Beer Science

When you cook food, it turns brown. Bread turns to toast; pink meat turns to seared steak; a cake left in the oven turns to an inedible puck. Frenchman Louis-Camille Maillard first explained the process chemically in the early twentieth century.

The so called Maillard reaction is also responsible for turning barley to malt. I could get into the chemistry – xylose, nitrogenous polymers –but I don’t understand it. During brewing the same reaction can darken wort as it bubbles in the kettle. A longer boil concentrates the liquid; the result is a sweeter beer with more malt flavor. You’ll often find these flavors in beers brewed via decoction. 

But that’s enough science. 

Maillard’s Odyssey was brewed by Sierra Nevada and Bell’s Brewing for the Beer Camp pack. The beer is called an imperial dark ale and features plenty of these complex malt flavors. 

Maillard’s Odyssey has candy flavors upfront – milk chocolate and caramel – leading to dark roast and coffee in the finish. Between the two you’ll find a hint of shapeless dark fruit, not quite cherries or raisins, but in the neighborhood.