Beerology Off-Flavour Workshop featured in the Grid!

Posted February 23, 2012 | 1:53 pm, by Mirella

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There’s a fun write-up in the Grid about the Off-Flavour Beer Tasting Workshops that I’ve been running since last fall. As I mentioned in a previous post, these off-flavour sessions are a great way for beer enthusiasts, brewers, homebrewers and people who work with or around beer to learn about off-flavours.

What is an off-flavour? An off-flavour is an aroma or flavour in beer that should not be there. Sometimes it is one that would be alright if it wasn’t as intense in the overall flavour profile of the beer. Off-flavours are often an indicator that something went wrong somewhere along the way, either during the brewing & packaging process, or later on during transportation, storage and service.

Although they can be challenging, I have always found off-flavour tastings super-fun & I’ve sought out opportunities to taste spiked beers ever since taking my first off-flavour course in Saint-Hyacinthe in 2007. I decided to set up these classes thinking that I must not be alone in feeling this way. It’s neat to smell and taste beer that has been spiked to taste exactly the way it would if it were to come out of a dirty beer line or if it had been skunked!

The article is written by Hopped-up Columnist, Crystal Luxmore, who was at the last off-flavour session that I held in February. She does a fantastic job of capturing the atmosphere and explaining how the class works. I get the distinct impression when reading it that I’m not the only one who finds off-flavour tasting fun!

Curious to learn more? Join me for the next series of off-flavour workshops in March.