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

Not tonight, honey.

 

Cross-posting from this weekend's barleywine tasting thread for those interested:

I knew this thread would be seeing plenty of Bigfoot, both fresh and vintage, so while I unfortunately don't have anything particularly novel to contribute, this was still a fun side-by-side comparison.

2011 vs 2021 Bigfoot



Appearance:
2011 Bigfoot: Pours a dark brown/light copper with good head formation, and surprisingly, excellent head retention.
2021 Bigfoot: Pours a deep copper with excellent head formation and good head retention. Somehow the 2011 actually had better head retention that persisted pretty much throughout the entire session

I'm wondering if this was due to the glasses themselves, though they're both the same glass and were both hand-washed. A surprising result either way, and impressive to see from a 10-year old beer.

2011 Bigfoot on the left:



Smell:
2011 Bigfoot: Definitely picking up some oxidation on the nose, though it isn't so strong that it's off-putting. Similar to fresh Bigfoot, but much more leather, dark fruits, and much less fresh hops in the aroma.
2021 Bigfoot: No oxidation present here, and it benefits from the fresh hops compared to the 2011. This nose is definitely better for my preference, though the strong hop aromas here are not necessarily typical of the (even American) barleywine style.

Taste:
2011 Bigfoot: The taste follows the nose, with oxidation present but again not overbearing. Minus the oxidation, this has aged very well and now represents more of a typical barleywine style as the hops have faded over time. Still due to the oxidation I think this drink better fresher, maybe closer to a 5-6 year vintage.
2021 Bigfoot: All the malts are present from the 2011, and while the fresh hops do in some ways overpower some of its more subtle features, I think it drinks better than the 2011.

Overall:
2011 Bigfoot: I love this beer, as it ages from an overhopped American barleywine into a more complex barleywine that's still true to the American style. While I think this aged a little too long, it still drank remarkably well for a 10-year old beer, and the head formation and retention alone were impressive.
2021 Bigfoot: Even though this at times drinks more like a triple IPA than a barleywine, I still find myself enjoying it immensely. While overhopped, this causes the typical heavy malt flavors from barleywines to become reigned in a bit, and this is a nice occasional deviation from the standard style for my palate.

Cheers BA!

 

Cross-posting from the barleywine thread...

Three vintages of Bigfoot, no older than 2011 and no younger than 2020, but I don't know which ones my wife selected. Served in three instances of the same glass, hand washed, differentiated by blue, yellow, and green stickers. Mrs. snaotheus says she fully poured, so any loose sediment is included in my glasses.


Look: All three look pretty similar -- dark amber, small coarse head. Blue dot is definitely the lightest in color, yellow the next, and green dot is substantially darker than the others, coming in like a muddy brown instead of a cloudy amber. Yellow dot has the most head (but still tiny), and green dot the least. None look particularly carbonated.

Smell: Blue dot is dates or figs, musty wet decomposing wood, pine and leaves, toffee. Yellow more muted, sweeter, maybe a little molasses. In comparison, the blue dot seems slightly wet cardboardy / oxidized. Green dot smells a lot like blue dot, but the toffee and dates come out stronger and I don't get the oxidized aroma.

Taste: Blue dot has the toffee and a blast of bitterness, like chewing on bark, the bitterness runs deep and drowns out the dates or figs, still getting the decomposing wood but not the oxidation. Yellow dot is milder, but similar flavors. Bitterness is still there but less of a blast in the face. I get the toffee and dates a little better, less of the decomposing wood. Green dot is almost sweet at first, with toffee and more of a raisin flavor than dates. Some tea which tends to make me lean toward nuttiness. But the bitterness makes me think of eating the dark papery stuff inside a walnut. When I run through them, it doesn't seem to matter which order I try them in, the last one always seems the most bitter.

Mouthfeel: Pretty similar for all three of them. I think the blue dot is the thinnest and the green dot is the thickest, but it's not a wide variation.

