Common off-flavours in craft beer (a guide) | The Craft Beer Channel 

Another common one (only on tap) is dirty lines. Usually described as a dirty dishrag flavor. There was a bar we would go to sometimes that had a lot of good beers on tap but you could tell never cleaned their lines because 1. They were beers I’d had before and knew were good and 2. They all had the same gross off flavor. Bars need to flush their lines with caustic acid pretty commonly to clear all of the gunk out.

I remember the first time we had an off flavors tasting in my homebrew club, I instantly reacted to the wet cardboard smell with the word LIGNIN! Which was a raw material, extracted from wood (cardboard is also a product extracted from wood), that my company used in some of their products. I was exposed to it on a daily basis, so I immediately recognized it.

Funny thing in North America, all the cold beer stores put the cheap mass lagers in the walk in cooler and all the specialty, craft beers on the shelf in room temperature.

Great info as always Jonny 🙌🏻

Super informative! Thanks!

Beer geek meter off the charts! Love the lesson. Thanks for the education.

Loved the video I had a few cardboard mop flavors before!!! Love you guys!!!!

Oh boy do some "Beerstagrammers" need to watch this! Nice one, always enjoy vids like this. Good for the knowledge and learning 🍻

My Sis got a beer from a mail subscription service that legitimately tasted like the scent of a fiberglass shop. Weird and specific I know. But my mom works at a boat manufacturer and the scent of that one building that made fiberglass forms is the EXACT taste that beer had. I couldn't describe it any other way but my brother tried it and absolutely agreed.

Thanks @jonnygarrett, best advice ever: “don’t be a dick about it”. Cheers brother!

I really enjoy just a hint of the onion and hop burn combo. Just a hint though.

I've had a local brewery reach out via untapped to make sure the beer hadn't turned. I gave it a .25 / 5, and really, really hated it. After they reached out I bought more of that beer to double check, and it was foul to my pallet. No hard feelings from either side. Another brewery I love, whose local, did a 180, going from wild and weird to almost macro flat and boring. They got in contact via untapped and offered 6 pack vouchers for going to mainstream. I still buy every single new beer they produce, and hit the brewery a few times a year.

Great informative video

I am continually amazed by how different people's sensitivity levels to various flavour compounds are. Earlier this year I took a really bad vinegary pint back and the landlord immediately apologised and took the beer off. I told another customer that I though the beer was off and he could get it changed - he got angry and said 'I can't taste anything wrong with it' There really is no accounting for taste! (great video BTW)

Nice video dude

You're a fantastic presenter. Top tier quality even without much editing or gimmicks. Well done!

Brilliant video guys. Clear and concise information. I feel smarter already. Also, just seen my name at the end of the video. Brilliant 👍😎

I just had my fits homebrew braggot! Its has a discusting oily aftertaste, like butter that is melting in your mouth. Thanks for the ediocation on off-flavours. I will store my bottles in a colder place from now on!

its cool that ive noticed these "flavors" before without being able to describe them

I find stouts can often have a woody or earthy flavour I don't really like. Not sure that's an off-flavour though so much as a flavour in stout which I don't like.

Cheers bro 🍻 🍻 🍻 HB ❤

Ran into the vinegar off-flavor a few times. Really disappointing on one that I dropped quite a bit on, but it's also part of the fun and adventure.

I'm glad you mentioned the butyric- I tried a sour at a local brewery where the most dominant acid providing the sourness was butyric acid, the smell of vomit. Prone to the power of suggestion, I almost vomited myself! This was fantastic!

What's the worst pint you've ever had?! HIT US UP. In the meantime, learn how to taste like a beer judge right here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KpqRKLigVTw.html

Ascetic Flavour. My Nemesis. Had to ditch a fair few gallons of beer over the years because of it. Thankfully not because the beer was crap, but because people weren't drinking my Cask Ale fast enough. Certainly a lesson in knowing what your regulars like, that's for sure! If you get a bad pint of Cask, take Jonny's Advice- Don't Be A Dick About It. Most places worth their salt will just offer to swap your beer for another, and will thank you for letting them know the barrel's gone. Great video as always. I'll be on the lookout for some of these flavours!

