Labels Off

[Gax]

Went to a beer tasting event last night I really enjoyed.
Labels Off is a blind beer tasting and style discussion where even the presenter doesn't know what's on. We talked at length about West Coast IPA last night and blind tasted 6, ranking them by how much we enjoyed them and whether or not we thought they were to style, and oh boy, are blind taste tests fun.

We somehow manage to all decide, everyone in the room including the presenter, that Sierra Nevada was the worst beer shown. Lol. You can see all the tins there in order of popularity.
Stone won the evening, I tasted it and was like -yeah that's stone lol. So at least my countrymen maintain dominance for a little bit longer.
Serious serious props to redwillow's showing at second best. That was a glorious beer.

I think it really brings into focus how stuff like marketing, legacy, and bias can really subconsciously inform how you feel about beers. Very fun event.

 

[Gax]

It's inspired me to make a west coast once I get an appropriate yeast.

 

[MickDundee]

I hate to be “that guy”, but Sierra Nevada is an APA rather than a West Coast IPA which might have something to do with it finishing last, especially if you were also ranking on whether you thought they were true to style.

 

[MashBag]

Surely then you could say Stone isn't a West Country IPA either

 

[YeastFace]

Would be interesting to look at the bottling/canning dates and whether that had any correlation to preference.

 

[Sadfield]

I concur with @MickDundee, and on initial reading was surprised to SN get placed last, given their attention to quality. Although, Torpedo may also not match modern expectations despite being a classic.

Not surprised to see Redwillow place highly. Best brewery in town.

 

[Gax]

I hate to be “that guy”, but Sierra Nevada is an APA rather than a West Coast IPA which might have something to do with it finishing last, especially if you were also ranking on whether you thought they were true to style.

I hate to be "that guy" but it's widely accepted that though sierra nevada markets itself as an American Pale Ale, it set the the standards for what would be adopted as the West Coast IPA.
I think what you are describing, is style creep and change over time. That's one of the things we talked about was how far the style has drifted from it's roots. Very interesting conversation.

Surely then you could say Stone isn't a West Country IPA either

Check the marketing brah! It's the westiest.

 

[Gax]

I concur with @MickDundee, and on initial reading was surprised to SN get placed last, given their attention to quality. Although, Torpedo may also not match modern expectations despite being a classic.

Not surprised to see Redwillow place highly. Best brewery in town.

So it was actually the first beer we tasted, and I recall once the consensus was reached that we didn't think it was to style and generally didn't like it - I joked and said it's gonna be really funny when this is sierra nevada. Then it was xD.

Just goes to show you that blind taste tests are really good for exposing preconceived notions and bias.

Really fun event.

 

[Gax]

Redwillow is so good, and people sleep on it.

 

[MashBag]

That's a good & cheap thing to setup for a few mates. And you could drop one of your own in there...

 

[Gax]

That's a good & cheap thing to setup for a few mates. And you could drop one of your own in there...

Shhhh. I don't know if any of my mates are on here. I don't want them to catch me being sneaky.lol.

 

[Sadfield]

Just goes to show you that blind taste tests are really good for exposing preconceived notions and bias.

Years ago doing a similar thing with friends who aren't brewers, we had a selection of all the supermarket Bitters. With everyone knowing what beers we had, and also stating which was their favourite, we tasted them blind. None of them could identify their favourite. The tasting notes as they drank them were, let's say, interesting.