Ahh, so THAT'S what diacetyl is.

[JonM]

Tonight I went to the neighborhood pub where they serve a couple beers brewed by a local craft brewery. Normally, those beers are quite good. I ordered the altbier, which is an old favorite. I have had this altbier plenty of times before tonight and never noticed any off flavors.

I took a big swig tonight and immediately thought "diacetyl." I had never experienced diacetyl before tonight, but that altbier I had tonight matched perfectly with the diacetyl descriptions I have read on HBT - the slick, oily mouthfeel, the taste that reminds me of movie popcorn butter, etc. Yikes. Like I said, normally this brewery's beers are really good, but this musta been a bad batch.

Anyway, I just had to give a thumbs up to the HBT folks who have described diacetyl on this site. Sometimes, it's really hard to describe a taste, a smell, a mouthfeel, etc. in words, but you folks nailed it. Well done.

 

[Guitarsky000]

What was the smell like? You said oily, like syrup or harsh back end?

 

[jar1087]

I think he means oily in the sense that it seems to coat your palate and nose. The description of movie theater butter is the one that really hits on it for me; diacetyl doesn't so much taste like butter as it tastes "buttery," if that makes sense...

 

[wonderbread23]

Don't always discount the brewery. Dirty taps lines can contain pedio which will throw a good amount of diacetyl.

 

[JonM]

Don't always discount the brewery. Dirty taps lines can contain pedio which will throw a good amount of diacetyl.

Good point.

 

[smizak]

Don't always discount the brewery. Dirty taps lines can contain pedio which will throw a good amount of diacetyl.

Yep, I taste that a lot from commercial kegs you KNOW didn't leave the brewery with diacetyl.

 

[HokieBrewer]

An Altbier would be an easy one to have a diacetyl issue with though.