably higher percentage of nitrogen and it's under higher pressure. It also has to be run through a plastic aerator to help release the nitro bubbles. You can't use a regular tap for it. It's an external, physical manipulation of beer that is artificial. That's why many of us find it disgusting.

 

just so you know, CO2 is a byproduct of fermentation, it is naturally dissolved in the beer. Nitro is not and never has been a by product of fermentation

 

Isn't nitro beer thinner in body and flavor because of a lot of tiny CO2 bubbles? Less beer, more air. Hey, but it's creamier.

 

Barrel aging a beer is external, physical manipulation of a beer and I would disagree with the fact that nitrogen added is "artificial."

IMO, nitro beers can be done well in certain styles (i.e. bitters and stouts) that are lighter, session beers. It adds a unique drinkability and an enjoyable mouthfeel.

 

It's artificial in the sense that the process is introduced during serving after the beer is finished and kegged, unlike barrel aging, and also because nitrogen is not a byproduct of fermentation.

What you consider an "enjoyable mouthfeel" is found to be highly unnatural and repulsive by many others. Some people like artificial flavors like in bubblegum and Koolaid. Too each their own.

 

You meant nitro bubbles, not CO2.

 

I have never been a huge fan of nitro. Never had a hoppy beer on nitro that I even came close to enjoying. I can see why some would like it and have no problem with it, drink what you like, it's just not for me...and this is coming from a guy who drank nothing but Guinness for 3 years back in the nineties.