Apple Cider Beer

So I wanted to brew a holidayesc beer with apples, cinamon, etc. Mash smelled great, when I opened the primary fermenter after a week it smelled awesome. Now after a week in the secondary and into the bottles the aroma has weakened. Also, I chilled one bottle for an hour to see what it tasted like, and I thought that it tasted bland. Obviously there was no head as it had been bottled for an hour. Any thoughts on the carbonation picking up flavor, or am I stuck with weak tasting stuff?

I am not too familiar with a beer like this, but in general flavors will greatly change during bottle conditioning. I would expect it to get better.

I did a similar brew using the base of a cider, but used a nottinghams yeast. It had a slight apple flavor, but you could really taste the ale finish from the yeast. The next batch I backsweetened with splenda and it helped the apple come thru better. There are threads here where people have talked about using apple juice concentrate to bottle for carbing + stronger apple flavor.

how cold did you get the bottle?

ice cold beer/cider = no aromatics. good beer typically isn't served warmer than about 38-40F...and some beers are served up to 60F (Guinness anyone?) to accentuate the malt aromas and hop aromas, which in turn enhance the flavor since smell is 70% of flavor perception.

malkore said:

good beer typically isn't served colder than about 38-40F...and some beers are served up to 60F (Guinness anyone?)

Click to expand...

fixed.......

Thanks for the feedback, to be specific, I used malt, as well as apples as a base, I was hoping that the apples would give it some flavor but not too much. I am therefore worried because I do not get very much malt flavor either. As to the temperature question, well after the primary fermenter it was strongest in aroma, so I am wondering if perhaps this is the beer where the least it ferments the better.