Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
4-ethylphenol is a simple substituted phenol. It smells like band-aids.
You can find it in some wines or beers - rarely, this is intentional, and provides an interesting flavor at high dilution. Usually, though, it's because someone was homebrewing and contaminated the wort or must with Brettanomyces yeasts, which produce the stuff.
Interestingly, the related m-cresol is used as a preservative in medical insulin, which smells just like band-aids. The smell is defeinitely reminiscient of phenol - which I've smelled. Haven't smelled either of these two, though.
Comments
What's in band-aids that smells like this? Something similar, or is it just a coincidence?
Posted by: Size | August 10, 2007 9:25 AM
Just like band-aids, for the record. We're all sensitive to one off aroma or another - I can't stand brett in wine or beer at all. I'll send you my next bad bottle.
Posted by: amybeth | August 10, 2007 11:03 AM
Oh wow! I always thought I was smelling phenol when taking my shots. I could never come up with an explanation of why phenol was in the insulin. Never thought of it being an analog.
Posted by: DNA pixie | August 10, 2007 12:43 PM