I was at a local place a while back eating with a friend. He’s a die-hard Miller Lite drinker, yes he’s still a friend. He ordered a Miller Lite draft and I ordered a New Trail lager. The waitress brought out two 16 oz glasses and set them down. We sort of looked at each other, it looked like two of the same beer. I picked mine up to smell it and I handed it to him and I said I think this is yours. He handed me his I smelled that I said wait a second, I think they brought two Miller lights. I asked the waitress, she said no one is Miller Lite the other is New Trail. I tasted my beer and I said to my buddy, I’m still not sure, taste that. I knew he would know if it wasn’t Miller lite. He tasted it and said no this is right, so I had him try this beer, he says wow, it’s a carbon copy. Now I’m not saying this to bust on them, any light beer is actually quite difficult to make. But I could have easily saved a fortune by just buying the Miller lite. LOL
That’s your own fault for ordering a boring, yellow fizzy in the first place. Zzzzzzzz…. ;D
I have been brewing for 34 years, and found that my tastes buds have changed regarding IPA hops. I have developed a dislike for dank hops. First I thought it was just CTZ, but Simcoe is now a hop I try to avoid.
My go to hops for IPAs are the old standbys: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Amarillo. Lately I have been enjoying Mosaic and Citra. Tried El Dorado and Ekanuat, they were okay, but I probably won’t be ordering them again.
I admit I probably only brew IPA once a year to have on tap for guests. Every brewery and bar has half their taps devoted to IPAs, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to brew them anymore.
Well, the description on the menu made me think Elliot Ness, not Miller Light! :D. And it was the only craft brew on the menu I was willing to try. They had some IPA of theirs and I think it was a hazy as I recall, other than that my choices were Busch and Busch light.
I’m sort of with you on the old varieties, I am much more likely to recognize and enjoy them. Cascade makes a fantastic smash ale. I really like Amarillo but I don’t like that it costs twice as much. I was never a fan of Citra but I have to say I make a Citra pale ale and wow is it good. Bittered with Magnum though. I just drank my last can of Founders All Day a little bit ago and I’m pretty sure that’s Cascade and Centennial. That is my number one favorite store-bought beer.
[quote=“neuse, post:18, topic:33351, username:neuse”]
Have you had Covid? I had it January of last year and couldn’t smell or taste hops for maybe a year.
Sorry to hear. Yeah, finally got it in 2022. I wasn’t feeling too well one night and didn’t let the dog out before bed. Woke up to labrador crap all over the kitchen and couldn’t smell it. Not a great way to start the morning. The loss of smell lasted a good couple months but seemed to return to normal afterwards.
Could be some residual loss I suppose but it would be difficult to tease out if that’s just due to shortening of the telomeres too 
Thanks for everyone’s input on this, it’s been enlightening. I think maybe I’ll try experiementing with getting a cleaner transfer. I do end up with a fair amount of trub in the fermenter but I could get a strainer or screen and give that try, but like others have mentioned, it could just be the way we perceive the taste of things we have on a regular basis.
PS: One thing I’ve noticed is if I have a couple pints of cider and switch to my regular IPA on the third pint, the first couple swigs are a completely different than usual. That may be something you all may want to try sometime, if you haven’t already.