17 replies to this topic

[earthtone]

So I have been working at a local micro all week on the bottling line and just doing labour (hauling out spent grain, etc.) and I am enjoying it quite a lot. One of the things I have noticed is that there is a smell to the brewery that is very unique and now whenever I taste one of those beer I can detect the "brewery" in the beer. I wandered by another micro down the street and took a big whiff, then bought a bottle of their pale ale and bingo I could taste their brewery smell in their beer.... this has made me actually enjoy these commercial micro brews less and my homebrew more.....but maybe my homebrew tastes like my apartment and I just don't know it...anyone else notice this phenomenon? anyone care to guess which came first? does the brew taste like the brewery or does the brewery smell like the brew?

[BFB]

I've never noticed the beer tasting like the brewery smells or vice versa. But I have noticed a few breweries that have a "house flavor". Most of the times this flavor is undesirable. Their beers become nondistinct as they all share this house flavor. It doesn't matter if you're drinking a pale ale, an amber or a porter..they all have it. I don't visit those places anymore nor do I buy their bottled beer at the store. It's unfortunate....but that's the way it is.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I've never noticed the beer tasting like the brewery smells or vice versa. But I have noticed a few breweries that have a "house flavor". Most of the times this flavor is undesirable. Their beers become nondistinct as they all share this house flavor. It doesn't matter if you're drinking a pale ale, an amber or a porter..they all have it. I don't visit those places anymore nor do I buy their bottled beer at the store. It's unfortunate....but that's the way it is.

Unfortunately this happens. I hate to point it out to people b/c I know it can be a brewery ruining experience for them. Beers they used to like just taste like that "house flavor" as you put it.

[dondewey]

I've never noticed the beer tasting like the brewery smells or vice versa. But I have noticed a few breweries that have a "house flavor". Most of the times this flavor is undesirable. Their beers become nondistinct as they all share this house flavor. It doesn't matter if you're drinking a pale ale, an amber or a porter..they all have it. I don't visit those places anymore nor do I buy their bottled beer at the store. It's unfortunate....but that's the way it is.

We went to the People's Pint in MA and this accurately described all the beers we tried (I've meant to try a bomber or something just to see if they've improved or if it was just a bar issue, but there are plenty of breweries to patronize who haven't burned me before). A brewpub that opened in Ames, IA in '04 or '05 had the exact same taste. I don't see how the brewers/owners allow it to happen, and certainly don't understand how they can sell crap like that.

[ncbeerbrewer]

If a brewery is getting the same flavor in all of their beers there is a problem on their end. There is no way the grain bill for a pale ale should taste anything like a Stout or Porter or Wheat beer at that. I brewed 10 BBL at a brewery yesterday and took home some of their beer in a growler drinking it now. As awesome as the brewery smelled I don't sense a flavor in their beer that matches that smell. I think if the beer taste good then just enjoy it, don't over analyze it. Homebrew is awesome and microbrew beers are great but BMC sucks.

[Recklessdeck]

Could that be the effect of a proprietary or "house" yeast strain? I just don't see how its possible that a professional brewery could use varying grain bills and make beers that tasted the same unless there is more in common between those beers than just equipment.

[earthtone]

definitely could be a yeast character that they use exclusively, I'm not sure. I'm not overanalyzing it, just found it interesting. It's not that I don't enjoy their brews, and the taste/smell is a good one - beer through and through - I just found it interesting that wether on purpose (using a proprietary strain or something) or by accident that each beer shares this flavour.

[zymot]

To me, Lagunitas beer has a house flavor. There is a sticky sweetness that many/most of their beers have and I have never detected it in other beers.It is a pleasant taste characteristic and one of the reasons I enjoy their beer.zymot

[ncbeerbrewer]

The yeast addition philosophy makes sense. It interesting that there are many microbreweries that I have found around here that use a "house yeast" to brew all their beers. But then again being in business for them can make sense. A commercial "smack pack" is around $500 a slurry I have been told by reliable sources. Earth buddy I was not criticizing you so please don' think I meant that at all, congrats on the micro job score, sounds fun. I loved brewing yesterday at the commercial brewery here, now I just need to get that going for myself, it was sweet. Brew on.

[dondewey]

It's often a sanitation issue. On the subject of yeasts, there are WAY too many small breweries up here using ringwood yeast. Who actually likes this stuff? I know it can make good beers in the right hands, but it often ends up contributing flavors drastically out of style.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

It's often a sanitation issue. On the subject of yeasts, there are WAY too many small breweries up here using ringwood yeast. Who actually likes this stuff? I know it can make good beers in the right hands, but it often ends up contributing flavors drastically out of style.

Sometimes the house yeast gets mutated as well which can lead to some weird stuff going on.

