What’s the Difference? Share your Side-by-Side (2022)

So today we have a battle of recreations. Not rec-reations, but re-creations. Both by DC breweries (and sort of brought about by the same brewery as I read it). The beers in question are Old Time, brewed by Hopfheiser Brewing Company (which is a pseduonym being used by DC Brau for this beer). The other beer is mentioned in the linked article, Christian Heurich Brewing Co's Senate Beer (as brewed by Right Proper Brewing Company).


When I reviewed the former beer for New Beer Weekend a while back, @JackHorzempa took a line from the Old Time dcbeer.com article and wondered if I might do a side-b-side between the two beers that "will likely compete ... for the title of DC’s 'premium lager' of choice." The other day I found two packs of beer with decent dates (mid July and early August) to make that come to fruition.

So which would win if I were to arbitrate the battle? Let's see who wins the first showdown.

On the pour into the glasses I chose, I needed to make sure I kept one on the left and another on the right, because once the head of Old Time fell, they looked damn near identical. But if I were a voting man (wait, I am), I'd vote Old Time better in the looks department. After chill haze and condensation is removed, Senate is a little "whiter"with a light haze the clear Old Time eschews).

The similarities continue to the noses - lagered grain with a bit of a mineral edge to it. Outside the predominant smells, Old Time has a hint of grass bitterness and a vague fruit aroma where Senate is a little more grainy with a honey sweetness. Again, another close match I'd give to Old Time.

Senate has a noticeably sweeter beginning than Old Time, which leads with a slightly bitter mineral water opening. I'm not sure if there is an adjunct in Senate, but there is a bit of what I think is corn in the flavor profile. There's nothing equivalent in Old Time, though that doesn't mean it's not there (in fact, flaked corn is mentioned as in ingredient).

Senate continues to the end without much, maybe adding a half sprtiz of orange, though it cleans up its sweetness fairly well. Old Time gains an ever so slight fruity tinge and a few dry grass clippings as it evolves to its fairly dry finish.

I think I am going to go with Old Time as my choice today between these two beers. They were fairly similar to the taste, and the sweeter profile of Senate beer wasn't working as well as the mineral bitterness of Old Time.

 

Yeah, I definitely am coming around to thinking about how yeast affects beer styles other than Belgians (and Hefes). One might think that generally more subtle lager beers like AALs could have a more noticeable amount of their character come from yeast.

Somewhat related, I'm not ready to claim to know what combination of things bring about that "American lager" vibe to a beer, but both of the beers I sampled today had it.

 

I have plans to watch it, but I've got today booked up with college football and making food to watch college football

 

Not to entirely sidetrack the original intent of @jonphisher in this year's rendition of his vision, but I have been watching this podcast. My thoughts include, as I watch, independent of the yeast content which I did take in as intended:

• Funny how Greg keeps mentioning brewery owners talking about (what we now call) AALs being "superior" in many fashions, but a lot of them seem business related. Clarity is marketing, what I'll call "transportability" is both quality and marketing (he does get into this in reference to his stein vs glass statements)
  
• I laughed when he mentioned he was happy or at least fine with the "haze craze"
• American adjunct lagers might've had a "rarity hype" due to their seasonal nature at one point
• Then about 20 minutes later, craft beer arose out of a rarity of non-AALs (no surprise here)

Not intended, but as I watched, I did get the question we ponder here in various forms: do "people" enjoy AALs because of their inherit qualities or did they become used to it as the offering made available to them. To paraphrase a Henry Ford saying, "You can have any beer you want, as long as it's an AAL."

Side note.. I had a Senate Beer as I watched this unencumbered by a competitor, and I found it fairly enjoyable.

 

I'm not sure craft brewers are trying to compete at the same level (i.e. price). I'm not thinking they want to. I think they want to offer a close, but "better alternative" for a portion of their customers or the people they bring to their operation.

Personally, I can easily enjoy a mass-produced AAL in situations as well (golf course especially comes to mind), but in most cases it involves something else taking my attention. In any case where I want to sit and enjoy a beer on its own merit, I can't imagine picking a bland, sweeter-than-I-prefer big beer AAL.

