Seems to me that one of the problems here is the dfference is judgement
between beer-makers and wine-makers.

Esters are important to winemakers in that these include fermentation
created compounds that can be desirably fruity - or undesirably fruity.
I have no idea what, if any, role esters play in the tastes and
aromatics of beer.

But with phenols, winemaking and beermaking seem to diverge. Just the
other day I heard a beermaker, in a brew supply store, ranting to a
winemaking customer about how undesirable phenolics were. Beer makers
seem to wish to avoid the dry, astringent characteristics that ar
associated with certain of the phenol compounds. But winemakers need
certain phenolics - many of the armomatics, tannins, and flavanoid
compounds that we desire fall under the broader characterization of
"phenolics".





On 2008-05-11 09:44:38 -0700, (Dick Adams) said:

I was asked to explain how to distinguish
between a phenolic and an ester. I thought
my answer was so weak that I would rather
not repeat it.

I would appreciate reading the answers of
others.

Dick