Overall...I can't pick a favorite, they're all similar variations on a theme. I would guess green dot is the youngest and yellow dot the oldest, mostly based on yellow seeming to have the edges rounded off the most and green the least. I'm not even going to hazard a guess as to what the vintages actually are, because I think it's more me trying to predict what my wife would pick than analyzing what's in the glass.

So, time for the reveal!

Blue dot = 2014
Yellow dot = 2020
Green dot = 2016

My conclusion was totally wrong. I noticed the oxidation in blue dot, but ignored it.

Now I'll be drinking the remainder of these beers for a minute...cheers, all!

 

As some may know I do side-by-side tastings on nearly every beer I review and have usual posts in the thread "What Beer Are You Drinking Now?" Above is tonight's side-by-side lineup.
Go to nearly any one of my beer reviews on BeerAdvocate and read a side-by-side comparison. I agree with the OP that is extremely valuable to compare similar beer and compare/contrast the differences and train your palate. If anyone or @jonphisher has any questions/discussion I'd welcome them.
Thanks!

 

Nice! Hopefully you were able to try their base Odell IPA which is also good. I try to compare the most similar beers and see if I can differentiate them.
I keep record of beers that are similar and upcoming side-by-side comparisons to make sure that I try/compare them. Cheers!

 

Cross posted from the Barleywine tasting thread:

10 and 15 year old bottles of JW Lees Harvest Ale from the cellar, drank side by side. 2006 and 2011 editions, both the 275 ml bottles.

The 2011 pours a clear chestnut brown color, with amber highlights. The 2006 is much much darker, almost black, with ruby and garnet flashes sneaking through when held up to the light. There was chunky sediment in the bottom of the bottle that I held back from the glass, but swigged from the bottle for good health! no head on either beer. The 2011 aroma and taste has a lot of deep toffee, caramel, fig flavors, but just a touch of sweetness. The 2006, with further aging the flavors have intensified to strong raisin, port wine, elderberry, plum. a touch of savory umami but in a good way. Also leather, tobacco. So much depth in the aroma and taste. Both beers are medium bodied, with very light carbonation. A little syrupy. Neither is boozy or hot.

Overall I prefer the 2006 due to the complexity of the flavor. The 2011 surprised me a bit, it's a less sweet than previous vintages I've drank at the 10 year point.

 

Brother Advocate @cjgiant reminded me that we have an excellent, ongoing forum for side by sides...here’s my birthday contribution today:

Bell’s 35th Anniversary Expedition Stout Reserve, and Bell’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Expedition Stout:



35th bottled 9/3/20. BBA bottled 5/18/20. Both beers poured at 55°.

A) Both beers have a creamy/rocky mixed bubbles head with good cap retention, a solid ring, good sudsy lacing and ultimately a small island of micro dots bubbles; inky black with the barest of ruby edges; the 35th kept a tad heavier ring and lace, while the BBA had thicker, heavier legs. Too close to call -
Score: 5 and 5

S) Roast malt; some smoke; fresh laid asphalt; intense burnt coffee beans nose. 4.25 Chocolate, caramel with bourbon exhale; long lasting bourbon aroma. 5

T) Bitter roast grains, bitter sweet dark chocolate; toasted black bread; char; burnt marshmallows. 4.75 Sweet caramel upfront and lots of bourbon; milk chocolate, coffee, oak, vanilla; sweet dried fruit - raisins, prunes, apricots; a mélange of fruit and malt semi sweet flavors with bourbon coating it all. 5

M) Smooth feel, full body; warmth from 11.5% abv; moderate light carbonation. 4.5
Increasing mouth warming from 13.6% abv; sticky, non adjuncty velvety feel; full body; moderate light carbonation. 4.75

O) Two different beers; the 35th was roasty dry (in a good way), but more smoke/char than I want; still, I really liked, 4.75 On the other hand, the BBA is exactly what I want to drink - boozy, but no bite; the base and barrel flavors completely compliment one another and meld seamlessly creating a delicious, can’t put down stout. 5

Wow! That was a fun hour or so - nap time!
Hope y’all are warm and safe this wintery day...
Cheers!

