Like a Granny Smith Upside Your Head

In the last post we discussed diacetyl, a buttery flavor that is one of the most common off flavors in beer. Next up is another common off flavor, acetaldehyde. If you’ve ever had a beer that smelled or tasted like apples, you’ve enjoyed acetaldehyde. It can’t hurt you at the levels you’ll find in beer, … 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

Your Fortune Awaits

Miller is staking its claim in the premium beer market with Fortune, a beer to compete with AB’s Bud Light Platinum. From the first time you see the black bottle you know this is not your father’s Miller Lite, or your grandfather’s High Life. Miller describes it as a “spirited golden lager.” Spirited indeed, it’s … Read more

Our St Louis Roadtrip, part 3

We can’t believe it’s been four months since our beer excursion to St. Louis. It feels like 2014 is going by so fast, so after much delay, here’s the final installment. We had a busy Friday and Saturday and had enjoyed a lot of good beer and food. By Sunday morning we were tired from running … Read more