What’s the Difference? Share your Side-by-Side (2021)

Great idea and good job kicking things off! I really hope this thread takes off.

 

FWIW I am not at all surprised at what you posted here. Jever, even when fresher than 6 months, does not have prominent hop aroma. But even with some time it still is very crisp and clean. The feature of Jever, which I have discussed in many posts, is that it is bone dry.

I have had Double Nickle several times, and I have enjoyed it every time, but not exactly a favorite for my palate. But we all have our own unique palates.

As I am sure you recall I have posted a lot of side by side tastings in the NBS/NBW threads. A fairly recent post was concerning German Pilsners:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-21.651977/#post-7116379

Cheers!

 

No, there was no coordination at all. I just happened to have a side-by-side all lined up for tonight....

Actually, I did mention this a week and a half ago, so let's get at it...


So for those who didn't want to click the link, I hadn't had Great Divide Hibernation in a while, and have been quite enjoying it. It's bitterness reminded me more of an American barley wine than the Old Ale, and when American barley wines come up, so does the comparison beer: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.

So, I don't expect them to be that similar, but I'm curious on what is similar given my thoughts that night oh so many days ago.

So, Hibernation is darker and therefore less clear, but also has a better head (granted, the Bigfoot is 5-6 years old, but it needs some time to mellow, no?)

There's more chocolate in the Hibernation nose, especially to the hops in Bigfoot. The Bigfoot is actually more sweet smelling, despite the hops I know are coming.

Taste brings things closer together - though Hibernation bitterness seems to be a combination of the more roasted malt and hops, where Bigfoot seems all hop-driven.

Overall, the sweet (and more barleywine-esque, to me) note from Bogfoot's nose is drowned by the bittering hops in the taste. Given the comparison, Hibernation seems more a bareleywine/stout hybrid, so old ale probably does fit, given the style seems to be more rooted in production than outcome.

So, I thought Hibernation leaned more ABW, and found out that maybe it doesn't so much. I am enjoying both on their own, regardless (and though I've been iffy on Bigfoot in the past, I'm enjoying it a tad more tonight).

Cheers, all! I hope you guys and gals consider using this thread for fun and exploration, even if you are more succinct than my wordy ass


Bonus round: I gave the GF the beers blind, and she called them correctly. She liked Hibernation as Bigfoot was "less drinkable" and seemingly higher in ABV (after looking up, she was right, but she thought there'd be larger than a 1% difference). As such, she liked Hibernation better as "more drinkable" to her.

 

Nicely done. I love the dark glasses, I might need to find something like that for my own lunacy of blind tasting.

 

Okay, you just added some complexity to my NBW choices for this weekend. I gotta noodle on this a bit.

PS: this is a FANTASTIC idea for a thread. Well done.

 

You are the king of the side-by-side, Jack. I love when you do these in NBS/NBW, and I really appreciate that a lot of the time, in my recollection, you choose a couple of lagers/pilsners. You are an OG beer nerd of the highest magnitude, IMHO.

 

Okay, this thread is showing PHENOMENAL potential - this is an inspired selection of beers.

Wow. Just wow.

 

Spoiler alert: In a week (or two) I will be discussing a side-by-side of two Saisons. One will be a new to me commercial beer and the other will be my latest homebrewed Saison.

Cheers!

 

This is an awesome idea for a thread thread!

Recently I was inspired to try a SN Celebration/Torpedo blind side-by-side this past year after reading on some thread here that another poster found than more similar than expected. I also found them similar, though I was still able to correctly guess which was which, though with a 50/50 shot that's not saying that much.

It was definitely an enjoyable exercise though that I wish I had shared here, so I look forward to conducting more "experiments" and contributing to this post in the future!

I got surprisingly good head formation from a 2011 Bigfoot that I opened a week or so ago, so that's interesting that yours appears to have poured with significantly less.

 

I always find rating look can be weird on a single beer - I've totally had different results within a six pack, which could very easily point to me/my glasses more than the beer.

That said, I feel that what I poured had no chance of looking like yours. I await your next chance to post in this thread. Cheers!

 

I just did a side by side comparison yesterday with Sam Adams Boston Lager and Alaskan Amber. It started as a blind taste test, but I was easily able to identify each one.

The Boston Lager had a lighter malt backbone and was decidedly more hop forward. The Alaskan Amber had a stronger malt flavor without being overly sweet. The Amber had an interesting flavor that I could not identify where the Lager had a more traditional flavor. Both beers had a very clean flavor, not a single note out of place.

I considered them to be roughly equal in quality, both excellent, but the styles were enough different that I could not pick a true winner of this round.

 

Great idea !!!

 

Was there a feature(s) that distinguished one from the other?

A couple of years ago I had a Czech Dark Lager from a small, local brewery and while I enjoyed drinking it I could not shake the 'feeling' that I was drinking a Stout/Porter. I will relate later what the 'it' factor was for me here.

Cheers!