 

Why do I keep getting blamed for things I am "allegedly" the direct cause of?!??

 

Ok, something about dog food and eating one's own....

Actually, this making came about from the GF, who saw the Lagunita's IPNA and wanted to compare it with the regular Lagunita's IPA. I had mentioned I had sen a post from our friend @CanConPhilly than IPNA wasn't too bad.

(Granted, the N/A IPA I got from Three Notch'd out of Charlottesville might've gained her curiosity in general, so I'm likely still blame-worthy *sigh*)

So, first thing I noted was that IPNA was a tad darker in hue - so I figure maybe some malt adjustment to help the overall profile was in place. It wasn't a huge difference, but noticeable.


As I am drinking, the heads are quite similar. The actual IPA is clearer even accounting for the color difference. Its nose is citrusy, with a tang that I get which might be what other people think of as that Lagunita's character. The IPNA has a distinctly more robust nose, mainly from malt, but also has a somewhat of a singed hop note - an odd roasty bitter note that isn't from roasted malt.

The IPA has a clean, fruity opening with a lot of high notes, with a surprising lack of abrasive bitterness. It's almost lagerish in its feel, but the bitterness is sneaky and gets its say in the end. I'm almost not a fan of the opening notes, especially cold, but it isn't bad.

The IPNA, somewhat unsurprisingly, doubles down on the opening notes (which I presumed were malt/yeast driven, right or wrong). It's not a good thing to me, but can it slowly redeem itself like the regular?

Not really. I mean, it actually ends up tasting like boiled green vegetable water - though I might prefer the latter. I sorta get it - hop water isn't going to taste all that well, but it's also a base to improve upon. The very basic notes of both are similar, but the body and flavor that (presumably) fermentible sugars and their not-so-lucky brethren bring give the regular beer the edge. Perhaps this also allows the bitterness to be more expressive, or counters/combines with it in some ways that prevents the near purely vegetal notes I am getting from IPNA.


So, there actually were some similarities in profile. There wasn't so much any similarities in enjoyment. Actually, I liked the Three Notch'd N/A IPA I had more. It tasted in between OG and FG runoffs, whereas the IPNA has a sourdough-like yeast influence that killed the malt and reminded this drinker that hops are a vegetation at heart.

 

Forgive me, I'm going to try to do a "live stream" of my GF doing the same comparison I did.

First statement," Uh, I can immediately tell this one."

When asked, she said, "It doesn't taste like a 'done' beer."

She actually used the term "mouthfeel"

"unfinished beer" was another term.

Lagunitas IPA "tastes like a normal beer" - but the N/A "doesn't even taste like an IPA to me"

"I don' dislike it, but if I wanted to sit down and have a beer, I couldn't say I would want that."
(okay - that's a paraphrase)

When pushed, the GF said of the NA, "It's like a beer-flavored water"

Ok, this was a fun exercise for me. I didn't push her into the "sourdough" note I got. She said IPNA was better than Three Notch'd (from memory) and better than Coors Lite.

I disagree with her on a few, specifically N/A points, but it was fun relaying it to you, even if you couldn't care less

 

I've done a blend of up to 4 beers when doing an at-home flight with a friend several times, even when there are multiple styles involved. For example, I did a mix of 3 beers one time which included a homebrewed sour fruited Belgian wit. My friend and I both agreed that the blend of all 3 beers was (far) better than any of the beers on their own. I have to suppress my inner beer purist soul, but it's always fun to try and it's surprising how often the blend ends up being my favorite or second favorite overall.

P.S. I will admit, I'm a terrible homebrewer and the Belgian wit I mentioned above was not supposed to be sour. I've found that adding fruit to infected homebrew bottles, recapping, and waiting a month or two often turns a disaster into a tasty beer. The problem is the beers tend to be gushers and you have to strain out the orange/peach/mango/etc. fruit pieces when pouring the beer.

