Identifying off tastes/aroma

So I have recently had a beer swap with one of my workmates...

 I ended up with an imperial stout, a very dark irish ale and a couple of lagers. I tried the ale a month ago and noticed a strange smell/taste that i had never come across before. An almost sweet licorice aroma and flavour. Ruined the beer to be honest, I assumed some type of licorice extract had been added but was assured none had been used.

Well yesterday i sat down with my brewing buddy and had the istout...same strange taste. some had to be poured into the dog bowl and even Reko wouldn't touch it,(this is very unlike him). So I grabbed one of the lagers...same taste. There were a lot of hop additions which hid it better than the maltiness of the ale/istout, but it was still there. Brew buddy likened it to almost a toothpaste taste.

So i'm curious if anyone has come across this before? Diacetyls?Esters?Wild yeast in his equipment? I know he has no temperature control during fermentation other than a heat pad, belt and a cardboard box. I thought maybe he had it too hot conditioning?