# Asparagus Beer?



## Busboy (8/7/06)

Tonight I opened a beer I bought just the other day, a Bavarian lager, and immediately I was struck by an aroma I could only describe as "asparagus". Thinking that it couldn't taste as bad as it smelled, I took a sip. Asparagus again! Not an attractive aroma for a Bavarian lager, I thought. So I tipped the beer down the sink.

What could be the cause of this aroma? Is it oxidation?


----------



## PostModern (8/7/06)

I've had the same flavours from bottlo's I suspect of letting the bottles get too warm or spend too long in storage. Green bottle lagers left on the shelf in the sun often taste like this.


----------



## Weizguy (8/7/06)

Sounds to me like the dreaded skunk. Not the hi-powered hydroponic kind either, but the degradative product of hop oils exposed to light. How was the best-before date?

Beer left for too long in hot conditions and/or under fluorescent lights in green bottles usually shows this. Some people think that this is what Euro beers taste like, and then avoid them like the plague.

Frank Akers, the Coopers homebrew guru has recently advised me of this, and suggests you get these beers from a sealed carton. I recently tasted some Coopers lager that was a bit gutless and similar to a certain NSW megabrew in flava. It seems that best-before date is not a good indicator, as the first Coopers lager I tasted was 6 months older (from a different bottlo) and it was still great. I went back to a different shop and got 2 more "good" Coopers lagers.

Maybe you should test another beer from the shop and if it's nasty; save it and return it, get your money back for both lots and never, ever go there again.

Seth's 2 cents worth (good value)


----------



## Malnourished (8/7/06)

Busboy said:


> What could be the cause of this aroma? Is it oxidation?


If it was like canned asparagus I'd guess DMS. If it was fresh asparagus, NFI.


----------



## Weizguy (8/7/06)

The compound is definitely sulfur-related. It may be oxidative, but will appear in the absence of oxygen due to uv light energy being enough to create/facilitate the chemical reaction.


----------



## Ash in Perth (8/7/06)

are you saying that corona may actually taste good if it hasnt been left in the fridge next to a flouro light in a clear bottle? 
actually no it wouldnt, because there is no flavour in there to go off i guess.

The bottleshop i work at is terrible for this, there are flouro lights running up either sides of the fridge doors and alot of teh beers are in clear or green bottles and can sit there for a while. 

Brown bottles stop most of the UV from penetrating so all of the real beers are protected


----------



## Busboy (8/7/06)

The aroma was more like tinned asparagus (which I loathe BTW). The bottle itself is a nice, thick, dark brown swing top. So I don't think exposure to UV would be a problem. 

After I tipped the beer down the sink, I opened a Belgian wit I had bought from the same shop and it was perfect. I have a few more bottle I'd bought from the same shop, so I hope they're OK.


----------



## Doc (8/7/06)

Busboy said:


> After I tipped the beer down the sink, I opened a Belgian wit I had bought from the same shop and it was perfect. I have a few more bottle I'd bought from the same shop, so I hope they're OK.



I'll be waiting to hear before I make the trek out there :unsure: 

Doc


----------



## berapnopod (8/7/06)

Just a quick chemistry note...

When you first mentioned asparagus, I had no idea what it might be. But if you say its more like canned asparagus, it could be a few things, all very similar chemically:

There's DMS: CH3-S-CH3
Commonly described as cooked or canned corn. Pilsner malts naturally have a lot of the precursor.
In high concentrations, it smells more like rotting cabbage or sewerage. It shouldn't be so strong as to be offensive!

There's methyl mercaptan: CH3SH
This is the smelly ingredient in asparagus pee (not in asparagus in great proportions). Smells similar to DMS,
and again in large quantities can smell like rotting vegetables. In fact its one of the main chemicals in bad breath.

There's Prenyl mercaptan: <something complicated>-SH
This is the all important molecule that is the result of UV light cleaving hop iso-acids apart. Same chemical in a skunk's stink, but since we don't have them here, its hard to describe. But in any case, very similar to DMS and methyl mercaptan. Its typically the result of leaving a beer in sunlight. If you ever want to find out what its like, just buy a bottle of Corona and leave it in the sun for an hour. Open it up and you won't forget the smell!

Bottom line is that its either a result of skunking of your beer or a badly made/handled beer.

My suggestion is if it is that bad, take it back to the bottlo and get the guy behind the counter to drink it. 

Berp.


----------



## berazafi (8/7/06)

Ash in Perth said:


> are you saying that corona may actually taste good if it hasnt been left in the fridge next to a flouro light in a clear bottle?
> actually no it wouldnt, because there is no flavour in there to go off i guess.
> 
> The bottleshop i work at is terrible for this, there are flouro lights running up either sides of the fridge doors and alot of teh beers are in clear or green bottles and can sit there for a while.
> ...



Im not 100% sure of this, but i belive fluro lights when new actully have a uv coating, and secondly plastic (eg the diffuser) should block 100% UV out. This is second hand info from a lighting expert (not me), so i stand to be corrected


----------

