Hey everyone, Phillips is back!
Now that it’s fixed, I feel like I can come out and say it: for the last couple of years, Phillips Brewing has had a DMS problem. DMS is a compound whose chemical precursor occurs naturally in barley and is normally largely banished in the malting and boiling processes. In small amounts it’s a normal part of the flavour of any beer and it is a major flavour component in European lagers; if you like German lager, you probably love DMS and don’t even know it. The trouble is, it doesn’t belong in any ale beyond trace amounts and Phillips had a fair whack of it in all of their beers.
DMS is a weird off-flavour because it changes a lot depending on the beer it’s in. I find that on its own as a pure chemical in a tasting sample it smells exactly like kimchi – that crazy Korean fermented cabbage that I simultaneously find alluring and disgusting. In a lager, it can be a bit like corn or creamed corn. It gets a bit more vegetal in darker beers and tastes a bit like cabbage in a pale or brown ale. If you ever find it in a stout, it might taste like tomato juice.
Anyway, Phillips went through some growing pains and their process must have changed when they opened their huge new brewery, because all their beers developed a DMS problem. DMS isn’t bad for you and if you don’t mind the taste, it isn’t a problem, but I count myself as being pretty sensitive to DMS and I’m not a huge fan, so for me it was a problem.
Well, I’d heard rumours while I was gone over the summer that Phillips had kicked their DMS problem, and it turns out it’s true. I’m so happy. It’s like a new craft brewery was opened. More choices!
