Acetaldehyde in Xingu Black Beer?

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erock2112

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My dad and I just shared a Xingu Black Beer from a bottle. He'd had it before and liked it, and I hadn't tried it before. It had what can only be described as a green apple taste. I was surprised to find this in a commercial beer. To my knowledge, it's not a bottle-conditioned beer, which suggests to me that the entire batch would be like this. Anyone else experienced something like this with a commercial beer? It doesn't seem like something that would be done on purpose.
 
... and now we're drinking a Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter and I'm getting the same thing. He says he doesn't taste it. Am I crazy?
 
It's possible you are perceiving the acidity from the roasted barley in these beers as acetaldehyde. While it's is not exactly a green apple flavor, it can be quite tart, and in the presence of any appreciable level of fruity esters, could give that impression.
 
Xingu is a somewhat complex drink. I love that stuff. Never noticed a sour apple note though.
I've found that it can taste slightly different from bottle to bottle.
I haven't had it in a while. Now that it comes in 6x12, I think I'll see if the same holds true.
Plus, now that eu jogo capoeira, it just seems fitting. :)
(That's Brazilian Portugues for "I ache all over".)
 
I'll need to try both of those beers again. It's possible that I was misinterpreting the taste. Maybe I'd eaten something earlier that was messing me up. I have a hunch, though, that neither beer was very fresh. We got them at a Total Wine and More store, and they're both imports. Could've been some less than ideal shipping/storage somewhere along the line.
 
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