Last month my Beer 101 column introduced some of themore common beer faults, described how you can identify them and discussed their most likely causes.The latest Beer 101, which actually came out a week ago, offers a second look at the things that go wrong in beer. This time I look at some of the more confounding issues, like acetaldehyde, acidity, DMS, sulfur and solvent. If those sound bad to you, you would be right – mostly. What makes these particular faults hard is that most of them, at low levels and in the right beer, can be seen as appropriate. They are also the main faults that casual beer drinkers might confuse for a “unique” flavour.

I won’t go through the details here – that is what the column is for (and you canread it here). But let me re-iterate that the purpose of the two-part series (see the first part here). It is not to make beer geeks of you all. It is simply to offer some insight into beer process, and to give you some vocabulary to fit what you are already tasting.

I remember well the experience of knowing something is wrong with a beer, but not being able to identify it – made worse when it is your ownhomebrew and you want to fix it. It still happens occasionally (the first part, not the second). But having a sense of which tastes come from what is very helpful in building beer knowledge and sophistication. Something I think every beer drinker wants to do.

So, give it a read. The series is not intended as the final word (many people know more than I about these faults), but as a way to spark your interest in exploring the flavour dimensions of beer.

And maybe next time you get that beer that just doesn’t seem quite right, you might be able to identify why.