Beer-a-Day #304 
Our IPA is a strong, full bodied ale with intense hop character and deep golden color. Multiple kettle hop additions and generous dry hopping contribute to the powerful yet smooth and fragrant hop character of this beer.
Pale gold in color. Hop aroma is soft and floral, but the hops really come through in the taste. Big and fragrant but not overpowering. This does not taste like it is 10% ABV.
Beer-a-Day #169
This English-style ale is brewed with Marris Otter and Caramel malts for a rich, reddish-copper color and smooth maly palate. The use of bittering & aroma addition hops balances the regal, sweet maltiness and imparts a softly perfumed aroma.
ESB is one of my favorite styles, and I’ve always had a weakness for redheads.
A lovely medium-dark amber with a beige head. Caramel malty goodness in the aroma. Nicely balanced with a just-right body. This is good stuff.
Beer-a-Day #136
Pale, pale yellow. White head. Aroma is very light, as is the flavor. I’d have it again.
Beer-a-Day #112
Pours clear and the color of pale straw, with a white head that looks an awful lot like a souffle. Has that typical lager “funk” along with some floral notes. Light on the tongue; it’s there, then it’s gone. Would refresh on a hot Maryland Summer day.
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.
Here are the results. I rounded the averages of the four of us playing judge…
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.)
My wife and I love Pennsylvania Dutch country. We’ve taken several weekend trips out to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and found the food wonderful (find a place that offers “family-style” dining), the people warm and friendly, and the prices reasonable. Oh, sure, there are a few tourist traps, and as beautiful as they are we just can’t afford a hand-made quilt, but it’s one of our favorite places. It’s also where we first heard about “fainting goats“.
This weekend (April 14-15) would make it an even better time to go. Three inns in the county are celebrating Beer and Pretzel Weekend.
For $250 a couple, you get a guided tour that starts with samples of soft pretzels from a local pretzel maker, then to the Lancaster Brewing Company for a tour and tasting. Then you move on to Intercourse to a hard pretzel factory for a lesson in pretzel-twisting, and then off to Stoudt’s Brewery for another tour and more tasting. The tour ends at Stoudt’s Black Angus Steak House. You can do the tour in a single day or split it into a two-day event. Included in the price are the tours, lectures, tastings, meals, and transportation by van. Lodging is extra, but if you stay at one of the participating inns you get a special gift. This event is open to anyone over age 21.
Tours and accommodations are booked through the three participating inns: Harvest Moon Bed & Breakfast, Artist Inn, and Sheep Hill Bed & Breakfast.
There will also be another weekend in July (13-14) with a final stop at Bube’s Brewery instead of Stoudt’s.
