What is this taste? Fusel alcohols?

Hi all,
I brewed a Maple Ale that I think turned out great. It's only been bottled a week, but I tasted it today (mainly to see the difference over the 3 week conditioning period) and it had a really nice flavor and a 'kick' at the end.

I'm trying to determine what that 'kick' was... it tasted almost like weak whiskey or rum. It wasn't bad at all, and it actually made the beer more complex I think (gave it a 'woodsy' flavor).

As I said earlier, it's a Maple Ale that had maple syrup in the boil along with maple syrup for priming, so I'm sure a lot of that was fermented to alcohol, but the calculations should still put it under 5% alcohol.

So... what do you think the 'kick' was, and should it get weaker/stronger the longer it's in the bottle?

Thanks!

it'll probably mellow as it ages. how high did you ferment this and what yeast did you use?

yeah, it's probably the hotness from the fusel alcohols. it'll die with age. it can occur from fermenting too hot. what temp did you ferm at?

EDIT: too slow I guess. yeah, what Andriod said!!!!

Maple is known for adding a "woody" note also. The kick was likely fusels.

I never worry about, or even really judge the tastes of my beers till they have been AT LEAST 3 weeks in the bottle....or up to 6 or so....

More info can be found here....Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

It's really hard to judge whether something is truly an off flavor, or is just green, until you pass a window of greenness. And that's usually based on the gravity/abv of the beer.... my belgian strong dark tasted like rocket fuel for 3 months, and is now perfect...and strong.

And I've even had most off flavors dissappear with time.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Thanks everyone.
I fermented for the first few days at probably 74 temp, then got my swamp cooler set up and the other 2 1/2 weeks was at 65-70 according to the temp strip. Used WLP013 London Ale yeast.

74 ambient? either way, that could produce some fusels, especially if that was the ambient temp. that probably put your beer around 80, which is likely the culprit. but like revvy says, give it some time and see what it tastes like in a few weeks or longer. but those british strains in my experience can throw some funky esters also when fermented warm. i used safale-04 for the first time recently and the resulting beer will need some time to meld, the esters are totally different from american yeast strains. i feel like i'm in england when sampling the beer.

I think it was about 70 ambient, 74 in the fermenter.

As an FYI, the maple ale's fusel kick has mellowed out and is now a nice, dry, woodsy flavor. It's not maple, but it's good!