Beer Descriptors
Descriptor |
Description |
|---|---|
| Acetaldehyde |
Green apple aroma, a byproduct of fermentation. |
| Alcoholic |
Warming taste of ethanol and higher alcohol's. |
| Astringent |
A drying, puckering taste; tannic; can be derived from boiling the grains, long mashes, over sparging or sparging with hard water. |
| Bacterial |
A general term covering off-flavors such as moldy, musty, woody, lactic acid, vinegar, or microbiological spoilage. |
| Bitter |
Bitterness of hops or malt husks; sensation on back of tongue. |
| Body |
Thickness and mouth-filling property of a beer described as "full or thin bodied". |
| Butterscotch |
See diacetyl. |
| Diacetyl |
A volatile compound in beer that contributes to a butterscotch flavor, measured in parts per million. |
| DMS |
Taste and aroma of sweet corn; results from malt, as a result of the short or weak boil of the wort, slow wort chilling, or bacterial infection. -- Dimethyl sulfide, a sulfur compound. |
| Estery |
Aroma or flavor reminiscent of flowers or fruits. |
| Fruity |
Flavor and aroma of bananas, strawberries, apples, or other fruit; from high temperature fermentation and certain yeast strains. |
| Grainy |
Tastes like cereal or raw grain. |
| Hoppy |
Aroma of hops, does not include hop bitterness. |
| Light-Struck |
Skunklike smell; from exposure to light. |
| Medicinal |
Chemical or phenolic character; can be the result of wild yeast, contact with plastic, or sanitizer residue. |
| Metallic |
Tastes tinny, bloodlike or coinlike; may come from bottle caps. |
| Musty |
Moldy, mildewy character; can be the result of cork or bacterial infection. |
| Oxidized |
Stale flavor of wet cardboard, paper, rotten pineapple, or sherry, as a result of oxygen as the beer ages or is exposed to high temperatures. |
| Phenolic |
Flavor and aroma of medicine, plastic, Band-Aids, smoke, or cloves; caused by wild yeast or bacteria, or sanitizer residue. |
| Salty |
Flavor like table salt; experienced on the side of the tongue. |
| Solventlike |
Reminiscent of acetone or lacquer thinner; caused by high fermentation temperatures. |
| Sour/Acidic |
Vinegarlike or lemonlike; can be caused by bacterial infection. |
| Sulfurlike |
Reminiscent of rotten eggs or burnt matches; a by-product of some yeast's. |
| Sweet |
Taste like sugar; experienced on the front of the tongue. |
| Tart |
Taste sensation cause by acidic flavors. |
| Vinous |
Reminiscent of wine. |
| Winy |
Sherrylike flavor; can be caused by warm fermentation or oxidation in very old beer. |
| Yeasty |
Yeastlike flavor; a result of yeast in suspension or beer sitting too long on sediment. |