Smell-to-Flavor Relationship

[b-sweed]

Hey guys! I'm working on a project making a mead-like brew in a small quantity, you can find the original thread here if you're interested.

Here's a description: raw sugar solution fermenting with small amount of cranberry mash in an all-glass container. I was careful when preparing it, didn't let it touch anything unsanitary or plastic (I have a thing about plastic).

It's been almost a week now, it's still a little cloudy but I'm not worried about that. My question is this: When I take the airtight lid off momentarily and smell the liquid, it smells good. It had a distinct boozy smell for a while, and it still smells like alcohol, but good! It smells sweet and fruity, and just downright delicious. There's no hint of yeast in the smell, but it's been actively fermenting for 5 or 6 days. Does this mean it will taste good too?

I think this would be a good opportunity to discuss the relationship of smell and taste in brewed beverages in general.

 

[stpug]

I would say the relationship is a lot to very little

In beer I don't find a huge relationship but there is certainly some.

 

[Wynne-R]

I find the correlation between smell and taste to be very strong. Some flavors don’t have much aroma and vice versa, but mostly if you smell a beer you have a really good idea what it’s going to taste like.

You can develop your ability to taste beer by inhaling very deeply just after the beer is poured. Give it a bit of time, try to imagine the flavor. Then taste it and your nose and your tongue can compare notes.

Incidentally this is how judging is done. When you see somebody stick their nose down in the glass, they probably know what they’re doing.

 

[stpug]

Let me rephrase my previous reply:

I find that the correlation between the smell coming through AN AIRLOCK and the actual taste of the finished beer to be very different. I believe the reasoning is that as the fermentation progresses, a lot of the the aromatics are pushed through the water in the airlock which actually takes on the smells that are being released. Often times I'll find the airlock smell to be significantly more hoppy and "wild" than the actual beer, particularly with pale ales and such. Additionally, yeast will frequently give off-notes for a period of time just following fermentation which will subside and/or go away completely with a little time.

In your case where you are removing the lid to smell the actual fermenter contents, I can definitely see that there would be decent correlation between smell and taste.