This year's devil dancer, onion bomb?

I can personally attest that there are absolutely no onions or garlic. Lots of bitterness and the resin that kzoobrew mentioned.

 

No onion what so ever. I'm not the biggest hop head in the world but I think the 2012 release is great stuff.

 

I might be the minority, but I loved the garlic/onion aromas from last year's Devil Dancer.. the flavors were all over the place, but the aromas were wonderful. I still haven't tried this year's yet.

 

I find it in Deviant Dales pretty strongly, but I love Hoptimum and got NONE of that. I think the Citra in there powers it out if it is in there for some.

 

I dont know what you all are talking about. Last years Devil Dancer was amazing, i love the dirty dank onion flavors. I am very disappointed with this years. I was hoping it was just me and it would be better today. But after reading what everyones saying, im wishing i didnt buy a whole 4-pack. This was one of my favorite beers last year, this year its not worth the price. I love Founders, but I gotta point out that their packaging states they do not brew beer for the masses. Did they go the other way on this one? Changing the recipe to appeal to more people. Now I have lost possibly my favorite beer. First time I've been let down by Founders.

 

WHen u guy's say onion bomb what do you mean? what makes it have onion??? I havent had this beer yet i assume its a seasonal from Founder's that i havent had yet...

 

yes, they are talking about onions, probably an off flavor produced from the high concentration of hop acids in this beer.
I had last batch at the Bavarian Lodge Founders tap takeover and I didnt get any onion, just a nice powerful abrasive hop flavor..and yes it's a seasonal beer from founders

 

Some hops, notably Summit, have a green onion like aroma and flavor to some people. Others may perceive it to be fruity and resinous. It's an odd hop to say the least.

I'm one of the ones that get the green onion from Summit, and when I had Hop Stoopid and Devil Dancer they both demonstrated that character all too well.

 

thank god they switched it out. I like the more fruity and resinous thing this years has going on.

 

Yeah, tried another bottle tonight... FT: 2 bottles of 2012 Devil Dancer...

 

Some hops varieties have a sulfur compounds in the hops oils that cause the onion/garlic aroma. The crop year and the lateness of harvest have an influence on this. Summit hops have this compound. This compound can be driven off by a longer boil, so some like Summit for bittering additins and report no onion. Late hopping leaves some of that compound around.
This is the name "S-Methylthiomethyl-2-methylbutanetiolate"

Some have said that Summit is being replaced.

 

Yeah, it's just the variety of hop that does it. Later additions in the boil will bring the flavors out.

Similar to the fact that people are in love with Citra. It's awesome for late additions, but others pick up a wet horse blanket, grassy flavor from it, if used early in the boil for bittering.

 

I've got cat pee from Citra in Zombie Dust, but I've never noticed grassy or horse blanket, at least in a Citra beer. Now Brett based beers...

 

I've gotten that wet grassy taste from a citra bittered beer. I've heard of the cat pee, but to be honest... I've never had a cat, or been around them enough to discern cat pee smell/flavor. Kind of weedy and dank, hard to explain. Dry hop and flavor additions with Citra are flat out amazing though.

The calf nut, barnyard does lend it's self to me to saisons and brett beers though.

 

Ca

Cat pee aroma in some hops is another compound called 4MMP. It is in American hop varieties. An interesting thing about that compound is that women usually get the cat pee, and men don't.

 

Calf nut?

 

Nope, no onions, very happy with this years batch. It is very resinous, and a bit on the sweet side for my normal taste, but is 10000X better than last years caramelized onion mess. Although, I am not sure this years could make a brat taste as good as last years.

 

Here's a question - what's the deal with onion and cat pee flavor showing up more and more in the last few years?

I don't recall that showing up very often at all 5-6 year ago. Now it seems like a lot of beers have that. I used to think it was only simcoe or citra based, but it seems that even old school cascade and columbus beers can have it. Is this something some people really like and brewers are going for it, or is it a byproduct of something else?

 

So did they pull Summit out of the beer? I'm super sensitive to Summit, so I can't imagine how they could still include it without tasting like onions.

 

Citra was first used in a commercial beer in 2009 or so. Simcoe was used earlier, but has only become popular in the last several years.

The amount of these compounds are influenced by the growing location and variations in the season's weather. You can say this is terroir in the hops.