Oak

Personally, I don't agree at all. If a beer sits in an oak vessel, the oak contributes to the beer. Depending on the condition of the wood, it might not contribute much at all, or it might add a clear woody character. Perhaps you enjoy that character. I've learned to dislike it.

 

I want to add - It often bugs me that BA doesn't let people search for 3 letter words.

As a hypothetical example, if someone is searching a particular thread for a post about wet hopped beers, they should be able to successfully search for "wet" in that thread.

@Todd

If you thought about the process as adding something rather than taking something away, I think you'll get much closer to that understanding though.

 

It's hard to give a definitinve answer to that question.
Overall, as someone above mentioned, oak will add tannins to a beer |(or wine...) that's aged in it. Tannins are not as much a flavor thing as a texture, more so dryness to it.
Depending on the nature of the wood, it can add some flavor as well, it often comes out as a sort of vanilla-y flavor and aroma, though not exactly like it.
Part of that will depend on if it's fresh oak, or toasted, and how toasted it is. heavy toast will give a much different flavor and aroma than untoasted.
It also has to do with the base beer. My un-scientific experience says that different styles will have different reactions to aging in general, and different reactions with the oak.

 

Oak Stand is one of my favorite beers. I like beer that sits on oak. Shackamaxamum uses oak spirals I believe and after a bunch of years it gets going really nice.

Enjoy

 

I believe White Oak is the most commonly used of Quercus for barrels and or foders. The taste and aroma of oak differs from tree to tree. They're not clones like corn plants and each individual tree has nutritional needs which it may or may not get. Lots of variables: fragrant, green, earthy, nutty, and sometimes previously used oak barrel staves can impart a teak type of flavor (kind of peppery) etc and it's up to the brewer to decide what gives. For me, I prefer a little less tannin overall in any wood-aged beer. They become too dry and are sometimes a wee bit sour.

 

Oak for me 100% adds a distinct flavor and feel to it for me. We have a brewery near by that has quite a few oak aged lagers, they do them a few times a year.

It is weird cause I feel like I notice it more in feel but flavor wise I tend to notice it too, dried out sawdust that is tad spice like and a tad vanilla like, is how I would describe it; though I’d probably just say oak like. Then again it also probably depends on the condition of the oak, the beer, and lots of other things. I guess depending on the beer those notes may not even be noticeable at all. Most of my experience with oak is from those pale lagers I mentioned above.

Doing a side by side with jai lai and oak aged jai lai years ago, I’ve never not recognized oak since the.

 

This may be useful:

The Science Behind Barrel Aged Beer

Includes discussion about which components produce flavors.

Make your Google search term "the effect of oak aging on beer".

Northeast Barrel Company Blog

 

Very nice links. Thanks!

 

Tastes like over steeped black tea. It can leave a bitter, drying, puckering sensation on the tongue and in the mouth.

 

They taste like…oak.