Identify "that Flavour"

[Swinging Beef]

There is a flavour in some beers, that I love, but I have no idea what it is.
I doubt it is hop or yeast related, and most likely it is a type of malt, sugar or caramelising process.
I have found this flavour in quite a strange variety of beers, and Im wondering what the hell it is.

Kwak Belgian Ale 8%
Matilda Bay Dogbolter, Special Dark Lager 5%
Flying Pig Mexican Lager 5.5%
Fullers Golden Pride, English Barley wine 8.5%
Grand Ridge Moonshine, Strong Scotch Ale 8.5%

Im not going to try and describe this flavour, because Im rubbish at describing such thngs, but if anyone knows what the hell it is that Im after, Id be keen to know, as I would dearly like to add this flavour to my own brews.

 

[newguy]

Help me identify "that colour". I saw a honda accord that colour yesterday and an old chevy half ton truck that colour last week.

Seriously, help us out a little. Is it sweet, bitter, malty, hoppy, yeasty.......be as specific as you can.

 

[MVZOOM]

I was going to say - pronoucd malt - then I saw the lager?

 

[Swinging Beef]

Help me identify "that colour". I saw a honda accord that colour yesterday and an old chevy half ton truck that colour last week.
Seriously, help us out a little. Is it sweet, bitter, malty, hoppy, yeasty.......be as specific as you can.

Yeah, I get what you are saying, but Im kinda hoping people who have tried these beers can tell me what the flavour is, rather than me describing it and haveing a theroetical answer to what creates these flavours.

I will do my best, but I feel Its like asking a blind man to describe blue.
Caramel, slightly sweet, sticks to the upper back of the palate and sides of the tongue, and kinda slips up the nose from inside the mouth (8-O)
I really dont feel its yeasty, because it turns up in too many varieties of beer styles, and I dont think it is as subtle as hop flavours, and certainly not bitter.

 

[Swinging Beef]

I was going to say - pronoucd malt - then I saw the lager?

The Mex Lager threw me, too.
But Flying Pig is nothing like any other Mex beer Ive ever had. It is darker than a JSAA.

 

[newguy]

The only beer on your list that I've tried is Kwak. Based on the other beers you named I'd hazard a guess that you may be tasting a munich malt sweetness. If "that flavour" is present in pretty much any German bock/doppelbock (go pick one up, particularly Celebrator), I'd say that that flavour is probably munich malt. Kwak does have a low but distinct munich malt aspect. One of my favourite beers, BTW. :icon_drool2:

 

[Fourstar]

The only beer on your list that I've tried is Kwak. Based on the other beers you named I'd hazard a guess that you may be tasting a munich malt sweetness. If "that flavour" is present in pretty much any German bock/doppelbock (go pick one up, particularly Celebrator), I'd say that that flavour is probably munich malt. Kwak does have a low but distinct munich malt aspect. One of my favourite beers, BTW. :icon_drool2:

+1 Munich Malt or Marris Otter. Somthing Nutty or Bready, a friend of mine said pancakey that fills the palate, finishes clean. Can 'smell it through your mouth'!

 

[gibbocore]

Sounds like pronounced malt, but its that dry fermented malt flavour that you like. Try some melanoiden 3% and mash low about 63-64.

 

[Ross]

Sounds like maybe a touch of Diacetyl to me...

Cheers Ross

 

[Swinging Beef]

"that dry fermented malt flavour"

Dry fermented?

 

[Fourstar]

Dry fermented?

As in low mash temp dry or Low FG dry. An example i think he means is a crisp dry german pilsner or something with a FG of 1.008.

 

[gibbocore]

As in low mash temp dry or Low FG dry. An example i think he means is a crisp dry german pilsner or something with a FG of 1.008.

bingo.

As in malt takes on a new dimension of flavour once its fermented, and then a even more refined flavour once its dried out a bit.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Has anyone tasted a couple or a few of the beers I mentioned?
It sticks out like dogs nad's when you do.

 

[gibbocore]

i know what you mean in london pride, bready, buscuity malt.

 

[samhighley]

Im kinda hoping people who have tried these beers can tell me what the flavour is

I've tried all of the beers you mentioned, and I can definitively say that the flavour you have identified is 'beer'.

 

[Cocko]

If it is caramel/Butterscotch it is diacetyl for sure....

I don't mind it.. but it is all you can taste once you know it is diacetyl...

I hope it is not OR you like it!

2c

 

[Yorg]

+1 Diacetyl.
From the BJCP Study guide:
"Diacetyl
This compound is responsible for an artificial butter, butterscotch or toffee-like aroma and taste. At low levels, it may also produce a slickness on the palate."

???

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Not discounting the diacetyl theory - but I'm pretty sensitive to it and I haven't noticed it particularly in the three of those beers that I have tasted

Kwak
Dogbolter
Moonshine

I would tend to think more along the lines of a combination between a biscuit tasting malt like munich or amber & malt sweetness possibly from a bit of crystal/cara or just perhaps from them being mostly higher gravity beers.

Tasting by typing is bloody hard though ... who knows

 

[muckanic]

My unreliable memory of Kwak (or was it Gouden Carolus?) is that it screamed molasses, which personally doesn't grab me nearly as much as dark caramel malt. Now how might similar qualities crop up in a Mexican lager? Unrefined cane syrup perhaps?

 

[moetman]

so to clarify , would you say you wouldn'nt find it in a pilsener Urquell?
If it is diacetyl then it is something I've tasted in my own and others' AG home brews - something I really hate.
What's the best way to get rid of diacetyl?