I feel like just about every time I go to a mediocre brew pub that all of their beers have an off chemical aftertaste. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that taste in a bottled/canned beer off the shelf, it only seems to be in brew pubs, and generally not the more highly regarded ones. Does anyone know what that is, or am I just crazy? I don’t get how these places stay in business, it’s almost like it’s just in my head, or nobody else notices it.
Chlorophenols perhaps, generally there due to untreated water from the local water supply where chlorine or chloramine is used to sanitize the water. It’s a nasty little bitch, as it might not be noted initially, but it grows and grows and grows in strength as the beer ages. Mostly a homebrewer’s error, I’ve seen it sometimes with craft brewers who generally plow through their batch(es) locally and (rarely) send it elsewhere - with the kegs experiencing varying temperatures etc during transport… Some brewers learned the hard way that their local water supplier uses chloramine and not just chlorine (since chloramine can’t be boiled away or left overnight to evaporate)…
"Chloramines result from the combination of … chlorine disinfectants and … urine "
Happy beer drinking!
But seriously, the water treatment folks aren’t pissing in the water - just using a chlorine/ammonia combo.
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Not using industrial grade tube lines could perhaps be a culprit
Or just never cleaning them.
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I mentioned my response because for the longest time, our Old Chicago had a plastic flavour to the beers on draught. The only safe time to order one was when someone else ordered one within a few minutes. My personal experience.
Could have also been an incorrect mix of nitro and Co2.
There’s so many ways to fuck a beer up, and many - in some areas and countries most (by far) landlords treat it as if it’s unspoilable.
In Croatia, for example, it was and is a MAJOR struggle, and one that’s far from won sadly. They are just too used to industrial shite being left in the heat, in the sun, lines not being cleaned regularly or properly or at all - and nobody giving a fuck, that they have convinced themselves they know it’s okay (or they just don’t give a fuck, their “pigs” are too used to the slop).
I don’t always detect that lighter version, but sometimes a strong dishwasher fluid infection that doesn’t just seem to be that it was left over in the glass. This the same thing?
Might be a failure to thoroughly rinse the lines after cleaning.
