Phenols

Yesterday we had a holiday office party at work, and gawd bless her heart our secretary picked up some great craft beer for it. There was a 6 pack of Steam Whistle, as well as an Ontario Craft Brewers Discovery Pack, which is 6 beers from 6 different breweries. A few of the guys were really into tasting the different beers, and were passing them around one-by-one serving themselves 100ml or so in a small tasting glass. When the Nicklebrook Premium Organic Lager was going around, one of the guys commented that it tasted sort of like Hoegaarden, which piqued my interest. I grabbed a glass and got them to pour me a bit - and just as I'd suspected, it was off. I didn't want to say anything at the time since I did not want to seem snobby, but after I'd gotten home I drafted an email to the guy who'd made that comment, just to educate him a bit since he'd commented earlier that he wanted to learn more about beer. This article is based on that email.