The Pursuit of Flavor

I have written about my pursuit of subtle flavors in beer: vanilla and bourbon. The problem with subtle flavors is that they tend to meld into the overall flavor of the beer.

If you think about the flavor, you can pick out hints of it. Some of the folks who tasted my holiday beer said they could taste the vanilla when I told him it was in the recipe. The bourbon stout has a very delayed bourbon finish, but it's more like a hop bitterness that real bourbon flavor.

I have also brewed sour beer. Instead of actually souring the mash, I used Belgian ale yeast that acheives the same result. After a few weeks in the bottle, the sour flavor of the beer smoothed out. That was one of my biggest successes.

So the lesson, is: flavors blend, flavors smooth. The taste of a typical homebrew will change over time. Don't expect to have all that beer taste the same, unless you plan to drink it all at once!