Just been enjoying a few beers lately. Same beer from the bottle good, from pub A great, then again from the tap of pub B tastes more bitter, an entirely different flavour that isn’t as refreshing.
I’ve experienced this before. So what’s up? Why are two pubs pouring the exact same beer from the tap and coming out with different flavours?
In: Other
Bad keg, fouled lines, or tap. Pint glass with residue from washing. Pouring the pint incorrectly (head vs body, especially with hoppy brews like IPA). Could be the barley or hops was grown in a different locale.
Beer tastes different as my in-laws’ than at home. Another person randomly said to me about a fragrance, “This smells different at work.”
I have no answer, but it’s definitely a thing
Maybe the associations our brain makes include remembering smells and tastes. So much that the next thing we experience is affected by the memories we already have. Sorta like, nothing tastes like Mom’s cooking, and we’re foolish to demand that our partner try to replicate the taste.
“No, I’m not having any. I want to remember how it tasted.” Scully, X-Files, S11E4
Beer lines need to be cleaned regularly – if beer tastes “off” at a bar, they likely don’t maintain their lines. It could be other things like age of the keg, how often it is rotated, temp, CO2 level too, but line cleanliness is the most likely issue.
Taps take a fair amount of time to maintain properly. Not every pub is enthusiastic about doing it to recommended standard. That has an effect on taste.
One thing that can really influence the flavor of the beer is it’s temperature, everyone knows that a cold beer is way better than a warm beer.
At the pubs it could be that one has a cooler walk in fridge where the kegs are stored, or alternatively one has longer lines to get the beer from the keg in the walk in fridge to the bar, which gives the beer more time to warm up as it flows to the tap. Since bottles are usually stored in a fridge right at the bar and then given straight to you, these also typically stay pretty cold. This could possibly be your answer.
When drinking from a glass, you are getting aromas that affect the flavor slightly that you don’t get straight from the bottle. As far as taps, see tex236’s comment.
Hey there, I’m a brewer by trade, and here are my thoughts. Some factors are: storage temperature, keg room temperature, length of draught lines, age of the beer, different batches of the same brand, what gas they use to push the beer through their lines, whether or not the lines have been regularly cleaned, whether or not the lines have been cleaned recently, some craft brands end up taking over more hop residue in earlier packaged beer vs the end of the tank.
Beer is a super finicky beverage, and the slightest change can completely ruin/alter the product. Most people that work bars/liquor stores either don’t have the means, or the give-a-damn to treat the beer as the brewery would intend; especially when each beer will have a slightly different handling capacity.
On the bittering note: you’re more than likely enjoying beer from cleaner beer lines. Dirtier lines will have small obstructions, like beer stone, that will allow CO2 to fall out of solution. The lack of carbonic acid will make the pH less acidic, and allow the bittering agents stand out more. This is just a guess though, as there are a lot of possibilities, dependant on a lot of variables.
Latest Answers