Blind Tasting #1 and #2: IPAs

I've now done 10 IPAs worth of blind tastings to try and get a better understanding of what IPAs from those highly regarded that I like the most. My own past preferences went into choosing which to compare as well.

The format: 

I knew what IPAs I chose each time but my wife chose them and poured them and I only had some foreknowledge of what to expect. This was to challenge my own preconceived notions and perceptions while tasting.

The first tasting:

I had chosen 4 IPAs for this tasting: Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, Stone Delicious IPA, and Elysian Space Dust IPA.

I drank all 4 before trying to choose which I had tried and in what order.

1) Bell's Two Hearted Ale - Citrus, particulate, big off-white egg shell foam, gold/amber color, bready/biscuit, honey, peach/orange/apricot/pineapple, clean, medium-full mouth. 7% ABV, more here. I gave this a 2.75/5, down from 3.5/5 from past imbibing.

2) Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Sculpin IPA - the legend. never having had this before threw a wrench into my plan to detect all 4 brews from taste alone. Citrus, pineapple, tropical, mango, cream colored big head, a beautiful clear light amber, smooth, more bitter balanced, grassy, dank, full mouthfeel, syrupy and juicy. 7% ABV, 70 IBU, more here. I gave this 3/5.

3) Stone Delicious IPA - Burnt hemp, gold/slight amber, white foam, tea, grass, biscuit, citrus, pepper, herbal, full mouthfeel, fresh, honey. 7.7% ABV, 75 IBU, gluten reduced, more here. I gave this 3.5/5, same as from previous tastings.

4) Elysian Space Dust IPA - Tropical, pineapple, orange marmalade, apricot, white foam, pepper, light Amber, particulate, more bitter balanced, biscuit, cat pee, basil, herbal, juicy and full mouthfeel. 8.3% ABV, 73 IBU, more here. I rated this 3.25/5, down .5 from previous.

I think I did a poor job correctly choosing which beer was which if I recall. The only admission I will make is that I compared each beer to each other and that probably took some part in my ratings. For example if I found that I liked one beer more than another that I rated the same, the beer I liked less probably lost 1/2 a point. The winner of this taste was: Stone Delicious IPA

The second tasting: 

I had 6 fruit filled IPAs all new to me for this tasting, and it was done in two sittings so as to not get drunk and make my tasting more fruitful as well: Victory Blackboard Series (no. 1): Agave IPA with Grapefruit, Green Flash Tangerine Soul Style IPA, Lagunitas Citusinensis Pale Ale, Samuel Adams Rebel Grapefruit IPA, Flying Dog Tropical Bitch, and Ballast Point Mango Even Keel.

1) Victory Blackboard Series (no. 1): Agave IPA with Grapefruit - minerally like an English bitter, floral, slight citrus tart, grapefruit rind, herbal, very juicy, hazy yellow color, toasty full mouthfeel, honey, coriander? 7% ABV, more here. I gave this 3.5/5.

2) Green Flash Tangerine Soul Style IPA - Very lacy yellowish off-white cream, peel, citrus, lemon peel, tangerine, hazy particulate orange color, very toasty malt, slight skunk? Fresh hop nose. 6.5% ABV, 75 IBU, more here. I gave this 3/5.

3) Lagunitas Citusinensis Pale Ale - the ABV practically makes this an IPA, though I don't know the IBU. Particulate gold color,  big white foam, citrus, tart orange, herbal, slight sour, hemp, some pine, juicy, tropical. Good but not my favorite. 8% ABV, more here. I gave this a 2.75/5.

4) Samuel Adams Rebel Grapefruit IPA - grapefruit, spicy, peppery, hazy orange w/cream white foam, fruit background to the beer, dank, heavy, touch sweet then balanced by a rindy bitterness. 6.3% ABV, 52 IBU, more here. I gave this 3.25/5.

