Smells Like Chemistry Prose

From the April 2015 issue of Wired magazine, two wonderfully redolent paragraphs regarding the flavor chemistry of yeast metabolites, courtesy of writer William Bostwick:

"The best sourdoughs command the same sort of cultish reverence as the best sour beers and for years were thought to come only from a few places. San Francisco's loaves are so famous, a Lactobacillus species is named after the city: L. sanfranciscensis, known for molecules like fruity isobutanol, butter-sweet acetoin, and grassy 1-hexanol."

If you're more a fan of lambics, perhaps this flavor profile better suits you:

"Pediococcus produces lactic acid, lambic's dominant flavor note, but can also emit funkier flavors such as buttery diacetyl. . . Brettanomyces also makes stuff like caprylic acid (goat smell) and ethyl lactate (horse-blanket smell). They're what make a farmhouse beer taste like a farm."

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*(Title: Apologies to Nirvana).