IPA Blind Taste Test...

I'm starting this thread both as a way to test this idea and to ask for advice on video software/audio/etc. I had an idea a while back to do a blind taste test of my 6 favorite of each kind of beer (IPA, Imperial Stout, Belgian Strong Dark/Quadruple, etc), but then it kind of morphed into trying a few beers I'd had and liked and then finished out the 6 with some beers I hadn't had just to test my tastes and maybe be an eye-opener for me.

Well, it turns out I'm not very good at finding good video editing software - does anyone have any ideas? If you do shoot me a line.

Either way - here's the results of what I did anyway, I recorded the tasting of each beer and took some video for intro/outro type stuff... But I figured if I never finish a video at least someone can read the tasting.

The 6 Beers I did this time were:
1. Stone IPA
2. Dogfish Head 60 Minute
3. Rogue Yellow Snow IPA
4. Left Coast Trestles
5. Clown Shoes Miracle IPA
6. Lagunitas IPA

All beers had 2 oz poured into a plastic cup numbered with the above numbers on top, then were mixed around by a friend so I didn't know which was which. I tasted each and placed them in order of tasting without looking at the numbers until I tasted all of them. Here are the results...

First - Clear orange amber color with thick film of bubbles on top with slight lacing on the glass. Smell is a very citrusy grapefruit/orange/lemon/lime/pineapple with some pine in there too. The taste is pretty intense pine/grapefruit hop bitterness with not much malt in the background, but in a good way (like a good west coast IPA). Mouthfeel - medium mouthfeel, very bitter, leaves a very bitter aftertaste, overall a great IPA.

Second - Same appearance as the first. Smell was a more pronounced sweet malt smell, with some piney citrus hop notes in there but the malt was much more overpowering. Taste had a little more hop bite to it but still was very heavy on the maltiness. Mouthfeel - medium, slightly bitter, leaves a bready/slightly bitter aftertaste. This might be Dogfishhead...

Third - Again, same appearance, I'm pretty sure all these guys filter their beer. Smell more piney/earthy hops on this one, with the grapefruit there too but not as much as the first, lemon/lime, almost like sprite. Taste - really earthy piney hops. Like a good homebrewed IPA. Mouthfeel - medium, medium-heavy bitterness, leaves a bitter aftertaste, also a good IPA.

Fourth - Appearance same. Smell nice balanced piney/grapefruit/citrus zest with some caramel malt in the background. Taste is the same - very bitter with piney/grapefruit hops but also has a nice caramel malt to it. Mouthfeel - medium, heavy bitterness with sweet in the background, aftertaste is most bitter with some sweetness to it. Overall - great IPA.

Fifth - A little darker/more copper than the others. Smell is sweeter with more caramel/molasses notes, hops are there in the background. Taste is a nice caramel/brown sugar taste with some bitter grapefruit hops there too. Mouthfeel is medium, slightly bitter aftertaste with some brown sugar. Overall a sweeter IPA I would want to drink cold and heavily carbonated.

Sixth - Also lighter like the first four. Smell again is an earthy hops, citrus, grapefruit. Taste is earthy hops with grapefruit/citrus/pine, bready malts. Mouthfeel - medium, aftertaste is medium-heavy bitterness. Overall it's not as good as the 1st, 3rd, and 4th.

The Verdict - The First was the best, followed by the 3rd/4th. Let's see which was which...

The first was actually 1. Stone IPA - not surprised this was the best. The Second was 2. Dogfish Head 60 minute - I guess right and apparently need to get a better person to mix these up next time. The Third was 5. Clown Shoes Miracle IPA - which does taste like a homebrewed IPA when I try it again, and wouldn't be tied for the 4th as second given this second try. The fourth was 3. Rogue Yellow Snow IPA - which is pretty damn good. The fifth was 4. Left Coast Trestles IPA. The Sixth was 6. Lagunitas IPA - I did not see this as earthy when I tasted it the first time but compared to others apparently it is!

So there you have it, the first attempt at doing this blind taste testing by myself. I'm going to go finish off these beers, have a great Friday night and if anyone has some good ideas on video editing (preferably using mp4 video, that can crop frames), let me know.

- ISmith87

 

Damn, good point - I checked everything just to make sure -

Clown Shoes - no date
Lagunitas - Again nothing
DogfishHead - 4/15/2013
Stone - Enjoy by 11/11/2013
Rogue - nothing
Left Coast - nothing

 

drink it.

 

You were right, they hide it well with the black ink. The number is:

219 3
6301 0302

 

Nice, well that one was good, and in all fairness, the fact that it was last probably had a play in the way I tasted it. I always thought it was more citrusy - more like Stone IPA rather than earthy.

 

Hop Knot is awesome.