5) Flying Dog Tropical Bitch - belgian yeast notes of coriander, bubble gum, smoky clove, banana, pinneapple, tea, mango, melon, spicy, smooth then a slight malty bitter end, med full amber. 8% ABV, 55 IBU, more here. I gave this 3.5/5.

6) Ballast Point Mango Even Keel - amber color, bubbly white foam, small particulate, nose of dried super ripe mango, sugar, herbal, candy fruit, citrusy bitterness, spicy, medium full mouthfeel, biscuit malt. 3.8% ABV, 40 IBU, more here. I gave this 3/5.

I cannot remember which 3 I had each time, I believe in the order they are typed, but I did a much better job choosing them out from each other and picking up the right citrus flavors. The winners for me were: Victory Blackboard Series (no. 1): Agave IPA with Grapefruit and Flying Dog Tropical Bitch.

The Search for Beer for All Seasons

I'll hit you with the numbers. At present, I've documented trying 766 unique beers since July of 2014. That's often tastes and small samples, not full sized brews mind you. When I hit a beer fest, for example, I might add 30-40 different beers to that list.

With this amount of beer consumed, I've learned a thing or two about how I rate and taste beer.

First, festivals are the worst place, often, to rate beer. The kegs are the worst and I often get the worst tasting beer at festivals for some reason. That being said Whistle Belly, in Williamsburg (VA), was super fresh and amazing, while Rochester's Flour City Brew Fest continues to disappoint. Second, my tastes or perspective changes, sometimes based on the situation. I might not rate a beer very high one time, while another time it just hits the spot and comes together as a perfectly fresh example of that beer. My beer tasting proficiency has hopefully changed over time as well and some that I started trying at the beginning of this quest could receive higher scores now. Third, my ratings (on the scale of 1-5) are sometimes lower than they should be. I find a really good beer does not always receive as high a score as it deserves, and that might just be because I didn't find it memorable, unique or satisfying enough (or it isn't a fresh example).  Some beer may not warrant my going out to buy more of it I guess is what I'm saying.

I am really into freshness too! I rarely buy a beer if it's more than 2-3 months past it's BOD. Especially hoppy beers. Maltier beers can often get away from 6 or more months, but sometimes I wonder at a place like Wegmans where they do not always refrigerate (or consistently at least) and temperatures in store are not desirable for "cellaring".

That being said, do I rate beer purely based on my personal preferences? As someone who desires to be more knowledgeable about beer and styles, I have a hard time justifying that. But, what beers are going to make me keep coming back? 

The latter is a growing part of my search these days. Sometimes I envy the people who can sit back and hit a 6 pack of tasteless light beer because it is refreshing and enjoyable to do so, not always approaching beer with a beer snob attitude.

It's a constant balance I struggle with. I rarely just buy a 6 pack of one beer. More often it's a mixed or "craft pack" (but not from Wegmans, their craft pack single bottle selection is where aging beer goes to die). I've had a horrible time coming up with a list of beer I want to drink all the time. Part of my "go-to" list is dedicated to beers I can't drink all the time (seasonal or just high ABV so not sessionable and/or expensive), while choosing from 50 different IPAs, pale ales, or porters is difficult when I can't really taste them all side by side.

Subsequently, I've started blind tasting beers next to each other in small batches. For one reason to see if I can truly sense their flavor profiles without complete foreknowledge. For another, to see which ones I actually like the most. Check the results out of some tastings I did like that in the near future post.

For now, here are some beers I believe are ones I would drink all the time that are available, to my knowledge, all the time:

Rohrbach Brewing Co. Vanilla Porter - my favorite of Rohrbach's beer line-up. It's available in cans now instead of just growlers, which I never liked anyway. I still prefer it at the restaurant but cans will do fine, they just need to do a nitro pour. That could take that beer to the next level.

Rohrbach Brewing Co. Blueberry Ale - another Rochester favorite, a well balanced fruit beer that is not overwhelmingly blueberry but is still my favorite fruit flavor in beer besides maybe grapefruit in IPAs. The Last time I had Ithaca Beer Co. Apricot Wheat I was also really impressed.