You keep making content that is perfect for my beer class at the local community college! Keep up the great work.

lol ive run into quite a lot of spoiled beer during my reviews..... one was like 11 years old spoiled. getting from an international bottle shop comes with a price sometimes lol

Another one probably worth mentioning is DMS (dimethyl sulphide) which comes across as cabbage or corn usually. Most noticeable in pale lagers.

methylated beer is something i ve experienced with cask; I don t know if meths is denser than beer but i noticed the flavour getting more off after drinking half. My mate thought i was crazy, until he d also got half way through his pint.

I actually like hop burn 😅

Generally vinegary bite is considered an off-flavour in lambic but not always. Boon released a Geuze which had this "off-flavour" as a feature, inspired by the tastes of americans. There's also Hanssens, which is very vinegary on purpouse. However vinegary bite in flemish reds is part of the style character.

Counter point ethyl esters and acetylaldehyde taste great haha. I don't know what it is. But to my tastebuds I love that sort of apple sauce/ripe pear flavor. And to sweeten the pot. Ive done flavor standards and can't actually taste diacetyl or dms haha. Im a lucky one.

I often get notes of green paprika or green apple in bourbon barrel-aged stouts.

Great video. Regarding the deterioration of hoppy flavours in a non-refrigerated beers, personally I find this varies. I have had stashes of beer that I've kept in the garage for months due to a lack of fridge space - not always in the coolest of temperatures. I've found some of these old IPAs and pales have exhibited exactly the unpleasant flavours you've described; others, though, have held up really well, and still taste beautifully hoppy to me. Are certain hop varieties more susceptible than others? Or could, say, a good-quality canning system also help defer this deterioration?

Thanks for the continued excellent work, lads! Your videos and podcasts have been one of the few positives during the last 18 months. I know that your entire back catalogue will have explained the "opposites" to this video, but I'd love a sister video that discussed the main "good" tastes? I appreciate this probably showcases me as a noob to craft, but even after a few years of crafty indulgence, I still find some of the on-can descriptions of beers confusing. I'm thinking common ones to IPAs such as "stonefruit" and even "piney". I also find myself noting flavours in beers that, according to experts like you guys, would appear contradictory. For example, I might drink a NEIPA that is both juicey and piney, or crisp/sharp and hazy/soft, or bitter yet also smooth. Is this just my unrefined palate, or am in misunderstanding terms?

the single most common off flavor I pick up on is the wet paper bag. Almost 100% of the time I pick it up on any macro....

Hi mate my bottled home brew is getting very small black dots sticking to the inside of the bottle which detach and mix through when disturbed . Any idea what may cause this .only been last 2 brews

I've had pints at the bar (typically from establishments with lots of taps) that tasted metallic, kind of a copper-y flavor. What would you attribute that to? People I've talked to about it theorized dirty lines, but would love your opinion! Great video, very insightful.

For me, diacetyl is a buttery flavour but I think it's better described as butter-popcorn. Which makes sense when you know it's diacetyl which is added to microwave popcorn to add that buttery flavour.

I’d be really interested on a video on beer rating etiquette. I use Untappd for my own reference, rated on how much I enjoyed a beer. I won’t rate a beer where the style isn’t one I would choose to buy but I drank it anyway (I don’t like many whitbiers so I refrain from rating them but if they come in a pack I’ll happily polish them off!) but aside from that it’s all about me. I wouldn’t like to think I am harming a brewer by recording personal taste but neither am I a qualified beer judge...?

I am one of those disturbing weirdos who quite enjoys a little hop-burn.... For me, it adds a nice bite to an IPA, especially in New England styles where the bitterness is often non-existent. But, maybe I'm crazy...

Nice videos!! I am a newcomer in homebrewing and I get acidic fruity flavors. I ferment for approximately 20 days, 10 primary and 10 bottling, and a few days in the fridge. As the weeks go by the beer tastes better, is this lagering, all beers should be laggered?

The first and only time I tried brewing - the results kind of put me off trying again - my finished beer had a very soapy flavour. Any idea what might have caused that? I did wonder if it was just a result of the sterilising solution I used on the bottles, but it was from a reputable seller and was labelled as odorless and tasteless.

hobgoblin especially the ruby, the imperial & the King have those banana flavours and the stronger abv you go up that list the more varnish it gets.