My original review was of two beers that supposedly had some "historical influence"in the recipe. I wouldn't say either tasted today's BMC offerings, but I think you just provoked a soon-to-be-posted matchup comparing these two brews against America's big sellers.

 

I think I might use it as an excuse to retry Corona Familiar, which performed quite admirably in some posts before the initiation of this thread or its predecessor, via an AAL contest I decided to undertake (documented somewhere in this site).

 

Ok, back on track with this post, although in a competition that might only be of interest to myself. I have posted the Starr Hill University of Virginia collaboration beer Wahoowa in the WBAYDN threads here and there, but recently the big beer-owned Virginia brewery Devil's Backbone released an "officially licensed" UVa-themed beer named Hoo Rah Ray.

Back story, Wahoowa is a quick phrase of support for the University. It also is part of the chant at the end of our post-score song (the Good Ole Song), as is the name of the Devil's Backbone beer. Let's see which I prefer while I support my team in its game tonight.


Wahoowa is a paler pale ale, whereas the juicy wheat Hoo Rah Ray is a darker, more orange to its competitor's yellow. Both are hazed, though if I had to pick one as less hazy, it'd be Hoo Rah Ray. Both beers have similar foamy to creamy heads that hold up pretty well.

Both beers have a citrusy edge to them, with Wahoowa seeming a little more pithy bitter compared to the DB beer's relative candied orange. Hoo Rah Ray isn't coming off as sweet on its own, just relatively. On taste, the contrast holds up.

If Devil's Backbone site actually linked to a description of Hoo Rah Ray, I might have information to dissuade me from the impression that El Dorado hops might be involved. There is a slight impression of an orange soda in the beer, aided by some fizzy carbonation. Some bitterness counters in the back, but it's not enough to provide an overall favorable impression tonight.

Wahoowa is sitting around 6 weeks old now and has changed since I had it a a dozen days, but it hasn't turned into anything near an unpleasant beer at this point. It has a bit more of a grassy hop atop a honey malt backbone. It easily wins this competition tonight.

I'm kind of happy the Charlottesville based beer wont his side-by-side, especially considering Devil's Backbone also makes a University of Maryland beer. Side note, I don't want to look into it to see if Starr Hill might produce another central VA school beer, though I know Harrisonburg-based Brothers' Craft does the non-Richmond but relatively nearby James Madison University beer.

Lastly, tonight might be an off night regarding straight enjoyment of Hoo Rah Ray, but thankfully the GF likes it, so if I end up not liking the next can, she can finish the others.

 

In the two week Oktoberfest Tasting thread, a few people mentioned that Weihenstephaner’s Festbier was pretty good this year. Separately I had an out-of-date Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen, and suggested Union’s Fest Beer (American, Baltimore) might sit between what I’ve seen of the two dominant “styles” of Oktoberfest beers.

So I grabbed a Festbier, a fresh Paulaner’s and decided to compare to my last Union offering:


After the pour, Weihenstephaner Festbier is lightest, Paulaner’s Märzen darkest, and Union’s is between the two, leaning towards the Märzen. That pic is misleading, here’s a better one (same order LtR):

Union actually had the best head by a little bit even after accounting for differences in container and how that affected the pour.

On the nose, the Union Fest Beer is the most fruity, Paulaner the most bready (a medium-brown grained bread), and Weihenstephan’s Festbier the most “beer-like” with a combination of grain and bitterness.

Sipping them, the most bitter offering is Weihenstephaner’s Festbier, with a sweet honey-grain opening. Union’s Fest Beer has a similar sweetness, maybe a little more towards fructose as it evolves into a pear and light citrus fruity note the others don’t have. It might be slightly more bitter in back than Paulaner’s Märzen, which has a darker more malty (versus general sweetness) opening than either others.

Festbier had the most carbonation while Fest Beer had the least (can offering effect? @zid). Festbier was also the lightest by a tad, with Paulaner seeming the least bit fuller than Fest Beer, but all were close (Union is the 5.6% outlier of the 5.8% ABV norm for this comparison).

For this tasting, I at first liked Weihenstephaner’s offering more, but then Paulaner’s Märzen took over. Union never grabbed me over the others, but it did end up seeming to fill the gap between them, leaning more towards the Paulaner brew.