Glossary
Astringency
A drying, puckering, tea-like grip on the palate caused by tannins binding with proteins in saliva — a texture rather than a taste.
The full record
Astringency has its own catalogue entry with the detail this page summarises — causes, thresholds, related styles and evidence.
Astringency — A drying, tannic harshness from over-extracted grain husk — the classic sign of sparging too hot, too long or at too high a pH.
Astringency and bitterness are routinely confused. Bitterness is a taste detected on the tongue; astringency is a tactile sensation of the mouth drying and gripping. A beer can be intensely bitter without being astringent, and mildly bitter while being very astringent.
Common causes are over-sparging, sparge water that is too hot or too alkaline, excessive dark-malt husk material and very heavy dry hopping.
Related
More vocabulary
Body · Chill haze · Ester · Head retention · Hop burn · Lacing · Mouthfeel · Phenol
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.