Covid Ruins Taste of Beer?

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Clint Yeastwood

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I think I had a covid episode last night. For a few days, I didn't feel right. Last night, my skin went dry, so I knew I had a fever. I got a headache. My bones hurt. I wrapped myself in an electric blanket, turned it to the top setting, and roasted myself all night. I really wanted to get warm.

Almost all of the symptoms are gone now, but late in the day yesterday, beer started tasting bad. Today, it seems like the hop bitterness is amplified tremendously, and the sweet taste and the flavor of the wort are muted. Everything seems to taste a little like Carlsberg Elephant, which is a pretty disgusting beer.

Has anyone else had these problems? Were you able to taste beer properly soon?

I am pretty sure I've had coronavirus 4 times, but I always test negative. It was always very mild.
 
For all I know, I have something else. I will see how I feel tomorrow. In the past, other infections have messed with my sense of taste.
 
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Had covid late December. Lost smell and most taste for 2-3 weeks - I could tell because my fermenting lager which usually smells like a sulpher factory did not smell at all. My beer tasted off for at least another two weeks after other symptoms were gone, about 5-6 weeks total. But thankfully all is back to normal now.

Nice thing was I didn't drink much during the off taste period so my fridge is now full of properly aged lagers. Woohoo!
 
I had COVID for several weeks, just before they came out with the vaccine.

Worst thing I've ever had. Wouldn't wish it on anyone. Things tasted different. But I didn't loose my tastes. I got over it.

If you haven't had a COVID test, you might have had anything. So don't imagine just one thing
 
I had to take shots in order to be able to see my wife.

The reason I think I probably had covid was the weird symptoms that don't fit other illnesses. I am not claiming I'm certain. I will never know what I had. The medical establishment will not give me the antibody test that detects past covid. I couldn't get it even though I was happy to pay for it.

I am not all that fat or old, and I don't have diabetes or heart problems, so I am not really in the sweet spot for major problems.
 
The reason I think I probably had covid was the weird symptoms that don't fit other illnesses.
All the usual symptoms of COVID fit other illnesses.

Your tastes and maybe smeller being off can be side affects of many other brief colds or illness going through you. And if they are lingering, might just as well be a sign of some neurological issues as well as other things both serious and not so serious.

So if you didn't do one of the COVID tests during the time they are useful... well you just really don't know.
 
What about other foods? Is your whole spectrum of taste off? I had covid this time last year, but my taste returned within a month or, thing is; it affected everything...my normally delicious homemade burger & fries tasted indistiguisable from a cheap bland fast food gyro dinner.
 
Well, from my experience of having covid last year, it just felt different than anything I'd ever had. It felt very strange, not quite like a cold or the flu, I could tell something was different.
I thought I was going to get lucky and not lose taste or smell, then about as my symptoms were going away, I lost both taste and smell. Beer tasted like seltzer water. It was super weird. Thankfully it only lasted a couple days.
I did have some blood work a couple months later show a lower gfr (kidney function) reading and I asked my doctor if covid could've caused that and he said oh absolutely, that they've seen that covid can really mess with various organ functions. Three months later my gfr was back to normal ranges.
You have to wonder if the flu does similar things to the body. Seems like something scientists and doctors should already know...
I'm still convinced that in late 2021 when my doctor called and said my liver enzymes were elevated (and I had to quit drinking for 2 months) that that was caused by having had pneumonia and taking antibiotics for that a month prior. Because I haven't changed my consumption much and my numbers are normal. I have since changed doctors...
 
I'm still convinced that in late 2021 when my doctor called and said my liver enzymes were elevated (and I had to quit drinking for 2 months) that that was caused by having had pneumonia and taking antibiotics for that a month prior. Because I haven't changed my consumption much and my numbers are normal. I have since changed doctors...
I was unlucky enough to have norovirus two months in a row. It turns out that's possible. The second time I went to the doctor, he gave me a pointless and profitable blood test, and he told me something or other was elevated, so I needed to come back in. I asked what could cause it. He said one possibility was "a recent viral infection."

Okay.
 
Luckily Covid ( had it twice , positive tests) didn't alter the flavor of beer for me but the aroma of coffee( one of my favorite smells ever) is now totally whacked . I'm a Navy brat ... drank coffee in my bottle when I was a baby ... I still drink coffee daily but coffee now smells like garlic to me .
 
Losing your sense of taste and smell is common with covid, and it's pretty rare with other respiratory illnesses.
This is not quite correct. Loss or change of smell is quite common with almost any upper respiratory infection. Loss of taste is somewhat more common with COVID, but not exactly rare with other respiratory illnesses. What is much more common with COVID is for these symptoms to precede other symptoms and/or to persist after the disease has otherwise resolved. Your symptoms don't really scream COVID to me. You don't have to trust me of course, but FWIW I did used to do this for a living.

You have to wonder if the flu does similar things to the body. Seems like something scientists and doctors should already know...
It does and they do. The thing is that COVID has been more intensely studied in less than three years than most diseases have been in, well, forever. I would think that the reasons for that should be pretty self-evident.
 
Loss of taste is somewhat more common with COVID
Not "somewhat." It impacts the MAJORITY.

Another big difference: covid-related changes in both taste and smell can last for months and perhaps even be permanent. Everyone knows a cold can make things taste funny for a couple of days, but it generally will not, and the effects are almost always temporary and not very severe.
 
I had Covid in October 2021. I had TOTAL loss of smell and taste for a little over 6 days… strangest experience I’ve ever had. I haven’t noticed a difference in the way beer tastes, but I think Pepsi and Coke both taste terrible now. I also smell onions occasionally when there are absolutely no onions anywhere near me.
So, yes, I believe, depending on the individual, the way beer tastes could definitely be altered, either temporarily or permanently…. Time will be the judge of that.
 
