COVID Left Me Bitter

I am truly grateful to have made it this far without suffering a significant loss due to COVID. Really, I can't complain. All my friends and family, as I am aware, are healthy. I haven't lost my day job (yet). And, I made it through at least one battle with the illness without the need to be hospitalized (I was a little scared at times, but was never really in any danger).

I'm sure there are ways that COVID has changed me which I don't notice on a daily basis, but I would say my views are somewhere near the middle of the road. I haven't been vaxed, but I'm not an anti-vaxer. I hate wearing a mask, and avoid wearing them whenever I can, but I'm not anti-mask. I don't exactly trust all the supposed science out there, but only because I doubt that much of it could have been dutifully vetted just yet. I don't think the virus is linked to any crazy conspiracy. However, I have recently realized that COVID has affected me in a stealthy and yet diabolical way. I used to say that my favorite hop was EKG. Now I hate it, and it is all COVID's fault.

About 18 months ago, I had, what I thought, was my first brush with DMS. That was how I explained it in my head. I had brewed an American Wheat with Pilsner LME and Mt. Hood (among a few other ingredients). The malt profile seemed fine, but I detected what could have been strange hop flavors or off flavors that I had not detected before. The best I can describe it is a cross between melon-like and vegetal. I figured this must be the cabbage-like flavor associated with DMS. I had used Pilsner LME, and Pilsner malt in general, many times in the past without using an extended boil (I used a 60 min boil this time) and never noticed a problem like this, but DMS was my best guess. Shortly thereafter, I made a proper Pilsner with Pilsner LME and Mt. Hood (this time they were about the only ingredients). This time, I boiled the LME a full 90 min. And yet again, I noticed this same melon/vegetal flavor in the finished beer. In both cases I drank all of the beer. The flavor wasn't all that bad, but I wouldn't serve it to anybody else out of pride. I actually drank the beer rather quickly just to get rid of it.

Fast forward one year. I haven't been using Pilsner LME or Mt. Hood lately (really just a coincidence, although I did have my suspicions). I decided I wanted to make enough beer to sell to local restaurants/bars/retailers. I started going through the process of starting a brewery (turns out it really wasn't all that bad, just takes a bit of time and patience). I decided I would brew a best bitter as my first commercial batch (full story in blog "Bitters, Anything but Ordinary"). I realized I hadn't actually made a bitter in a while. I decided to make a batch just to make sure I was still happy with my recipe. I had experimented with my best bitter recipe a lot over the years, and by this point I had decided that there really wasn't any reason not to use a simple 2-row malt and a clean ale yeast, and plenty of EKG. Lowe, and behold. I hated it. It had the a similar flavor I had associated with DMS (wrongly), but this time it was more peach-like (arguably marmalade like) and vegetal. I couldn't believe it. I had never gotten these flavors from a bitter before, and I couldn't blame it on Pilser LME this time. I actually dumped this batch (first time for everything). I made another batch soon after, this time I didn't go as far with the hop flavoring and I used golden promise as the base (really just another coincidence, I was in the mood for a more malty version). That peach/vegetal flavor was still there, but less pronounced.

I had reviewed my notes several times for all of these beers above, trying to convince myself of a reason for the off flavor. I had nothing. I had heard about COVID changing a persons perception of flavors before, but I hadn't given it any consideration up to this point. I have not noticed any other changes in my perception of flavor/aroma up to this point. However, I decided to look back at my notes one more time, this time considering the timing in which I contracted COVID. I'll be damned. The dates lined up perfectly, almost too perfectly. I had to dig through some of my work emails as well to corroborate my findings. The first day I noticed the melon/vegetal flavor was exactly two weeks before I came down with a fever. I know its still just anecdotal evidence, but I have a hard time believing it is just a coincidence. COVID has ruined Mt. Hood and EKG for me. I know, things could be much much worse, but COVID has ended my love affair with my favorite hop (EKG). I'm not even sure if I can enjoy a best bitter ever again. So, that changes things a little bit for me, and yes, it does leave me a little bitter.