Samuel Adam's Boston Lager or Brooklyn Lager - I need to do a taste test between these two and see which I prefer more, but even for how much volume these two major players in the craft brewing scene put out of these two beers they are solid choices. I've seriously enjoyed Boston Lager at times and found Brooklyn Lager to be really enjoyable too.

Lake Placid Brewing Co. Ubu Ale - I've often returned to this familiar friend, and having not had it for a while I think it's time is due again, but there's something really delicious and unique about Ubu Ale.

Guinness Draught - in cans this is just pure lusciousness, I cannot deny I love a Guinness now and again.

Hoegaarden Blanche - even though A-B InBev owns this beer, it sticks in my memory as one I really enjoy. It would be fun to put this to the test against other really good witbiers (i.e. Allagash White, Dogfish Head Namaste, Sam Adams Nitro White, Westbrook White Thai, and Brooklyn Sorachi Ace (yes a saison but very close to a witbier imo--I guess I've got my next six pack tasting figured out!)

Davidson Brothers Brown Ale - I want to put this one out there because I recently had it on cask and it was stupendously good, and it is now available in my area! I've also enjoyed Brooklyn's Brown Ale, Dark Horse Buffo Brown Ale, Shmaltz Messiah Nut Brown Ale and Bell's Best Brown Ale so there needs to be a taste off soon.

Citizen Cider The Dirty Mayor - as ciders go this is probably my favorite and have consistently seen it at my local beer shop too, but I have tried some really nice ciders lately with my wife participating in tastings by me choosing a bunch of ciders for her to try (i.e. Thatchers Gold, Embark Craft Ciderworks American Heirloom, Angry Orchard Old Fashioned, Original Sin Cherry Tree Hard Cider, Woodchuck Reserve: Cherry, Blue Toad Roc City Blonde or Amber, Blackbird Cider Works Premium Draft Hard Cider, and/or Cider Creek Hard Cider Saison Reserve).

The Bronx Brewery American Pale Ale - one that I've just been buying a lot lately in pursuit of a go-to session pale ale. It has hit the spot every time and that's what I'm looking for. Other Pale Ales that could be in contention for this spot could be Magic Hat #9, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale, Three Heads Brewing Population Pale Ale, Butternuts Beer & Ale Porkslap Pale Ale, and/or Founders Mosaic Promise.

Goose Island Honkers Ale - before AB-InBev took Goose Island over I had no problem turning to Honkers Ale, now I feel like I need to find an alternative for ethical/moral reasons. I have not found any really great always available alternatives yet besides perhaps Fuller's London Pride.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier - could be a beer I turn to a lot for a weissbier refreshing summer style, I doubt I've had better. Victory makes a good Mad King's Wiess too but availability is not year round. Also Three Heads Brewing Captain Banana and Troegs DreamWeaver Wheat could be solid alternatives.

Victory Blackboard Series (no. 1): Agave IPA with Grapefruit - a relatively new addition to the fruit laden IPA trend, and a good one. Others include Grapefruit Sculpin (duh! so good, but the price point is pretty high...), Stone Delicious IPA, Alpine Duet (been seeing this one in NY lately, had it on cask at Whistle Belly and was floored), Elysian Space Dust IPA (slightly more expensive), Rohrbach Railroad Street IPA, Cambridge Brewing Co. Flower Child IPA (if I can find it in NY), Weyerbacher Last Chance IPA, Worthy IPA (if I can find it in NY, I often see it in VT when I'm over that way), Ithaca Flower Power, Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA and/or Uinta Hop Nosh IPA.

Oskar Blues Old Chub - a solid scotch, but I'm almost sure I can find a better one. Perhaps Rohrbach Scotch Ale, Three Heads Rochestefarian, Founders Dirty Bastard (higher price point though), or definitely Davidson Brothers Scotch Ale (if it makes it's way here!). I'd love to pitch the nitro version of Old Chub against the regular one too.