I hate one of my beers

So I gave a couple bottles to my BIL to tell me why it sucks. He called me and said it was amazing. The head was perfect, it was crystal clear, he loved the flavor and itwas definately a beer he would pay money for. WTF?
At least I have someone to give it to so I don't have to drink it...

9 lb LME
1lb Caravienne

.75 Warrior@60
.5 Warrior@45
.75 Citra@30
.5Citra@15
.5 Cascade@5
.5 Cascade Dry

S-04

too bitter?

its probably the citra.


some people love it, some hate it. people taste things differently.

Please explain the words "Too bitter".

It seems like the malt and hops are fighting like an over hopped belgian. I don't really know how to describe it.

Synovia said:

its probably the citra.


some people love it, some hate it. people taste things differently.

Click to expand...

false. citra is objectively amazing, it's godliness transcends space and time

alcibiades said:

false. citra is objectively amazing, it's godliness transcends space and time

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It is not a hop flavor thing. It is malt flavor vs bitterness.
And it is certainly not the Citra. My favorite beer I have made is a Citra MO SMaSH.

so what seems to be the problem then?

Maybe its the LME...you didn't boil the full hour with all 9 lbs did you? Thats dangerous. Its almost to dense to stir properly even if you stirred the entire hour could have possibly caused some burnt flavoring to get in there which just throws the entire flavor profile off

northernlad said:

Please explain the words "Too bitter".

It seems like the malt and hops are fighting like an over hopped belgian. I don't really know how to describe it.

Click to expand...

Glad you found someone who loves it! Just goes to show how subjective the real world is most of the time.

I just wanted to encourage you to find the words to describe it (see quote above) - I think that's one area we in the handmade and craft beer world can learn from our wine-drinking friends. If we can't articulate what we like and don't like in a beer, if we can't find the words to describe it, then we can't communicate, fix problems, share good practices.

You'll have that. I have made beers that just didn't impress me at all but tasters from Joe next door to judges were full of compliments about them.

Is it possible that the final outcome just didn't produce what you anticipated?

You can always cook with it. Some Beer Battered Ribs sound damn good right now.

The caravienne gives a little sweet caramelly flavor, sort of like a light belgian. This comes first, then the bitterness from the hops kicks in and like I said before, seems to fight with the caravienne.
It is just plain out of balance for me like it can't make up its mind what it want to be.

There is a chance that there is an underlying problem that I can detect, but is mostly covered up by the other flavors.
There is also a chance it is simply the caravienne as I don't particulaly care for the flavor profile of belgians.

How long has it bottle aged?

What was the fermentation temperature? S-04 giving a Belgian-like flavor is odd.

It has been in the bottle since before Christmas. It was actually tolerable when it was younger. I have noticed a dry other than hop bitterness from a couple extract batches the older they get. That could be what is really fouling the taste up now.
The ferm was 65-68. It isn't a yeast produced flavor.