The Somm Journal

24 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 AND WHY WE TOLERATE A TOUCH OF DIMETHYL SULFIDE by Jessie Birschbach BEER(D) SCIENCE ISN'T just an excuse for an '80s movie pun. Each issue of The SOMM Journal will cover a different style of beer and related beer terminology to help our somms expand their beer knowledge. In wine, we look to region and variety to let us know what we can expect, but with beer, we focus on style. Sure, style can evolve over time and will even vary depending on origin, but the Beer ude Certification roras BC tyle uidelines are updated to reect the current status uo. The Brewers ssociation also seres as a resource, but the Cicerone Certification rora and ost eeryone else loo to the nonprofit BC as the ain arbiters of style. Its for these reasons The SOMM Journal subscribes to the BC tyle uidelines. CREAM ALE ery refreshin and easy to drin, crea ale can be rouhly defined as a slihtly ore cople, slihter bier ersion of erican ass-produced laer. Before rohibition, crea ale had a closer reseblance to eran lsch and was created due to the popularity of olden laers. Today's cream ale is marginally more bitter than American mass-market lager, but the hops and malt are still balanced. Although it's an ale, it's sometimes even made with lager yeast and up to 20 percent soeties een up to 0 percent aduncts, notably corn. Its for this reason, as well as the acceptable low leel of diethyl sulfide , that crea ales typically offer a sweet corn–like character. IBU: 10-22 ABV: .2. Parallels: eran lsch, erican ass-aret laer DIMETHYL SULFIDE (DMS) is an oranic sulfur copound created when a precursor cheical in alt, -ethylethionine , is heated. turns into , which iparts the aroa and aor of cooed sweet or creaed corn in hot wort unferented beer. oull also find in cooked vegetables like beets and cabbage, or in ketchup, milk, and even seafood. deries fro a olecule created durin the erination process in barley. s en - tioned, it is heat-sensitive, so the longer barley is kilned, the less of it survives. Therefore, the lihter the alt, the ore reains, which is why a ery sall aount in liht laers is acceptable but considered an off aor in any other style. In darer beer, it will appear as tomato juice. ortunately, is ery unstable, and can be boiled out of the wort with an intense roll or if steam is allowed to escape. CREAM ALE 24 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017

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