Does "Green beer" refers to the beer being not ready BECAUSE of the garlic / onion flavors, or just because it needs some time for other reasons? Also, I learned that many of the whisky I love do have a huge butter smell / flavor, and diacetyl is exactly what can happening when distilling, science is amazing!

The last group of flavours is best known as esters rather than acetate. These are the more fruity off-flavours as you mention and even though some are indeed acetate's, they are esters of that particular compound.

Happy international beer day

Question: when homebrewing and bottle conditioning - at what point do you put your IPAs in the fridge? Some say to condition for 2 weeks but from what you’ve said this could be too long at room temp (20ish). Maybe best to condition for just one week then get them all in the fridge? We do have oxidation issues with our beers. Bottling is tricky. Kegs are purchased, just need co2 and some more learning!!!

I avoided mosaic for a while as people talked about it being oniony - and I got a hefty kick of red onion every now and then which i didn’t love. Is that a characteristic of mosaic or was it more of a hop burn or hop creep do you think? (Obvs it was mainly neipas I was drinking)

The only beers I have had a dusty note in them, are the farmhouse ales, saison, etc. Along with that hay, wet horse blanket, etc kind of notes. The whole garlic/onion thing, I have always associated with super fresh beers (which makes sense since your description), and dankness, usually with Simcoe I have found. Had a local brewer (oldest in the city) had a beer and it was literally like drinking a stick of melted butter the butter notes were so prevalent, I had mentioned it to them, and was told that was the way it was supposed to be. Yeah, no. Needless to say, while their beer doesn't have the buttery flavor anymore, and despite it being the oldest craft brewery in the area, their beer hasn't gotten that much better, so I tend not to spend my money there. Well, I do, but it is usually buying other craft brewery beers that they bring in from around the province to sell in their shop. They pride themselves on being a British type brewery, using the Peter Austin brewing system, open top fermenters and Ringwood yeast for everything, regardless of style. Which for some styles, is fine, but when you are making a NEIPA, sorry but you don't use Ringwood yeast in an open top fermenter. Maybe it is just me.

I had a beer at a brewery one time and it tasted like Pickle Juice no joke. It was on tap and labeled as experimental, but the person behind the bar said they actually brewed some beer that didn't quite come out as they liked and they decided to put it on the tap list anyway just to get rid of it. It was marked way down in price compared to their other beers of course.

Here and there I enjoy a good hop burn. It’s kind of like the joy I get from a painfully carbonated soft drink. It hurts so good!

The worst one I sometimes pick up is burnt rubber.

Could the acetate off flavour in a lagered beer be dulled by more time in a keg? I had a couple of pints of Yon which where great, then 3rd pint had a big green apple skin flavour. Took it back and was told theres nowt wrong with it and thats what it should taste like. Mentioned the last 2 pints where fine and again told its what its supposed to taste like as its a new keg. Could the "old" keg have just had time to kill the acetate off?

In addition to the copper flavor already mentioned, I often get a smoky off flavor in the beers at some some breweries. This is across all their beers. I've read this can be from cleaners and/or chlorine. Any insight on this?

Yeah... I made a Sultana heavy NEIPA and the hop creep was VERY VERY REAL. Got massive diacetyl and hop burn and I'm close to chuking it down the drain....

Acetate is a sheet of plastic used generally to cover maps, Acetone is found in nail polish 👍👍

So I really do need to dry hop in the chilled keg rather than the fermenter to get the most out of them?

Every now and then I’ll try a beer that has a tobacco flavour to it. It’s not mentioned in the tasting notes on the can or bottle so I wonder if it’s intentional or could it be an odd flavour caused by poor storage?

On cold storage: nearly all beer is sold in shops without any refrigeration (OK *some* beer is stored in shop fridges). I imagine it also shipped without refridgerated lorries etc. Therefore, doesn't all that transportation and shop storage process dictate what happens to the hops regardless of how you store it once purchased?

What causes some fruited sours to have an extremely thick and gross looking head?

If your priming in the bottle, don't you need to keep it at a more ambient room temperature for a few days to let the yeast eat the sugar before you store it cold? Or maybe a better question is how soon after priming should you store it cold?

