Question For Supertasters

AlanC · Nov 22, 2024

Hi Everyone, I am a supertaster. (See, for example, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/feb/12/are-you-a-supertaster ) In other words I'm one of the unlucky 25% who can detect a horrible taste in certain foods and drinks that others cannot taste at all. My partner can buy two different pints for us to try, and both taste fine to her, but one tastes completely undrinkable to me. And she cannot guess in advance which one I will find find tastes absolutely horrible. It is common for supertasters to hate arugula (rocket), dark green cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and unsweetened black coffee. If you are a supertaster yourself, have you worked out which ingredients to omit from your home brew recipes? I particularly like olds (such as Theakston's Old Peculier and Harvey's Old), porters and Spingo Special. I would be extremely grateful for any help as I would greatly prefer not to throw away gallon after gallon of home brew while I find out what has that horrible taste in many beers. Thanks in advance, Alan

Larse · Nov 22, 2024

Not a supertaster, but looking at your list of common foods that supertasters hate, I can't help noticing that these are mostly bitter or peppery strong tasting foods. Does this carry through to beer for you? Are bitter beers anathema?

jof · Nov 22, 2024

AlanC said:
I would greatly prefer not to throw away gallon after gallon of home brew while I find out what has that horrible taste in many beers.

I don't think I'm a super taster.
But if you are looking at All Grain brewing, you could reduce your losses by experimenting with 1 gallon small (stovetop) brews until you work out what works for you.

Use the search function to look up "small batch" and/or "stovetop".

YeastFace · Nov 22, 2024

The three brassica all contain compounds called glucosinolates. Not sure about coffee.

The beers you listed would appear to have low hopping rates. I can't find anything about hops containing glucosinolates, but may be worth looking into?

Of your list I love everything apart from sprouts.

AlanC · Nov 22, 2024

Larse said:
Not a supertaster, but looking at your list of common foods that supertasters hate, I can't help noticing that these are mostly bitter or peppery strong tasting foods. Does this carry through to beer for you? Are bitter beers anathema?

Hi Larse, It doesn't translate like that, I'm afraid. Because I can't eat arugula (rocket) the first thing that non-tasters ask me is 'Don't you like the peppery flavour?' I absolutely love pepper. Only another supertaster will understand. Imagine saying you don't like too much yellow in paintings, and a colour-blind person starts asking you about which are the shades of grey you don't like... Unfortunately for us, there is a taste that certain foods have that we can detect. And it is a curse, because that taste is simply foul!

Larse said:
Not a supertaster, but looking at your list of common foods that supertasters hate, I can't help noticing that these are mostly bitter or peppery strong tasting foods. Does this carry through to beer for you? Are bitter beers anathema?

Larse · Nov 22, 2024

I actually have Dave Line's recipe for Old Peculier right here. I'll list the ingredients he uses.

15L strike water
2Kg Dark malt extract
250g Crushed Roast Barley
250g Crystal Malt
1Kg Dark brown sugar
60g Fuggles hops
5 Saccharin tablets
100g Black treacle
Brewers yeast.

He boils the extract with the grains and hops for 45 minutes, rinses the spent grains with about 4L of boiling water, adds the sugar (dissolved in boiling water) and then tops up to 25L with cold water before adding the yeast. Ferment as usual for ale. He doesn't give an OG or FG, just 6% ABV. The treacle is used for priming!

Very simple recipe and quick to make.

Of possible note to the OP: Very low bitterness about 24IBU, also quite sweet with saccharine and treacle.

AlanC · Nov 22, 2024

Larse said:
I actually have Dave Line's recipe for Old Peculier right here. I'll list the ingredients he uses.

15L strike water
2Kg Dark malt extract
250g Crushed Roast Barley
250g Crystal Malt
1Kg Dark brown sugar
60g Fuggles hops
5 Saccharin tablets
100g Black treacle
Brewers yeast.

He boils the extract with the grains and hops for 45 minutes, rinses the spent grains with about 4L of boiling water, adds the sugar (dissolved in boiling water) and then tops up to 25L with cold water before adding the yeast. Ferment as usual for ale. He doesn't give an OG or FG, just 6% ABV. The treacle is used for priming!

Very simple recipe and quick to make.

Of possible note to the OP: Very low bitterness about 24IBU, also quite sweet with saccharine and treacle.

Thanks so much for that. Greatly appreciated.

Larse said:
I actually have Dave Line's recipe for Old Peculier right here. I'll list the ingredients he uses.

15L strike water
2Kg Dark malt extract
250g Crushed Roast Barley
250g Crystal Malt
1Kg Dark brown sugar
60g Fuggles hops
5 Saccharin tablets
100g Black treacle
Brewers yeast.

He boils the extract with the grains and hops for 45 minutes, rinses the spent grains with about 4L of boiling water, adds the sugar (dissolved in boiling water) and then tops up to 25L with cold water before adding the yeast. Ferment as usual for ale. He doesn't give an OG or FG, just 6% ABV. The treacle is used for priming!

Very simple recipe and quick to make.

