The age old debate: do dry hops impart flavor or just aroma?

[Junkyard]

I was having a conversation with some other Brewers I respect and I was dumbfounded to hear that they both believe dry hops do not give off flavor; only aroma. I want to hear what the general consensus is on here, so please, post your thoughts!

[nsenff]

Try dry hopping in cold water sometime.

Or better yet, split a batch and dry hop half.

[LTD Brewing]

Tricky - It Depends On How You're Defining Things

People often confuse aroma and bittering used in hop terms as being "what it smells like" and "what it tastes like." In reality the two things overlap and our brains rely heavily on both senses to interpret flavor (we all know smell and aroma greatly affect how we taste things). It's generally recognized that 'taste' is the tongue sensing chemical differences that result in salty, sweet, bitter, sour and savory. Those same chemicals that hit your tongue and taste buds also hit your olfactory sensors. The brain receives the information from both sources and compiles them as the "flavor" of whatever you are eating/drinking. The essential oils that are extracted in dry hopping definitely hit the olfactory senses more than the taste receptors on your tongue. Therefore they are considered to be aromatic, and some might say they do not add any flavor. When you try a beer that has been dry hopped vs not, your brain is going to know the difference, and it is going to taste different, and I don't think it really matters where the brain is receiving those signals from.

I think you need to define very clearly what they mean by adding aroma vs flavor. If they are saying you couldn't tell the difference between a dry hopped beer and a non-dry hopped beer by tasting it, they are wrong. If they are saying that the flavors added are mostly detected by your nose rather than your tongue (which is still definitely part of the flavor experience) I might be a little more inclined to agree with them.

If you're just taking a vote, sign me up for it adds flavor.

[NS_Nano]

+1 to the false dichotomy argument above.

[Junkyard]

I see what your saying, I just gave the example of putting a pellet of any hop and dropping it in to a bud light and capping it up for a day, then drink it with your nose plugged. I garauntee you will taste the difference. I do realize that there's a chance that some of the gas could hit your sniffer through the back of your palate but I think if you taste something with your nose plugged you can go ahead and call that flavor.

[mmussen]

The problem with tasting with your nose plugged and calling that flavor is retronasal tasting. There is a passage in the back of your mouth connecting your mouth to your nose. No way to close that, and aroma compounds will find there way into your nose from there.

[NS_Nano]

I'd actually be sort of surprised if you could tell the difference between a dry-hopped beer with your nose plugged. That's how crucial smell is to flavour. It's even hard to tell the difference between an apple and an onion with your nose plugged! (That's a standard blow student's mind intro psych/physiology trick.)

Regardless of it's source, you're right in that dry hops add flavour, since flavour (vs. taste) is technically defined as the combined sensory impression of the gustatory and olfactory systems!

So... you win.

[NS_Nano]

See here, for example. It's pretty remarkable! (Just the first half of the video.) http://video.nationalgeographic.com/...t-food-tasters

[Junkyard]

The problem with tasting with your nose plugged and calling that flavor is retronasal tasting. There is a passage in the back of your mouth connecting your mouth to your nose. No way to close that, and aroma compounds will find there way into your nose from there.

I understand this, how bout we change it to when all your sinuses were plugged when you were sick. Still think you couldn't taste it?

[Junkyard]

I'd actually be sort of surprised if you could tell the difference between a dry-hopped beer with your nose plugged. That's how crucial smell is to flavour. It's even hard to tell the difference between an apple and an onion with your nose plugged! (That's a standard blow student's mind intro psych/physiology trick.)

Regardless of it's source, you're right in that dry hops add flavour, since flavour (vs. taste) is technically defined as the combined sensory impression of the gustatory and olfactory systems!

So... you win.

Yeah I suppose I would win in the technicalities. You always hear folks dividing up hop flavor terminology by saying aroma and flavor though. Should they really be saying aroma and taste? Or does it even matter and should we just call it all flavor?

[nsenff]

Yeah I suppose I would win in the technicalities. You always hear folks dividing up hop flavor terminology by saying aroma and flavor though. Should they really be saying aroma and taste? Or does it even matter and should we just call it all flavor?

On a side note, I hate it when people use hoppiness and bitterness interchangeably. Doing so does beer a disservice.

[ironman1997]

I was having a conversation with some other Brewers I respect and I was dumbfounded to hear that they both believe dry hops do not give off flavor; only aroma. I want to hear what the general consensus is on here, so please, post your thoughts!

Yes. Those guys are afraid to try something new. Dry hop a pilsner & serve it to a hop head, see what happens. Flavor & aroma go hand & hand so they aren't totally wrong, but they might be stuck in their ways.

[d_striker]

On a side note, I hate it when people use hoppiness and bitterness interchangeably. Doing so does beer a disservice.

Thank you. I thought I was the only one that gets very irritated by this. Especially when brewers do it.

[nsenff]

Thank you. I thought I was the only one that gets very irritated by this. Especially when brewers do it.

Getting people to try beer is hard enough without us screwing up the language.

[soia1138]

Your palate can only taste sweet, bitter, salty, sour. The rest is an olfactory function, which combined with the taste buds gives us the complete "flavor" experience. So yes, dry hopping adds flavor. That's my take on it.