Blind IPA Taste Test Results!

Interesting and thanks for sharing your results.

 

Great lineup! Having not been able to sample NE's finest, but reading the orgasmic exultations on this site every day, I am not surprised to see Dreadnaught at the bottom (also, the only one of those I have had). Great beer, but seems like from a forgotten time these days.

 

Well that is part of my point. Perhaps the judges prefer beers that are a little lighter? I don't know that I'd say a DIPA would necessarily have better or worse flavor, but perhaps just a little more robust. Maybe that higher IBU is turning off the judges?

To each their own I suppose, I just generally think beers are better compared against similar mates.

 

I've had a whole 2 beers out of this lineup, Dread and Abrasive.

Maybe one day I'll try something from Treehouse.

 

Surprised Green and Julius werent closer since.... they taste the same! There is actually very, very, very little variety between their IPAs

 

Must be in the minority here, but I absolutely love dreadnaught. My favorite of the FFF IPA/pales, but I guess i'm ok with that since I don't have to rush to Munster every time it goes on sale before it sells out

 

IPA's are palate wrecking.

And anybody who has been drinking craft IPA's long enough knows blind taste tests are worthless measures because of that reason.

 

Respectfully disagree, David.

 

Congress St is a damn good IPA, so the fact that people seem to agree on it being ranked under Haze/Green just reinforces my desire to hit up TreeHouse ASAP.

 

Don't see what there is to disagree about. Chugging them back to back. Spreading them out over the week. Time and time again will give me different insights and results. The more delicate, more subtle flavors and nuanced beverages get lost in the middle of the pack almost every single time.

Always limit yourself to a single IPA per tasting session. There is no need to have all beers lined up right beside each other in order to do a fair comparison. Doing so is exactly how you make the test unfair.

 

In order to do a "completely fair" tasting over the course of 2 weeks (or however long a period), you would literally need to eat and drink EXACTLY the same thing for the period or days of the "tasting."

There will never be a "fair" way to do a tasting (or comparison, as you put it) , it's just something fun to do between tasting partners. That is really the only technicality you're going to have, so you're truly fucked however you do a "tasting" or beer vs. beer.

Again, it's just fun to do and interesting to see where things line up. Everyone has a different palate, so there is no wrong or right, regardless.

 

No Way!. It doesnt surprise me.

 

Interesting. Thanks for doing this! I've actually been thinking of lining up at least two coffee beers and seeing how they compare (Mother's Winter Grind and Surly's Coffee Bender). While I haven't had them back to back, I can't help but think they're eerily similar. I want to do a taste test and see what I can find. Maybe I'll have my dad pour the two into glasses and see what I can discern.

 

I love Sucks. It's a great beer !

 

I did a taste test of my own this morning. First had a FBS. Then a SMS. SMS won by a landslide.......

 

Great minds think alike !

 

I think DN is a very good brew too but Permanent Funeral is a much better DIPA IMHO and I like Zombie Dust better too.

 

Well. I just kind of start fresh in the morning.

Its hard to be completely fair. But thats why professionals most of the time go to lengths in order to renew their palates between tastings. Its difficult to do, but this is all part of the reason why you see blind taste tests that yield rankings so far from consensus.

I understand. I'm not trying to be an asshole here. I'm just pointing out limitations that, I think, most people don't understand about these types of exercises. Most people here might not care, but maybe one person finds it worth investigating?