What’s The Difference? Share Your Side By Side (2025)

Welcome to 2025, BeerAdvocates! Sure, we're a week and a half in, but a little extra snow last night has the GF and I chilling inside. So I figured I'd take advantage and do a comparison of two stouts (a style we have many of in the fridge right now).

This thread idea was started four years ago by @jonphisher and has had pretty good runs each year since. If you want an idea as to how this works, you can view any years, but to see the latest beers people have been comparing, check out last year's iteration of the thread. The concept is pretty straightforward - if you are checking out if there are differences in two (or more) beers and wish to let us know what you find out, this is the thread for you.

To a post in this thread, all we want you to do is indicate what you are comparing, give a brief statement as to why you are comparing them, and supply at least a brief synopsis of your results. Feel free to be wordy, if you wish, I know I will be. I can't speak for everyone, but I think a lot of us especially like blind comparisons, if you can pull it off.

Today I am comparing the same beer, but from bottles released a year apart - the most mini of vertical you can do. Bell's Expedition Stout is one of my favorite imperial stouts, regular or barrel-aged. It was one I came around to, as earlier me thought the beer was a bit too bitter. Let's see what a year has done to this brew, as I have an 2023 to compare to a 2024 (wish I got a better pic for this first post, but oh, well)


The older brew (in the Alewerks glass) had a better sustaining head from my pour, though they were a bit more similar in the glasses I poured for the GF. The 2024 edition had a fresher nose in the sense it felt more airy, with a slight metallic note. The 2023 had a richer, dark chocolate and coffee aroma standing out - easily the better nose of the two.

Last year's stout is much bolder on the palate. Dark roast coffee, barely burnt bread, and a little bit of dark chocolate sneaking into the middle of the taste. There is a ever so slightly spicy bitterness late (hop it seems, but could be the ABV).

Two year old Expedition does have a little oxidation to it, adding a little depth the the taste without detracting much at all. The feel of this edition is more full and a bit creamier than the newer beer. The 2023 is more dark chocolate than coffee, and there's a bit of a licorice that I think comes from the mix of hops and oxidation. That said, I noticed it when I went back to the 2024, as well.

For one year, this beer has changed more than I am used to noticing. I really do like the 2023 more in this sitting. I am hoping the 2024 evolves in the same way, as I have more of it than I do the 2023

Ok, now it's your turn... what comparison are you doing now? And what are you finding? Tell us all about it!

 

Been a couple of weeks, so I guess it's my turn again.

It turns out two of my favorite breweries (throughout the years) both put out Italian-style Pilsners at this time. Granted, one of them is an "imperial" version clocking in at 7%, while the other is a nice 5%, but I'm going to compare them, anyways.

So I have had one of Dogfish Head's Supper Doppio and found it an average beer after I let it warm (I was a little cool on it initially - pun intended). This will be my first go with il Palio from Port City.


Both have coral-like white heads as I look at them after typing the preamble. DFH's beer had a taller, stronger-looking (more dense) head on initial pour - and it holds up longer. Port City's beer is lighter in hue - more white gold to yellow verses a pretty standard golden color most people assume when they think of "beer." Port City's beer is a tad clearer as well, though both seem to have a slight chill haze

Off the bat, there is a floral note in Supper Doppio that turned me off a bit in my first go. It's not quite as bad today - I guess I want to say it is less perfumy. Outside that, there is mostly a grain / bread note with a hint of honey sweetness. On the other hand, il Palio seems to be mostly lacking aroma, but what little I am getting seems to be in the dry grass to hay realm. We'll see if this improves as I go (it did, in the sense the scents came out more, adding a little grain husk as well, nothing grand or outrageous).

Port City's il Palio has a light Hawaiian bread sweetness underneath the moderate plus carbonation. The bitterness is pretty quick in, though, with mostly grass but also a mineral/metallic aspect I get in some beers (including Euro lagers). After a few sips, the metallic note has faded and I am getting more husk and a little spice to pair with the grass.

DFH's Super Doppio is sweeter overall, which could in part be attributed to the malts necessary for the higher ABV. I am getting more honey, but also a similar grass note to what il Palio showed. Port City's representation was more bitter, I'd think because the malt and floral aspects in the taste of Super Doppio are balancing the bitter/sweet better. Carbonation in DFH's beer is lighter (moderate, maybe with a minus), making the beer seem a little smoother overall. I think it's possible that the bubbles from the PC brew might also work to break up the malt opening to the effective of clearing space for the bitterness.

As I drunk these down about 1/3 of the glass, I was surprised how similar they were seeming. The one thing that doesn't change is that the DFH Italian Pilsner kept a "malt liquor" edge to it and felt just a little more thick / slightly heavier than the Port City beer.

 

The beer is new (and the can date is Jan 02). As the beer warmed, the aroma opened up a bit more. I really didn't notice much while doing the comparison, but I think it may be beyond the power of suggestions that I am getting a bit of a lemon zest in the mix (I have a little bit of this one left after the comparison).

Perhaps it's a condition of being alongside the more aromatic Super Doppio, but the smell still isn't that strong, despite the hopping method used. I have three other cans to try for providing a standard review, we'll see if today's experience holds up.

 

@JackHorzempa - I poured a Port City il Palio tonight to have with dinner. To my senses, it is still not providing much of an aroma. There's a slight bit of floral perfume to it this time, but it's mostly like I perceived in the previous comparison. Warmth teases a little more, including some lemon rind - but that also tracks as before.



Perhaps the "Hopzooka" wasn't working at full strength for this batch
Or maybe the makeup of the beer just has the aromas evade me more than most. Other reviews on this site might bear this out.

