{"id":1630,"date":"2015-03-20T15:31:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T15:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2016-12-15T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T17:41:00","slug":"waiter-theres-cat-pee-in-my-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/waiter-theres-cat-pee-in-my-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiter, There\u2019s Cat Pee in My Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cat<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever sniffed a beer and could swear you detected that unmistakably pungent aroma of cat pee?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about butter<\/em>?\u00a0 Or maybe you\u2019ve tasted something metallic in your beer half-expecting to find a rusty penny resting at the bottom of the glass?<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is commercial brewers aren\u2019t actually adding butter, pennies, or cat pee into your beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not yet anyways.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other good news is that you\u2019re not crazy.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, \u201cbuttery\u201d, \u201cmetallic\u201d, and \u201ccatty<\/em>\u201d (a.k.a. “cat pee”) are all well-established adjectives used in evaluating beer, and all of these beer descriptors originally appeared on research chemist Dr. Morten Meilgaard\u2019s Beer Flavor Wheel<\/em><\/a><\/span> back in the late 1970s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Meilgaard<\/a>

Meilgaard Wheel of Beer Descriptors<\/p><\/div>\n

But the truth is, the more that you\u2019re exposed to all the variety that craft beer has to offer, the more aromas and flavors you\u2019ll come across that don\u2019t necessarily fit neatly into Meilgaard\u2019s wheel.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s precisely at these times when you have to rely on your own sensory experience of things you’ve encountered outside the world of beer to help you better describe and relate to\u00a0what\u2019s going on with your beer.\u00a0 Arguably, the more experience you have smelling and tasting different things coupled with the ability to recall such sense data, the better beer evaluator you\u2019d be.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that in mind, here are some of my favorite beer descriptors that people have used when talking about characteristics found in beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of these beer descriptors might sound a bit unusual<\/em> at first, but I\u2019m sure at one time \u201ccat pee\u201d did too. [By the way, the cat pee aroma is typically associated with particular\u00a0hop varieties used in brewing the beer, reportedly Citra, Simcoe, and\u00a0Nelson Sauvin.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Fruit Loops: <\/strong>Sometimes it pays to know your breakfast cereals.\u00a0 Trying to describe the aroma of Leinenkugel\u2019s Sunset Wheat is one of those times.\u00a0 In some beers, you might run into a character of Grape Nuts, Wheat Chex, Rice Krispies, Honey Smacks, Kix, Apple Jacks, Raisin Bran, or\u00a0Corn Flakes, but the aroma of Sunset Wheat is without a doubt Fruit Loops<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Fruit<\/a><\/p>\n

Saladito<\/strong>: Yes, the character of this salted dried plum \u201ccandy\u201d popular in Mexico, but invented in China, can be found now and again in beer profiles.\u00a0 The last time I encountered it as a flavor component was in a 2013 bottle of Samuel Adams’ Utopias <\/a><\/span>(although not nearly as salty as a saladito).\u00a0 Other flavor notables for that bottle were Madeira, tamarind, port, barrel, vanilla, cherry, dates, prunes, raisins, molasses, mincemeat, and at 27% ABV, of course alcohol. \u00a0You might also find\u00a0a bit of saladito in the flavor of a Fullers ESB.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Saladito<\/a><\/p>\n

Cream Soda<\/strong>: Although more often a color descriptor than a typical aroma or flavor element, Innis And Gunn\u2019s Oak Aged Beer displays a cream soda character quite well in the aroma along with butter cookies and a hint of butterscotch. \u00a0You might\u2019ve also picked up some cream soda in George Killian\u2019s Irish Red or in Leinenkugel\u2019s 1888.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canned Asparagus<\/strong>: Probably not an aroma or flavor component the brewer is shooting for, but it\u2019s out there.\u00a0 Back in July of 2007, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing\u2019s India Pale Ale exhibited this rather unique character in both the aroma and flavor.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a while since then, so maybe the asparagus factor in that beer is a thing of the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Purple Crayon<\/strong>: Rare, but the semi-sweet, waxy, faintly papery aroma of Crayola purple crayon came up in Phoenix Ale Brewery\u2019s version of a Bi\u00e8re de Garde called Keeper!<\/em> (Get it\u2026 Bi\u00e8re de Garde means \u201cBeer for Keeping<\/span>\u201d.\u00a0 Yep.) \u00a0\u00a0You might also sense a bit of purple crayon in Mammoth Brewing Company\u2019s Double Nut Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Purple<\/a><\/p>\n

Candy Corn<\/strong>: Being familiar with a variety of candy will come in handy when describing beer.\u00a0 Notes of Pixy Stix, Smarties, Jolly Ranchers, Sweet Tarts, Wax Lips, and Juicy Fruit gum have all come up depending on the beer.\u00a0 Candy Corn in particular can be detected in the aroma of Newcastle\u2019s Bombshell along with notes of butter squash and buttered Triscuit or Saltine Crackers.\u00a0 A hint of candy corn appeared as a flavor component in a bottle of Celis Grand Cru.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Candy<\/p>\n

Tootsie Roll<\/strong>: Speaking of candy, the character of Tootsie Roll also pops up from time to time in beer.\u00a0 You might be able to pick it out in the aroma of Alba Scots Pine Ale (Williams Brothers Brewing), Moylan\u2019s Celts Golden Ale, New Belgium\u2019s 1554<\/a><\/span>, or Leffe Brune.\u00a0 Some people have noticed Tootsie Roll in the flavor of Southern Tier\u2019s Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tootsie<\/a><\/p>\n

Hair in a Drain<\/strong>: Unless you suffer from trichophagia (the compulsive desire to\u00a0eat hair), you probably don\u2019t find the aroma of hair in your beer all too desirable.\u00a0 Depending on the beer, you might detect the more tolerable wet hair or \u201chair salon\u201d scent, or the more intense permed hair or hot hair in a curling iron character in the nose.\u00a0 I won\u2019t point out any specific<\/em> commercial offenders of the hairy variety (often American wheat beers), but you\u2019ll know it when you smell it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Hair<\/a><\/p>\n

Chocolate Pudding Skin<\/strong>: You know that thin layer that forms on the top of chocolate pudding after a while?\u00a0 That\u2019s pudding skin and it’s\u00a0noticeable in some chocolaty types of beer including\u00a0Boulder\u2019s Shake Chocolate Porter<\/a><\/span>, or in the flavor of Shock Top\u2019s Chocolate Wheat<\/a><\/span> which also displayed a watery Yoo-hoo character— think chocolate milk where the milk was substituted out for water, like Swiss Miss or Ovaltine plus\u00a0water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dry Dog Food:\u00a0 <\/strong>A Brazilian friend of mine came up with this quasi K9 analog of \u201ccat pee\u201d beer descriptor at her very first beer tasting event, so I can\u2019t take credit for it, but it was spot-on when she pointed it out.\u00a0 The beer in question that evoked this seemingly impolite descriptor was from a batch of Trader Joe\u2019s 2014 Josephs Brau Winter Brew <\/a><\/span>(Doppelbock).\u00a0 Other people picked out brown sugar coated Spam, pine wood, paper mache, and hints of Disaronno.\u00a0 Give it a try; see if you get a whiff of Kibbles \u2018n Bits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you come across any interesting beer descriptors over the course of your beer adventures?\u00a0<\/em> Feel free to add a few in the comment section below!<\/span><\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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