New Tales of Off-flavors: What is the Difference between Beer, Wine and Sake? (Part3)

As sake preferences diversify, there is an emerging trend to view flavors that were previously considered off-flavors of sake as unique. SAKE Street's "New Tales of Off-Flavors" series traces the changes in off-flavors over the years.

In the first installment, Yosuke Kawase, a Sake Expert Assessor, explained the conventional definition of off-flavor. In Part 2, we interviewed Hyogo Prefecture's Kenbishi Sake Brewery and Fukuoka Prefecture's Yama no Kotobuki to learn how off-flavor has changed from the brewer's perspective.

In the third volume, we interview professionals in the beer and wine industries, both of which brewed alcohol the same as sake and both of which are consumed globally. We examine the differences and similarities with sake.

Beer: Variety of regional styles and secondary ingredients

Intended “off-flavors” can actually make beer taste better

“Off-flavors are often referred to as 'flavors or aromas that should not be there,' but I think 'undesirable aromas or tastes' or 'aromas or tastes that interfere with the characteristics that should be there' is a more accurate description. This is because there are things that make beer taste good, even when there are off-flavors."

This is what Shojiro Hasegawa, the author, translator, and supervisor of books on beer, as well as a judge for international competitions points out. He has co-authored and translated "The 100 Best Craft Beers to Drink Now" (Shinko Music Entertainment) and "BrewDog: Craft Beer for the Geeks” (Gaia Books).

“One of the typical off-flavors of beer is DMS (dimethyl sulfide), whose aroma can be likened to creamed corn or stewed cabbage. To begin with, creamed corn and stewed cabbage sound delicious.

DMS is an ingredient in beer because the original substance is found in the malt. In brown and black beers, the original substance is eliminated in the process of heating to produce dark malt and can be masked by a savory aroma. However, it is more noticeable in light-colored beers such as pilsner, lagers, and is tolerated in trace amounts. In fact, the absence of even a small amount of DMS can sometimes make a beer feel incomplete.

Other tastes include diacetyl (diacetyl), which is said to have a buttery aroma. When we dissolved a diacetyl reagent in Asahi beer at a study session and held a tasting, many of the participants drank it down."

Smoky and nutty aromas that are considered off-flavors in sake are more easily disguised by malt aromas in beer and are less likely to be perceived as impacting the overall quality of the beer.

On the other hand, there are of course off-flavors that do have an impact on quality, like oxidative odors (T-2-N, degradation odor due to oxidation).

“Oxidation impact has been described as smelling like "cardboard or copy paper," and is frequently encountered at screening sessions. This indicates that the beer is not at low risk of exposure to oxygen during the production process. It may also be an effect of the fact that containers are shifting from bottles to cans at smaller breweries. In general, cans have a wider bore than bottles, making it more difficult to expel oxygen. Cans have excellent light shielding properties, so there is essentially no risk of off-odors caused by ultraviolet light and sunlight.

Beer expands your palate and tastes

Beer is made all over the world, and there are many different styles depending on the country or region.

"Beer is a foreign culture to begin with, and it has only been consumed in Japan for about 150 years. I think it is fine to take the stance, 'If you like this style of beer, you can drink it, and if you don't like it, you don't have to drink it.' In extreme cases, bitterness in beer is probably an off-flavor for people who say, 'I don't like beer because it is bitter.' Research on olfaction and taste tells us that 'what you are used to tastes better is what you are used to eating,' but the reason many people find that bitterness 'delicious' is because they are just used to drinking it.

For example, Lambic, a Belgian beer, is loved for its horse blanket aroma. There is no right or wrong. The way to enjoy beer is to expand your sense of smell and taste, and to broaden your tastes as well.”

The International Beer Cup sponsored by the Japan Craft Beer Association, for which Hasegawa served as a judge, has established categories of "green tea beer" and "other tea beer" that incorporate tea as a secondary ingredient, starting in 2022. Part of the points of evaluation includes the following: for the former, "a mild astringency derived from catechins must be present at a medium-low to medium level," and for the latter, "a mild astringency derived from catechins is acceptable.

"Internationally, astringency is considered an off-flavor in most beers. However, when it comes to green tea beer, astringency is not only allowed, but is considered to not be low. For beers where the ingredients are free and regional ingredients are often used, it means that the original flavor of the ingredients should be there."

Rather than using the traditional definition of off-flavor, Hasegawa says that the difference in evaluation is whether it was created intentionally or occurred unintentionally. It is important to be able to explain that the flavor and aroma is created because of the ingredients and manufacturing process used, and that the flavor and aroma can be reproduced.

Hasegawa's policy is to avoid giving bad reviews as much as possible. This follows the style of Michael Jackson (d. 2007), a world-renowned English whiskey and beer writer.

“The Hazy IPA style of beer often has an off-flavor called 'hop burn' due to the process of soaking large amounts of hops. In my opinion, this is a pungent taste produced by too much astringency, similar to spicy grated daikon (Japanese radish). At a recent judging session, there was a beer with this strong pungency, and after some hesitation, I described it as 'something you would want to drink with hot pot in the winter.

