Has anyone here done a blind tasting?

I love blind tasting. I have a set of black glasses I have my wife pick a random beer pour it in. So fun and it makes your senses better in some ways.

I think with hype as strong as it is these days making people drink blind might cause them to rethink the extraordinary lengths some people go for beer these days.

 

Wow, what an amazing new idea!

 

I learn more from blind tastings than I do from the other sorts.

 

We have doing them every year for 7 or 8 years. In my group of people I think we could do the same group of beers each time and get different results. We did barrel aged stouts recently and one guy ranked a beer that didn’t exist. We had a beer back out so it was listed on the sheet to rank but we never had it. It’s still fun every time.

 

I do blind tastings frequently. I try to compare two similar styles. (Czech vs German pilsner, Zwickel vs Helles, vs Euro vs American lager) etc. Depending on the style it is sometimes difficult as many American breweries don't brew to style specifications. However, it often creates a nuance and a point of comparison. There is a lot of be learned from blind tastings.

 

All the time to keep my palate sharp

 

I've never done a blind tasting "to see if I can differentiate one beer from another," but I've participated in multiple blind tastings designed tp eliminate brand-based bias, and I think they're inevitably eye-opening. I highly recommend them. They really help to cut through and expose the hype that is such a major driver of high ratings on sites like this.

One big point of caution: I've found that if, in blind tastings within a style, a beer stands out from the rest in any substantial way (different level of ABV, different level of final gravity, different level of IBU, flavoring adjuncts employed, etc.), it's way more likely to receive a very high or very low score than it would if judged independently. People tend to respond to, and either reward or punish, uniqueness within the group being judged. I suspect if the same beer were judged among more truly similar beers to it, it often would receive more middling scores.

 

It's an excellent topic that should be discussed. I think if more folks did them we would on average get improved quality of reviews.

 

Well, actually.... But if it’s not new for you why don’t you share some of your experiences with blind tastings?

 

I actually did a blind taste test yesterday using various Sand City's I picked up. We also threw in a Heineken and Coors Light (no problem picking them out).....

 

During a long career in the beer and wine industry, I have had extensive experience with both beer and wine blind tastings In the mid to late 90s our group had very detailed blind tastings to vet wine and beer to possibly include in our portfolio. These events were every Wednesday at our general weekly meeting (from 8 AM to Noon with lunch brought in) It was fun and very educational. We all became quite good at determining grape types (and beers), provenance, quality of product, and if it was worthy for us to carry going forward. We voted. At these meetings/tastings I really honed my palate. The events were a playful competition that I'll always cherish. These tastings through the years have served me well.

 

This kinda reminds me of the old Pepsi challenge that was heavily advertised back in the day. They would serve people two small pours blind of cola (one Pepsi and the other Coke) and the people would express a preference for Pepsi since it was sweeter in comparison to Coke. But when it comes to drinking an entire 12 ounce can/bottle (or multiples) it turns out that Coke is the preferred product. Consideration of serving size and typical consumption styles (e.g., more than one beer) is very much a factor here. Maybe the beer that is preferred in small format comparisons is not the preferred beer under 'regular' drinking situations.

Cheers!

 

That's why I only can do 3 or 4 at a time. After I take my initial notes, I will drink the remainder of each beer over a period of time, and then make further clarifications as I go. Can't really do that with 8 or so beers.

 

Maybe Chris (@zid) can provide you with some tips here? He recently did a taste test of four 24 ounce cans of Malt Liquor:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-get-its-name-from.621887/page-3#post-6612963

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I saw that, God bless him.

Just to add one more thing - it's not uncommon for me to buy a crowler based on liking the little taste beforehand, but not be so crazy about the beer after drinking the whole thing later on.

 

For sure, a little taste doesn't necessarily predict the enjoyment. Remember the Pepsi-Coke ads? They didn't predict buying habits very well at all...

 

That's what I was responding to, @JackHorzempa posted about it in post #33.

 

Yep, and my intent was to reinforce you comment.

 

Apologies, because I'll probably get long winded. I'm drinking an entire bottle of Cardamaro and listening to Sinatra at 1AM. I love blind tastings. My two cents:

I don't like using just two beers in a side-by-side. I find that it reduces the chaos of the field and therefore the joy of it. It becomes more about identifying the beers. As a result, I like a large number of beers. One needs some confusion and uncertainty. On the other end of the spectrum, once you get to ten beers, it's just too much. The numbers get in the way of getting to know the beers. Five or six beers are a sweet spot for me.

I like doing 12 oz pours. I don't finish every pour. It's just not realistic since I'm flesh and blood. When I start a side-by-side, the beers are often tough to distinguish, but by the end, the differences of the beers really come into focus. Typically, I don't drink all that much of the beers I begin to dislike, but I still try them throughout the experience. When get to the two beers I like the most, I typically drink them close to the bottom of the glass.

Alcohol volume can be an issue. When I do a side-by-side, I tend to drink at a faster rate then typical. It's simply a lot of volume at once and I'm trying to compare beverages. Barley wine tastings are a real challenge.

Is the side-by-side scenario described above the ideal way of drinking a beer? Of course not. It's a really strange and specific scenario. For me, the volume of each beer consumed is not nearly as big a factor as the fact that I'm having different beers together. Will I be less forgiving to the beer that I like the least in a side-by-side compared to if I was having it on it's own. Most likely Yes!

If I'm tasting six beers and ranking them, you can bet I'd rank them differently if I repeated the tasting a few days later. One must accept this. This isn't an exercise in perfection, but rather in comparison and fleeting weirdness. People are trying to determine a favorite by putting them in a scenario that doesn't reflect a normal drinking scenario. It's not going to be perfect. It's funny when people do a large tasting and then definitively declare a "winner" (not that I'm immune to this). How about you try the same heats a year later and see if the results are identical? Any beer can have a bad day. Have you had a full serving of the winning beer on it's own on a subsequent day? I like to add experiences to a side-by-side tasting to get a better handle.

It's fun and satisfying when you guess a beer correctly... but it's even more fun when you're way off. The best tastings are the ones that successfully challenge your assumptions and opinions.