Quite possibly the strangest smell/taste...

[scrambledegg81]

Cracked one of the last bottles of my first IPA just now. Head retention is definitely better than its predecessors (most were severely over-carbonated), but the smell and taste absolutely reeks of something like burnt mesquite or beechwood. There's also a pretty hefty alcohol bite to the stuff after swallowing...my throat feels like I've got acid reflux going on right now.


Not totally concerned about it at this point since I only have 4 left in the batch, just looking for possible causes if anyone's in the know.

 

[size]

all i can think of is sulfur... maybe sulfur + fusels?

how long did you let it ferment and at what temperature?

 

[scrambledegg81]

3 weeks each in primary & bottles...like I said it's the only bottle I've had that was like that (it mellowed a bit as the glass warmed up), but still left me wondering what it could've been.

 

[ronzonie7]

Maybe it wasn't capped up real tight?

 

[elmetal]

maybe that one bottle had leftover mold or yeast that didnt come out in the wash?

 

[BarleyWater]

Did the beer seem drier than the other beers from that batch, or has the beer been getting drier as time goes on? Over-carbonation and a bad taste that wasn't there before makes me think it's a gusher infection, likely wild yeast, that may have ended up in one or more bottles.