Michael has two approaches when detecting off-flavors in beer. He either shares the flavor he detects with the brewer, offering praise. This has the effect of alerting the brewer to flavor and they fix it. If the brewer fails to respond to criticism, then Michael offers profuse praise for the unintended flavor and the brewer, not wanting their beer to be known for the off-flavor, makes a change. The later is what happened with a Belgium beer that was criticized as “banana beer” and when Michael offered his extensive praise, the brewer engaged a fermentation scientist to improve the brew and the beer became a fabulous success.

In an era of abundant resources, it might have been fine to say, 'If the beer doesn't taste good, just throw it away and drink something else.' However, in today's world, we need a way of thinking about how to improve with limited resources and personnel. So, a stance like Michael's on the evaluation of taste will become more necessary. Today, my approach with beer is more in line with Michael Jackson’s philosophy.”

Wine: respecting the aroma and harmony of the grape

Not with or without ingredients, but how it makes you feel

Masato Nagasawa, aka Nagi, is the head winemaker at a winery in Germany and runs "Nagi's Wineworld," a blog that provides information from a winemaker's perspective.

According to Nagi, there are two patterns of off-flavors in wine: 1) those that disrupt harmony and 2) those that clearly reduce quality.

“For example, astringency is a natural part of the taste of red wine. However, if the overall flavor is light, but only the astringency is prominent, it is treated as a defect. On the other hand, there are off-flavors, such as bouchonnet (an odor caused by cork contamination), that are clearly considered to reduce quality.

Also, it is not the ingredient itself that is defective, but how much of it is present. For example, strong acetaldehyde is considered an off-flavor in a young wine, but it can be considered an aging aroma in a wine that is more than five years old.”

One of the most important aspects of wine aroma is that the grapes themselves, the raw material, have an aroma. Whether or not the finished product has the original aroma of grapes is the key to judging off-flavor.

"Grapes contain a variety of substances that contribute to various aromas, and with the addition of microorganisms, as many as a thousand different aroma components can be produced in a bottle of wine. It's not so much about the single aroma, but how each aroma is perceived."

Strict European wine laws, diversified global market

In the world of wine, there is now a movement to accept aromas that were once considered off-flavors.

"It is often said that wine needs complexity, and in many cases, flavors that have been criticized in the past are now thought of as adding complexity. Anyone can access oenology knowledge on the internet, and with new equipment being developed every year, anyone can make high quality wine. More and more people don't like the idea of making the same thing as everyone else, so they turn what were previously considered off-flavors to express their individuality.”

Nevertheless, in Germany and France, wines containing off-flavors are treated as table wines because they must pass quality tests before they can be sold as higher-grade wines. However, there is a trend for such inexpensive wines to be sourced by foreign importers.

“New customers have no stereotypes about wine, so the more unique a wine is, the higher it sells. They appreciate a wine that is so reasonably priced and so easy to understand.

In fact, Germany is a major producer of natural wine, but not a major consumer. Most of the natural wine produced in Germany goes to Japan, other Asian countries, and the United States. Some of them pass quality tests, but others are a mass of off-flavors. The fact that all of them are lumped into the ‘nature' category may be a problem.”

Other off-flavors often criticized in wine include the "foxy flavor" that comes from the use of the American grape variety Vitis Labrusca.

“Foxy flavors, which do not occur in the European variety Vitis Vinifera grapes, are accepted in many countries as tasting like strawberry candy. In Europe, however, anything with this aroma is not considered wine and cannot be sold.

For European countries such as Germany and France, wine is a culture that must be protected and quality is never compromised. Anything that does not meet their wine laws is, to them, an 'alcoholic beverage made from grapes', but it’s not wine.”

However, in individualistic European countries, they believe that if something doesn't taste good, they shouldn't drink it: they don’t align themselves with this trend.

“There are those who think conventional wine is too stuffy and want to be free to do what they want, but that is a small market. Still, there are collectors who are willing to pay for this 'small market' of wine.

On the other hand, many wineries do not need to worry about the small market because they have a core customer base that has been buying for a long time, and they have a minimum level of sales.

Rather than trying to get along with each other, they do as they please. It is all about survival, and the industry as a whole has nothing to do with individual producers.”

Summary

Sake explores diverse flavors under the influence of beer and wine. However, a look at their respective approaches to off-flavor reveals a different philosophy from that of sake, even though they are the same brewed alcoholic beverage. It seems that this means that sake, which is changing to become more "beer-like" or "wine-like" to meet global demand, can never imitate other alcoholic beverages based on superficial images alone.

From the next issue, a look at the future of off-flavors in terms of pairings and overseas markets will be discussed.

Series "New Tales of Off-flavors"
Part1: What is Sake’s Off-flavor?

Part2: Past and Present Stories of Two Sake Breweries

Part3: What is the Difference between Beer, Wine and Sake?

Part4-1: Sake Off-flavor Potential in Pairing (Part4-1)

Part4-2: Global Perspective on Sake’s Off-flavors (Part4-2)