That vinegar flavour in cask is such a killer - I've been in a few pubs post-lockdown and have gone for cask but had some bad experiences of IPAs, bitters, and pales tasting sharp, sour, almost cider-like, with some being undrinkable. Some pubs really look after their stuff, but others seem to serve beers that are clearly off and just don't care. It's a shame, because cask beer can be beautiful, but almost feels like a gamble unless you really trust the pub.

Made a wheat beer with old hops, beer looked great but my god the taste of blue cheese was revolting

Sat in a pub with some mates drinking a cask conditioned blonde served off a hand pump, I noticed the beer tasted like butter, but in a nice tasty way. I was with my brewing buddies and we all agreed it tasted great and we had a couple more pints of it. Sometimes I get a beer that has a fake "popcorn" flavour, like you might get from the popcorn flavour jellybeans. I think that fake popcorn taste is awful, and I wonder if the flavouring is diacetyl? For me, I think diacetyl tastes more like popcorn than like butter. Butter flavours in beer taste nice to me.

Huh, didn't see sulfur, rather the boiled cabbage smell. Is that not concidered an off flavor?

This is why craft beer is so niche. Most of it has terrible off tastes. If it is actually a flavor most people would enjoy it won't remain craft for too long.

So there is a brewery near me that makes New England’s primarily …everyone loves them…but sometimes I taste and smell vinegar.. they do not distribute…is the problem me

Necermind I found it

It's only an off flavour if you don't like it. I've dumped batches of beer that tasted awful to me, that sour, saison, or wild beer enthusiasts, might think were excellent.

Once got a beer52 stout from the Netherlands which was like drinking burnt rubber. Anyone had a similar experience?

Watching this a bit late but im increasingly getting canned stouts which have sourness to them and where any flavours, chocolate, vanilla, coffee have completely gone. These stouts are relatively fresh and kept cold/chilled. What is this about and can I do anything to combat it? Its increasingly turning me off non-imperial stouts

How old would u drink u drink a craft beer before its past its best.

The reason why craft "brewers" like high IBU is that it is masking their screw ups. And craft has no limits in that one.

I smell tomato juice when my NEIPA’s go bad

This couldn't of came at a better time. Selfishly for my own homebrew, I had an oxidisation issue which I've resolved, and I have great clarity now in my beer instead of dirty water look. However I can't place the taste I get, which seems to occur in all my brews. For a very juicy IPA recipe and it just isn't quite there.... But Im terrible at identifying tastes! Thanks for your info!

Can "expired" beer make you sick/give you food poisoning?

Yea hopburn really sucks..... acctulle I quite enjoy some hopburn.....

Don't worry about off flavors, thats what lactose is for.

I can get a cat pee vibe from some IPAs.. and it's not just one brand or batch. Any idea why? Not very pleasant..

H2S?

I recently had problems with two brews where there was a strong back taste of Elastoplast / medicinal, My water is from a well with zero chlorine, we had had some exceptionally warm temperatures (30 C + unusual in Estonia) so put it down to yeasts working outside their happy range. Changed to using Kveik yeast and it seems to have solved it, so Kveik for summer from now on for me . Its a horrible taste that does not seem to fade with time, beer eventually was dumped.

Really informative video Jonny! I store everything remotely hoppy cold and try and drink fresh. The last off flavour I experienced was a smokey one in a couple of bottles of trad ale. A quick email to the brewery got them replaced. For my sins I do use untappd but if I think anything isn't as the brewer intended I check in with a comment to raise the issue, leave it unrated and follow up with an email. Only if the brewery fails to respond or I get a rude message back (which has happened more than once!) do I consider going back and adding a low score.

If you buy from high quality producers, the chances are good that You wont experience these off flavors. But as Johnny says, there are excpetions.

It's not a "fetishization around freshness" that is ruining craft beer, it's fetishization around "hipster hop bomb" ipa's that is ruining craft beers. Step outside the cult of the hop bomb and maybe learn to appreciate some malty lagers, German weiss, some stouts and porters, or some Belgians. Oh, but for the love of god please don't turn a Hoegarden into an orange bomb and call that craft either.