[ryang]

So I have a brett golden ale (phase 4 in my 100% brett beer series) that I portioned out.  The portion at hand was dry hopped with ahtanum and dry herbed, if you will, with lemongrass along with the hops.

I can taste the lemongrass in addition to the hops, but it generally tastes fruity.  For a competition, I'm kinda thinking to leave off the note about it having lemongrass.  Agree? 

I know, I know... put down what it tastes like and not what it was supposed to taste like.  But, I know what it tastes like, but am afraid others don't.

[tschmidlin]

If you entered it in a competition here you should definitely call out the lemongrass.  We have more Thai restaurants than McDonalds.  I don't know about the judges where ever you plan to enter it though.

I ran into the same problem with a spruce tip beer I made - it scored very well with NW judges (mid 40s), not so well with midwest judges (mid 20s).

[thomasbarnes]

If you can taste it and/or smell it, you should declare it as a specialty ingredient.

Since lemongrass is somewhat delicate, however, you should taste a bottle of your beer before you send it to competition. (Always a good idea, anyhow.) If the aroma and flavor has dropped, or it's masked by another ingredient, then don't declare it.

Likewise, if an ingredient only manifests at low levels in flavor OR aroma, but not both, think twice about declaring it. Judges tend to take off points if an ingredient only comes out in flavor but not aroma, or vice-versa. In particular, if they get a nose full of an ingredient and it's not there in the flavor, they'll probably ding you for it.

[curnes]

not something I would like to taste in my beer.