[flbrewer]

I went ahead and treated myself to a beer off flavor kit, in part because I want to know what to look for in my own beers. I figured it would come in handy if I continue down the Cicerone path as well.

Which beer styles should I be using in conjunction with these off flavors?

FWIW, if anyone is interested, I thought this was a good deal from the below vendor.


http://www.aroxa.com/beer/beer-flavour-standard-kit/beer-uno-kit

[santoch]

What I use whenever I teach the off flavor class is a light lager.   If you are doing it with a big enough group, then it is easier to treat a whole liter as you pour it in a pitcher.  If there is a small number of people, then I like to use a smaller amount in a bottle or two and save the rest of the vials.  Amstel light works very well for this because the bottles are brown (rare for a light lager) and they don't use twist-off caps so they are recappable (even rarer) and IMO it's one of the most palatable versions of that style.

Be sure to get enough beer so that everyone has their own untainted beer to compare as a base. 

Remember, the idea here is for you to be able to pick out the off flavor/aroma/mouthfeel, so you want to use a beer that won't hide it too much.

HTH-

[denny]

I buy light lager in cans.  Remember, you don't really want a flavorful beer.  You want to taste the off flavor.  Often, depending on your sensitivity, you need to dose the beer 4-5 times higher than the suggested amount.  If the beer has too much flavor it covers up the off flavor.  Yeah, weird, huh?

[toby]

Use a relatively neutral light lager.  I just did one and used Busch heavy since it was the cheapest thing that wasn't Natural Light or the Beast.  Was looking for Busch Light originally, but they only had 6 packs.  The Siebel kit is made for 1L (~32oz) spikes currently (your kit is made for 1.5L).  I found the drawback with Busch was that the DMS sample was undetectable in the aroma, and basically made the beer just 'more' all around.

[denny]

BTW, the last couple Siebel kits I've gotten had a few samples that were obviously mislabeled.