 

In a recent stop by my bottle shop, I was happy to see they had gotten one of my top 3 new beers found in 2024 - a regular strength coffee beer called Rêve, by Parish Brewing. I decided to see if such a beer can stand up to, maybe even beat, a top-rated barrel-aged imperial strength coffee beer by Lagunitas, Willettized.



The lighter beer had a slightly better head and maybe a half millimeter thicker collar before I start ruining the bubbles by sipping the beers.

Rêve has a strong coffee aroma, dark roast, with a splash of chocolate liqueur. Settling in, the chocolate becomes a slight bit more fudge brownie-like, but the coffee remains the star. For a lower ABV offering, it smells quite rich.

Willettized, in contrast, is all about the barrel aging. The only thread I can draw through both is that chocolate liqueur. I get a little vanilla and coconut from the barrel, as well.

Rêve starts out with a pop of sweetness, at least compared to bitterness that follows it. Actually, the first bitterness seems more "green" - as if by hops more than malt roasting or coffee. Granted, the expected roasted notes follow up quickly enough.

Willettized starts off maybe a tad sweeter, but there isn't as much a difference in the level of sweetness as I expected. The beer is more spicy, thanks to the influence of the whiskey notes that the barrel gave back to the beer. I do get coffee in the background nearer the finish of this beer, but it seems more an afterthought, especially sitting alongside Rêve.

As I sip through my half pours, I do start noticing a tang in Rêve and was reminded it is a milk stout. The Willettized mellows and comes together with some time in the glass as well (it's still the spicier of the two, don't get me wrong).

I actually enjoy taking a sip of Willettized, letting the aftertaste just start to fade, and then taking a sip of Rêve. But in the end... for my palate, I'd reach for Rêve probably 3 out of 4 times given a choice between the two.

--
Epilogue:
With a couple ounces of each left, I made a 50/50 blend (approximately, maybe a tad more Willetized) of these two beers. Having done this kind of thing with beers in the past, I can say it is a fairly rare result in that it worked quite well. The amalgamation was sort of a lightly sweetened coffee versus a boozy or bitter one

 

That result is odd, and contrary to what I’d expect. One might wonder if it’s the age or a change in makeup that caused it.

 

Today I get a rare opportunity to try two Czech-style dark lagers - according to the cans from the brewers. One is a local that I got a half pour of from Ocelot before buying a four pack. The other is from a Massachusetts brewer whose pale Czech-style lagers I find pretty much flawless for my preferences, Jack's Abby. Both have names we've come up with to describe effects we see do to our planet's celestial movement around a star - Solstice and Bohemian Dusk.

The immediate interesting thing on the pour is the tremendous difference in color in these dark lagers...


Bohemian Dusk is more of an amber brown lager than dark, especially in comparison to the near black color of Solstice. The heads are closer in color, but have shades befitting their bodies. Both form large bubbles and fall in craters with coral-like lacing forming as I let them sit for a few minutes.

The nose on the Jack's Abby beer is heavy on the toast, more than I've noted in a beer in a while. There is a light allusion to fall spices and some fruit notes - combining to give me the impression of mulled cider, for some odd reason. I am getting a somewhat similar fruit note from the way more roasty looking Ocelot beer, but neither roast nor toast is coming through in great strength.

Grabbing a sip of Solstice, where the roasted malt comes through along with a woody to spicy hop note, opens the roast to my nose, finally. The Ocelot beer is a pretty smooth character, with a little more weight than I would expect from a lower ABV lager.

Shifting back to Bohemian Dusk, and I get a beer that seems much more driven by the malt than the Saaz hop. The malt is rich feeling, with more thickness than weight - not quite as smooth as Solstice, though. The malt flavors alone are more complex than the whole of Solstice, with fresh baked grain bread toasted to the color of its body. This bread has a dusting of demerara sugar on top and some chopped nuts sprinkled throughout the loaf.

Going back to Ocelot, I am getting a little bit of bread coming out now - its underneath the char of a heavy toasting, but it is there. This mix and the medium grain toast and nut of the Jack's Abby beer end up providing a somewhat similar experience to my palate, despite coming to me in slightly different ways.

It might be that they lead into the bitter finish, which is fairly similar in these two - a little more roasty in Ocelot's beer and a little more nutty in Bohemian Dusk on the edges, but the core influence seems about the same. As they warm, Bohemian Dusk gets a little bit of lemon/lemongrass near the finish and Ocelot gains a little more dark chocolate in the middle.

I will note that Ocelot also uses some Northern Brewer hops, and achieves its coloring with a few Carafa malts - where Jack's Abby only mentions Czech floor-malted barley (which Ocelot also used). I am not sure if there is a clear reason Jack's Abby isn't a Czech amber lager - the "rules here" indicate these Czech dark lagers can be amber. Like many cases, there's probably not a clear or definitive answer, and I am fine with that - the beer is good.

And I think it's about time for us to see the pale Bohemian Dawn - one of the beers I referred to in the opening. Then I'll have a full rainbow of Czech lagers - in hue at least.

 

I wonder if that also ended up helping what I perceived as a smooth mouthfeel. Looks like your comparison might've been similar to mine in a relative sense, though I did end up liking the more toasty (to me) Jack's Abby a bit more in my comparison. Your brew reads as if it might be a little more complex than what I was getting from Solstice.

 

The 2023 was stored outside the basement fridge for part of its life, as I was placing bottles into the fridge as I made room. This bottle was already in the fridge when I put in some 2024s. So I'd guess about 6-8 months in the cellar and the rest in the fridge. Unfortunately I can't be more accurate than that.