Not "somewhat." It impacts the MAJORITY.

Another big difference: covid-related changes in both taste and smell can last for months and perhaps even be permanent.
Didn't affect me. Or my wife. Or my daughter. OK that last one is a bit unfair since she has congenital anosmia. :)
I think Pepsi and Coke both taste terrible now.
Now?
 
I had the Rona back in March '21 and again in Jan '22 right before Delta hit and in the middle of Omicron, respectively. I never lost my sense of taste/smell both times. Compared to the flu, the flu was like a beat down but I recovered within a week. Covid took me a month to fully recover.

If Covid had anything, it was the worst headaches I ever experienced. I never want a headache like that again.
 
Had a nasty bout of COVID for two weeks, no change in smell or taste. Same with wife and both kids.
I know very few people who haven't had covid yet. I know nobody who has lost taste or smell.
 
Things are going well here. Beer is tasting a little better. My nose is running less. My main problems are nasal congestion, which means I have to greatly exceed Afrin's label recommendations, and a sudden compulsion to sleep that lands on me at about 6 p.m. Other than that, I'm full of energy, as usual.
 
My first round of having COVID I got symptoms the day after Christmas 2020. My oldest son and I got it around the same time. He lost taste and smell. I didn't lose taste of smell and felt like I had influenza. I didn't feel much like a beer that first week but on New Years Day watching football I asked my wife to bring me one. I could taste it but like you said it just wasn't right. Pretty sure it was a NEIPA. I wouldn't say it was overly bitter but your muted description was a good way of describing it. If I remember right it was more of an overly dank flavor than overly bitter. I didn't have another one for a few days and the next one was fine so hopefully you aren't affected long.
 
I had the Rona back in March '21 and again in Jan '22 right before Delta hit and in the middle of Omicron, respectively. I never lost my sense of taste/smell both times. Compared to the flu, the flu was like a beat down but I recovered within a week. Covid took me a month to fully recover.

If Covid had anything, it was the worst headaches I ever experienced. I never want a headache like that again.
That was my experience as well, in Aug of 21. I wasn't out a month (damn!) but a hair under 2 weeks. I could have dealt with the flu like stuff, but it kept triggering migraines, which I get somewhat regularly, but I tore through about a 6 month supply of my migraine meds in those two weeks.
I remember having a Schells Hefeweizen (one of my favorite beers ever) when it was onsetting. It tasted fine but I couldn't finish it. My wife immediately put a test in front of me. Apparently not finishing a beer is a sign I'm not well...
 
This thread is reopening.

If the discussion can remain in the confines of how COVID and other illnesses affect taste and smell (especially related to beer), people's personal experience losing or not losing their sense of taste due to Covid (not including prevention or treatment), and people wishing others a full and speedy recovery if they have become ill, then this thread can stay open.

The proper place to discuss Covid prevention, treatment, mitigation, along with government and society's reaction to and attitude on Covid, is in Debate. Further discussion of that here will result in, at a minimum, this thread being permanently closed.
 
That was my experience as well, in Aug of 21. I wasn't out a month (damn!) but a hair under 2 weeks. I could have dealt with the flu like stuff, but it kept triggering migraines, which I get somewhat regularly, but I tore through about a 6 month supply of my migraine meds in those two weeks.
I remember having a Schells Hefeweizen (one of my favorite beers ever) when it was onsetting. It tasted fine but I couldn't finish it. My wife immediately put a test in front of me. Apparently not finishing a beer is a sign I'm not well...

I wasn't really out a full month, technically just two weeks. It took me another two weeks to get back to 100% though if that makes sense. At the time, I was driving a fork truck a lot and with the first go around, I had a bit of vertigo during that time and when I went back to work. I felt like I was on a tilt-a-whirl, so the last thing I wanted to do was come right back and be on a fork truck. So the first two weeks back to work, I stayed off the fork truck. Needless to say, I didn't drive my car a lot either for those two weeks. Just back and forth to work.

Glad you (and the others here) are better.
 
I think I had a covid episode last night. For a few days, I didn't feel right. Last night, my skin went dry, so I knew I had a fever. I got a headache. My bones hurt. I wrapped myself in an electric blanket, turned it to the top setting, and roasted myself all night. I really wanted to get warm.

Almost all of the symptoms are gone now, but late in the day yesterday, beer started tasting bad. Today, it seems like the hop bitterness is amplified tremendously, and the sweet taste and the flavor of the wort are muted. Everything seems to taste a little like Carlsberg Elephant, which is a pretty disgusting beer.

Has anyone else had these problems? Were you able to taste beer properly soon?

I am pretty sure I've had coronavirus 4 times, but I always test negative. It was always very mild.
I have same with beer and cola. Tart metallic fizziness which does remind me of calsberg which was over fizzy malt liquor with no taste but the metal can that leached into it. Post covid all beer tastes like that and now coke does too. 2 months since covid symptoms (never tested positive though)
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/covid-affecting-beer-flavor.729861/
heres a similar discussion clint. i hope your taste fully recovers.

i work in a very busy ER in the city. the amount of covid and flu lately has been staggering.

i got chills 1/25/24. by the next day i was sick . tested positive at home. that night i had terrible night sweats . it lasted a few days then my taste went but its almost fully back by now- 1 week later.

covid sucks. this was not nearly as bad as omicron but still was not pleasant.

i am happy to hear you are mending

unfortunately some do experience long lasting affects on taste
 
I just had another boutique of covid at the end of December. My taste and smell where muted and came back a week later, but I am still dreaming with brain fog and congestion.

I good friend of mine got it in 2020, and it rewired his smell and taste. It affected everything and he can't drink beer anymore, it tastes disgusting now. And, he was a long time brewer.
 
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