I will further admit, I decided to brew a Belgian wit because I was afraid I'd end up with infected homebrew (again). I figured that a sour Belgian wit would be easy to salvage as I described above, and my plan (if you can call it a plan) worked out quite well.

 

It's not exactly spontaneous fermentation...incidental fermentation? Shambolic fermentation?



Not exactly a wild ale...but a feral ale?

 

Thought it would be neat compare a modern DDH hazy with the OG - ODD13 Real Heroes next to Heady Topper




Appearance: Both pale yellow with a a similar off-white head. Real Heroes looks more murky with an increasingly copper haze. Heady Topper is brighter, less murky with a consistent haze.

Smell: Real heroes has a pungent, almost spicy but citrusy hop aroma with little to no perceptible malt. Heady Topper’s aroma begins with a touch of sweet malt followed by balanced, fresh green hoppy goodness that doesn’t overwhelm

Taste: Real Heroes is a citrusy but complex hop bomb with very little biter until the end. The bright flavors fade quickly into unbalanced hop bitterness. Heady Topper is bright, dank citrus up front with persistent fresh green hoppiness and a touch of sweet that balances the entire sip. Lingering bitter is subtle and pleasant.

Mouthfeel: Similar mouthfeel between the two, but the carbonation of Heady Topper is a bit higher which seems to increase the complexity throughout the sip. Carbonation fades quick in Real Heroes, which might contribute to the unbalanced and spicy finish.

Overall: I really liked Real Heroes until tasting it next to the masterpiece that is Heady Topper. While it’s a good beer and checks all the hazy/NE IPA boxes, there’s a lot more attention to detail in Heady Topper that makes a lot of modern hazy IPAs seem sloppy.

 

I'd love to be able to do this at some point - with Heady or my favorite, Focal Banger. I'd like to think I might agree with your overall assessment, but who knows.

Also, welcome to the site!

 

Ok, this turned out to be an interesting one...

German vs Virginia, USA
7.7% ABV vs 8.0% ABV
Weizenbock vs Weizenbock
4.49 vs 4.47 rating by me
10/6/2020 vs 10/6/2020 bottling !!! (assuming 0280 is 280th day of 2020)
Light vs Dark ??

Weihenstephaner vs Port City
VITUS vs COLOSSAL IX

Mainly I did this to see what Port City did different than the classic from Weihenstehpaner.


Ok, so the first obvious difference is the colors. Port City's weizenbock is an iced tea-like brown while Vitus is a pale white/golden. Vitus initial head was a clear winner, though both had nice coverage after falling while I typed this up. Both have a similar amount of wheat haze and clarity.

Weihenstephaner has a more fruity, banana and estery nose, nicely bready. Port City has some banana and a light amount of esters. There's a hint of baked crusty bread in Port City - a little more earthy than Vitus. Overall, Vitus' nose is better.

A bigger banana taste than the nose indicated for Colossal IX. A bit of clove in some breakfast bread that is somewhat between banana bread and Irish soda bread. Vitus is lighter in heft, and the malt comes through similar to many lagers - I might guess some amount of Pilsner-like malt. The banana flavor is of a much less ripe fruit than in PC's beer.

Port City's beer is a little sweeter, while Vitus has a little, perhaps stone fruit-esque, tang. I pretty much expected the opposite going into this, oddly enough. I had a couple of the Vitus 6-pack and was figuring Port City's beer had faded (bought months ago) - and even after seeing the dates were possibly the same.

Some of Vitus' notes remind me of a tripel, but Port City's beer didn't really seem like a "dark beer" - it is quite refreshing and has a decent wheat influence.

I think my ratings are pretty accurate for these two beers - I like them damn near equally. They definitely have differences, but there's a fair amount of similarities - more than I actually expected, especially after recalling the differences in appearance.