I Know The Feeling

I read this post on the Ramblings of a Beer Runner blog and could relate:

It's a struggle to define how it tastes, but often great beers are the ones that aren't neatly broken down into flavor components. 

The blogger, Derrick Peterman, was describing a sour brown ale from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales in Capitola, California.  I've come across this situation more often than I'd like to admit when I have a good beer.  It's easy to find flaws in bad beer - too thin, too bitter, too malty, nasty aftertaste - but in a good beer, where all ingredients meld together in unison, I find it hard to spotlight individual flavor components, or what one factor makes it standout.  I'm sometimes left with not much to say other than, "dang, this beer's real good," which isn't too insightful.  But maybe, with a great beer, I don't need to say too much more.

(Hat Tip to Beer Samizdat and his twitter feed.)