My palate sucks

Took some amber ale down to my brewing mentor. The guy has been brewing for 40 years. He said it was a pretty good all around beer. He did say however, that he was picking up a hint of contamination. I'm not getting it at all. He said it was pretty faint and could place it specifically, but that something was slightly off. Luckily he said that moving to making yeast starters should help that.

Anyone else feel like the have a hard time picking up flavors or flaws others pick up?

My father-in-law isn't a very good critic, he tends to "like" everything I brew. My SWMBO thinks that all beer tastes the same (terrible). So I try to critique myself, but I need more experience. I had one terrible batch which I eventually poured, but all of the others were quite nice (in my mind). Since I don't intend to join any contests, I am trying to hone in on that beer that I like, and make it as cheaply as I can.

It'll develop - jus give it time and lots of experimenting. Do SMASH beers, try commercial brews known for specialty malts, see if the LHBS has off-flavor clinics (mine does!) and before you know it, you'll have It down. Cheers!

I have been working on developing my palate as well, it takes experience to know what you are looking for. The best thing I did was to attend a LHBS and check out the off flavor tasting class. Was a great learning opportunity.

Well, my buddy sure does have lots of experience brewing and tasting so his palate is certainly refined. I always appreciate his advice and I'm glad it was only a slight flaw that can be easily fixed. I really like the idea of attending an off flavor class. My LHBS isn't very great (sad to say) so I will have to check something out in Portland area someday.

1. It's great you have someone else to taste your beer, but don't take his advice as bible. Even very experienced judges make mistakes and make poor comments on beers.

2. Your palate may be the concern, the fact that you correctly spelled palate means you are ahead of a large percentage of brewers in spelling.

passedpawn said:

1. It's great you have someone else to taste your beer, but don't take his advice as bible. Even very experienced judges make mistakes and make poor comments on beers.

2. Your palate may be the concern, the fact that you correctly spelled palate means you are ahead of a large percentage of brewers in spelling.

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Well, to be honest, I have the auto fill in on the iPad to thank for that.

Thanks for the comments though. Bottom line is I find the beer to be pretty darn drinkable and whatever imperfections might be there aren't at "dump the batch" levels.

I am looking forward to doing yeast starters finally and reducing the risk of off flavors associated to lag times and under pitching.