Penicillin can’t cure this infection

Infected beer is bad. Very bad. Drain pour beers are the worst. It’s not just money down the drain, but it’s a big let down with a beer you’ve been looking forward to drinking. You may be able to finish a beer with some off flavors, like a slight diacetyl or skunky flavor, but not an … Read more

Sometimes you don’t want to eat your veggies

While not as common as skunky beer or diacetyl off-flavors, dimethyl sulfide is another beer off flavor you’ll likely experience. Dimethyl sulfide, or DMS for short, is an organic sulfur compound that occurs naturally in germinated barley. Of course, germinated barley is is a major component of beer. DMS is often perceived as a vegetable … Read more

Cardboard & Lipstick

Along with Light Struck beer, oxidized beer is a common off flavor beer drinkers experience. Brewers can improve their quality control for problems like acetaldehyde and diacetyl, but it’s hard to fight oxidation because time is a significant contributor. Trans-2-nonenal is the chemical name, but everyone calls it oxidized beer. Beer drinkers vary in their perceptions, … Read more

Fake butter is for movie popcorn

One of the most common off flavors in beer is diacetyl. Diacetyl smells and taste like butter and it reminds many of movie theater popcorn. That’s not a coincidence, diacetyl used to be added to oil to make movie popcorn “butter flavoring” until it could cause health issues in large concentrations. The chemical name of … Read more

This beer sucks!

It’s probably happened to you. If not, it will someday. You picked up a nice bottle at your favorite shop, get it home and poured it into proper glassware. Or maybe your friendly beer server poured what looked like a perfect pint. Then it hits you like a brick upside the head. You face puckers … Read more