Of possible note to the OP: Very low bitterness about 24IBU, also quite sweet with saccharine and treacle.

Larse · Nov 22, 2024

AlanC said:
Thanks so much for that. Greatly appreciated.

No problem.

I suspect the issue for you is hops. Beer is quite simple really with normally only three ingredients. The bitterness in that recipe would match (say) Carlsberg, but Carslberg would have a greater hop flavour due to the much lighter malts used.

You could probably make a lager or a light ale but you'd probably have to experiment with the IBUs. Maybe start with 10 or 12 and work up or down depending on how it feels. I'd say NEIPAs would be out of the question, but you never know. Maybe some of the fruitier hop flavours might work for you.

Clint · Nov 22, 2024

So,do super tasters all "dislike" the same stuff?
I don't think there's anything I've tasted (food) that I definitely wouldn't eat again,providing it wasnt obviously off,rotten or vastly over salty..or I'm struggling to think of anything!
There's stuff I have less preference for but I generally appreciate it for what it is.
What makes me laugh is when people say they don't like something even though they never tried it but they know they won't like it...they probably won't like it coz it's not beige and doesnt come in a plastic tray.

Mash Monster · Nov 23, 2024

Clint said:
So,do super tasters all "dislike" the same stuff?
I don't think there's anything I've tasted (food) that I definitely wouldn't eat again,providing it wasnt obviously off,rotten or vastly over salty..or I'm struggling to think of anything!
There's stuff I have less preference for but I generally appreciate it for what it is.
What makes me laugh is when people say they don't like something even though they never tried it but they know they won't like it...they probably won't like it coz it's not beige and doesnt come in a plastic tray.

I am apparently a super taster but enjoy sprouts,cabbage etc. I love pepper and peppery spices but detest rocket and water cress. I do have a problem with West Coast IPA’s and beers with high IBU’s. My real nemesis is aspartame and other sweeteners, not only in beverages but also in food especially crisps and snacks. So I would argue super tasters don’t have the same dislikes much like everyone else.

Sadfield · Nov 23, 2024

AlanC said:
I particularly like olds (such as Theakston's Old Peculier and Harvey's Old), porters and Spingo Special.

There's a common ground of pale malt, crystal malt, roasted barley, chocolate malt, british ale yeast and the older more established british hops such as goldings and fuggle, in these beers. Sticking to these and concentrating on good hygiene and process, so as not to introduce other off flavours, should yield acceptable results. The recipes in this book mainly fit into this. Keeping recipes simple and take good notes when brewing.

AlanC · Nov 23, 2024

Sadfield said:
There's a common ground of pale malt, crystal malt, roasted barley, chocolate malt, british ale yeast and the older more established british hops such as goldings and fuggle, in these beers. Sticking to these and concentrating on good hygiene and process, so as not to introduce other off flavours, should yield acceptable results. The recipes in this book mainly fit into this. Keeping recipes simple and take good notes when brewing.

View attachment 106036

Thanks so much for that. Very helpful indeed.

Larse · Nov 23, 2024

It might be useful to know what beers trigger your supertaste too. Would possibly help to narrow down what works and what doesn't.

AlanC · Nov 23, 2024

Larse said:
It might be useful to know what beers trigger your supertaste too. Would possibly help to narrow down what works and what doesn't.

When it comes to standard pub beers (not porters, stouts or olds), one of the few that tastes nice to me (nothing horrible about it) is Abbot.

AlanC · Nov 23, 2024

Two other beers I love: Tintagel Caliburn and Exmoor Beast.

Larse · Nov 23, 2024

AlanC said:
When it comes to standard pub beers (not porters, stouts or olds), one of the few that tastes nice to me (nothing horrible about it) is Abbot.

Interesting. Another recipe that's in Dave Line's book. It's an all grain recipe, so a bit more complex than Old Peculier.

The interesting thing is that the recipe includes 25g Northern Brewer hops, 100g Goldings and then 15g more at the end of the boil plus 10g dry hopping. Also has flaked maize as an adjunct. Will post the full recipe here later if you're interested.

Larse · Nov 23, 2024

AlanC said:
Two other beers I love: Tintagel Caliburn and Exmoor Beast.

I was actually thinking it would be interesting to see the ones you hate. Could help narrow in from the other side if you know what I mean.

AlanC · Nov 23, 2024

Larse said:
I was actually thinking it would be interesting to see the ones you hate. Could help narrow in from the other side if you know what I mean.

I dislike the vast majority of beers: Proper Job is nasty, Tribute is nasty, Doom Bar I can just about bear. As I mentioned, one of the few common beers that I like is Abbot (and Abbot Reserve is excellent).

Larse · Nov 23, 2024

AlanC said:
I dislike the vast majority of beers: Proper Job is nasty, Tribute is nasty, Doom Bar I can just about bear. As I mentioned, one of the few common beers that I like is Abbot (and Abbot Reserve is excellent).

What about lagers or IPAs?

AlanC · Nov 23, 2024

Larse said:
What about lagers or IPAs?

I like Kingfisher, Cobra and, especially, Chang.

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