Tag Archives: blind tasting

IPA Bake Off

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Back in October we tried an Octoberfest bake off (a taste test) and it wasn’t that successful. Nice.. not thrillin’, but nice. So when a different group of my friends suggested a blind IPA taste testing, I wasn’t very optimistic; but of course I was game anyway.

Surprise! Not only was it a great evening, the winners and losers made it all that much more interesting. We scored them differently than I had done previously, not just on an overall impression like the unofficial Hop-Talk rating system is built upon, but rather a much more detailed method using a standard beer judging sheet. It is based on an overall score of 50 points made up of several categories.

scoring chart

Here are the results. I rounded the averages of the four of us playing judge…

ipa-taste-test
My comments after the tasting go like this…
Rogue - Yes, it stood alone at the top.
Stone – One of my favorite IPA’s. My score for it probably would have been higher but I hadn’t just taken a break in tasting for a slice of Buffalo Pizza… probably not the best idea and probably affected the overall result.
Butternut – We were all surprised by this one, but me most of all as I really don’t like Butternut’s other brews. I’m going to have to go back for this one.
Middle Ages – While we all know and love this IPA, none of us expected it to rate so high. Glad to see it up there.
Sam Smith – I nailed the import.

I had a great time doing this… I don’t know if the flavors varied that much greater than the octoberfest styles, or if the method in judging was what made it so much better. In any case, the casual nature and long evening in which we took to do it was one for the books.

Special thanks to our servers, Ellie & Katie, and their scientific strategy to organization assuring accurate test results. (We will excuse the Yuengling Porter incident.)

Craft beer is preferred in blind tastings

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The “blind taste test” has been around, well, at least as long as any modern marketing gimmick. Remember The Pepsi Challenge?

Recently, Charlie Papazian related the results of three separate blind tastings he conducted in 1999. The results were, in a word, predictable. If you are a beer geek, at least. Locally-brewed craft beer beat industrial-brewed imports by overwhelming margins.

Drink beer with your mouth, not your eyes. Prelude to revisiting “What makes good beer?”

In Arizona 100 beer enthusiasts and their friends and spouses turned up at the Pusch Ridge Brewing Company and Pub. Another beer tasting was held. The results: Sam Adams 42 versus Corona 3; bottled Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 27 versus Bass Ale on draft 19; Guinness on Draft 1 (that is correct, 1) versus Pusch Ridge Old Pueblo Stout 47.

As in all the tastings the beers were all served in glasses without any indication of origin. Brand loyal, die-hard Guinness drinkers were stunned. Bass Ale aficionados would not believe their vote. There were a few Corona drinkers that evening who were no more.

I’m convinced more than ever that I need to get my die-hard-ipa-is-too-rough-Bud-Light-or-nothing neighbor over and have him sample some of the locally-brewed light lagers side-by-side with his preferred libation. I’ll consider it an act of mercy.

Update: Fixed link to Charlie’s article. Sorry about that.