[weave]

There are a couple micros around here that have house flavors. I am fairly certain it is because they use one yeast strain.At one of these breweries I bought 4 growlers to do a side by side tasting with several people. The beers ranged in style from Alt to IPA to Scottish ale. We detected a distict similarity to all of them. They were all pretty much to style but there was something very similar in their flavors. We surmised it was house yeast and maybe similarities in grain bill.Another local micro occassionaly makes one-off specialty batches. The brewer brings in yeast from other breweries for these batches. These beers are the only ones he makes that don't have the house flavor. Also, this brewer has a particular fondness for Munich malt. He puts at least a little of it in most of his styles. No doubt this contributes to the house flavor of his regular lineup.

[xd_haze]

I think you have it right: 1. House yeast, and 2. Head Brewer idiosyncrasies. The local brewpub here in Columbia, MO must use the same yeast for most all of their beers, because they a common background flavor.But as brewers, many of us probably have our pet ingredients, as well. What is nice is that in my garage, the brewer's idiosyncrasies match the drinker's idiosyncrasies :rolf:Mike H

There are a couple micros around here that have house flavors. I am fairly certain it is because they use one yeast strain.At one of these breweries I bought 4 growlers to do a side by side tasting with several people. The beers ranged in style from Alt to IPA to Scottish ale. We detected a distict similarity to all of them. They were all pretty much to style but there was something very similar in their flavors. We surmised it was house yeast and maybe similarities in grain bill.Another local micro occassionaly makes one-off specialty batches. The brewer brings in yeast from other breweries for these batches. These beers are the only ones he makes that don't have the house flavor. Also, this brewer has a particular fondness for Munich malt. He puts at least a little of it in most of his styles. No doubt this contributes to the house flavor of his regular lineup.

[CoastieSteve]

Interesting. When I went to the local micro (Blue and Gray Brewery), I was absolutely appalled at the unclean condition. It is a 100 y/o warehouse with something like 70 ft tall ceilings. Piles of trash littered the floor (grain pallets, empty boxes, extraneous things, etc.). I was further shocked when they had one kid sitting in front of a 9 valve manifold filling bottles and growlers- no bottling line, just a kid that did each bottle by hand. All in all, it had no discernible odor, but the beer... now that was most surprising of all... each style was excellent.

[Malzig]

We went to the People's Pint in MA and this accurately described all the beers we tried (I've meant to try a bomber or something just to see if they've improved or if it was just a bar issue, but there are plenty of breweries to patronize who haven't burned me before).

My experience with The People's Pint is that they have a diacetyl problem. Unfortunately, they're not the only brewery with that house flavor.

[earthtone]

nc: no offense taken amigo, thanks! I am enjoying the labour work - I think all year at school so it's nice to just get to work.The head brewer at my brewery does use the same base malt for all of his beers and tends to brew a much maltier (in both malt flavour and sweetness) than I would choose to make. I do know that no yeast is saved and each batch has a fresh slurry fed ex'd in the day of to pitch. I do enjoy their beer and had noticed this phenomenon earlier - the only reason I enjoy it less now is because it tastes like I am drinking work.... it's like working at a pizza restaurant, a fresh slice of zaaa loses something until you stop making pizza all day, but a homemade slice is always enjoyed!!I guess I'll stick to my homebrew! Interesting to hear that others have found this - I agree fully that yeast and head brewer's fingerprints are the probable causes of this flavour similarity across styles.Any pro brewers notice or try to create a "house" taste to all their ales or something like this to really identify a unique brewery specific profile?

[Big Nake]

I agree that it's probably the yeast for many of these places. You can imagine that if a brewpub/brewery used the same strain and it was a strain that you didn't care for, you'd taste it in all the beers and you wouldn't enjoy it. I have heard of places that use just one strain for absolutely everything that they brew whether it's Wyeast 2565 or White Labs 01 or whatever. I can't really see a blonde, a pale ale, a stout, an English Ale, an Alt, etc. all being made with the same yeast. That it just plain wrong. I understand the economics of it, but do there people know that a HUGE percentage of the flavor you get in a beer can come from the yeast you use? ET, I think this is a good observation. Secondarily, it could be what they use to clean & sanitize their equipment or the fact that their equipment (think beer lines) needs cleaning, sanitizing or replacing. The local water could be an issue too. Cheers guys.

[earthtone]

it's funny because their "flagship" brew - Tallship Amber - is a malty and tasty brew but it is nearly exactly the flavour I am describing and has little more than two row, crystal and some pilgrim hops. This leads me to think it must be the yeast because the flavour is present but subdued in all the other brews where it has hops or malt to hide behind.I tried the barleywine yesterday to see and it is just barely present but detectable under that heavy malt and light alcohol taste of the 10.3% BW. Good stuff though definitely. The learning is near infinite, time to go to work and see what I can find out