Metallic Taste Sensitivity

[paulyman]

Hi all,

I've just asked this question in our BJCP tasting group but thought I'd ask it to the wider brains trust as well. I have noticed throughout this year that a small but significant number of beers I've tasted have had a metallic/blood taste to them. Some extreme and some slight. Generally it is just me that notices, so I've just been assuming I've had a mild nose bleed as a reaction to tasting beer. My dad gets the sneezes after a few so some sort of allergy isn't unlikely.

But this evening I was trying two American lagers one after the other and scoring them in preparation for my tasting exam. One was all but undrinkable to my palate thanks to a blood like flavour... and the other was just barely drinkable (read perfectly to style). Actually, jokes aside, the second one had no metallic taste and was actually a really good example of the style. Then I cracked a third beer, a Budvar and it was a much superior beer but with a very slight metallic taste. Having three beers back to back all from different companies and not all the same style, with two out of the three having a metallic taste I am thinking it isn't as simple as a nose bleed. So my question is, can you be sensitive to metallic off flavours like you can diacetyl and DMS?

Extra info - I know after the off flavour night that I am super sensitive to Diacetyl but completely blind to DMS. I don't think we did a metallic off flavour.

 

[Grott]

Could it relate to anything you might have eaten or chewed (gum, lollie etc) before tasting?

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

One cause of metallic off flavours in beer is lipid oxidation. One of the compounds involved is 1-octen-3-one. The Human Metabolome Database gives the threshold range for this compound in air as 0.03 - 1.12 ug / m^3, a range of 40:1. I can't find data for it in solution but it seems reasonable to presume there is also a range of thresholds.

Note I'm not saying this is the exact flavour you are detecting, just giving an example of how the variation in sensitivity could arise.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I get it in say my Red Ale. Some darker colour malt forward low bitterness ratio beers like low bitterness stout will do it (taste like blood/metallic) I think the low bitterness ratio is were it hits me the most. As for being a judge it may seem a bit mind boggling to me unless you fast all day before taste testing. Or the standard palate neutralising method of dry unsalted crackers before tasting every beer?
Strangely enough I am taste judging my home brews that are draught bottled and refrigerated for months and the common flavour I get is Honey? Even a Saison bottled and kept in the fridge over a year now has had the typical dry Saison character now has a Honey character. Its not a bad thing I'm just not keen on honey flavour in beer so I'm pretty confused at the moment.
I must say comparing to respectable commercial examples they can have more of that Honey character than my home brews!

 

[geoff_tewierik]

I get the metallic taste every now and then and I associate it with the hops used in the beer and not an actual fault in the beer. As for which type of hops, I'm still to nail that down.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Do you get it when you drink straight from the bottle or are you pouring your beer into a glass?

I've never had it with my home-brew or anyone else's home brew for that matter but I have had it in craft beers before and suspected it might have something to do with the bottle cap. Never had it from a mega swill beer so maybe it could be ingredient prone.

 

[MHB]

I've posted this before but again never hurts.
Search for terms (Ctrl F) like metal metallic and blood - what ever you are tasting or smelling. Its a great resource and really helps to pin down possible causes of problems.
Mark

 

[paulyman]

Don't think it's anything I've eaten etc. I have definitely suspected bottle caps, but am racking my brain as to whether I've tasted it from a can, just not 100% sure on that one, I will be keeping notes I think from now on. Definitely haven't picked it up in home brew, bottled or otherwise.

Hopefully I'll pick it up at the next tasting session and see if the 12 of us can pick it out or if it's just me.

Thanks for the document Mark, that is awesome, will definitely be reading and re-reading that before my tasting exam!

Edit- I am pouring into a clean glass. Missed that one on the first pass.

 

[manticle]

As suggested by mhb and lc, metallic has very real chemical causes and like any of the beer faults in that guide, you may very well be more sensitive than average.