116 Beer IPA Blind Taste Test

I haven't even made it all the way through the list het, but wanted to say thanks. A good read, for sure.

 

I think White Rajah is a great beer. I would be glad to trade for some again.

But any tasting that puts 50+ beers in front of Blind Pig is suspect.

 

e: Already covered, missed some posts.

But the article does say at multiple points that these were samples sent to Paste from the breweries.

 

I know, right. Delicious should have been #1...

 

I love the work they put into this tasting -- never seen another blind one this big. Kudos. However, by my quick count they only got 4 of the top 15 BA IPAs. I get the difficulties of putting something like this together and saw their explanation, but really would have like to see how some of my favorites (and everyone else's) stacked up. Julius, Congress St., Focal, Susan, etc. Feels like a home run contest without the heaviest hitters.

 

Given that the Paste taste testing is a blind tasting maybe their top 15 is a 'better' representation than the BA list?

Cheers!

 

I'll start with the caveat that I don't really have a favorite that I think was mistreated or anything, however I do have an issue with the methodology they used and how it plays into how the results were presented.

Essentially they used the GABF process- the top two from each flight will advance. There is an understanding when doing it this way that one flight may have more 'deserving' beers than another, and that flight's #3, 4 or even 5 may be better than another flight's #1 and 2. Yet those beers are cast into the pool of '51 and beyond' in this instance. However, this tends to work for the GABF solely because they are only looking for the best 3 of all; anything not advancing would probably not attain such high honors anyway. In this case, they are arranging the Top 50- so it would have been much better to just score them numerically to a certain point, and then maybe have a Top 10 final round from there.

 

I take your point and agree with it mostly, but several of the top 15 BA IPAs I've had I liked better than anything that was ranked (and same is obviously true of other BAs). It would have been interesting to see how more of the top BA IPAs would fair in a blind test. How much of our perception is rarity, hype vs. great beer.

 

Yep. I was recently sent an Ohio package. White Rajah, Head Hunter, Hop Juju, & Chillwave.

White Rajah was easily my favorite of the bunch, and I tend to prefer DIPAs.

 

I don't know about the rest of you, as many of you seem pretty rattled by their opinions, but I thought this was a great article! They seemed to take their time with details, and openly stated that being a blind testing they are putting their own credibility on the line in a lot of the "beer world" opinions of them. I respect that and appreciated the insight! Now I'll probably still want to try a good lot of those beers regardless of ranking to see for myself! Cheers!

 

I don't know if I agree with that, maybe so, but I could see them (since they are publishing it) asking for the "blessing" of the brewery to rank their beer in a blind test, and respectfully not doing so if a brewery opted out? But maybe not.

 

That's all I take out of any of these lists- even the ones on BA: "here's some beers you will probably enjoy". No sense in taking it more seriously than that, and if it leads you to some new faves all the better.

 

Glad some of us are on the same page!

 

That Burnt Hickory Didjits is delicious! Went to their last "open house" where they did a one-off of it with vanilla and called it Dreamsicle..... so good. They are making some great beers over there. Their brewery will be put on the map real soon.

 

Like many others I agree and disagree with some of the rankings, but I did take a lot away from the article:

1) Not surprised White Rajah was first. It's a great beer.
2) Surprised to find some of the "big names" in the craft brew industry down so far on the list.
3) As many IPAs that I have tried there are quite a few on this list that not only haven't tried but have never even heard of.

This to me is what makes craft beer so great. Keep these lists and taste tests in perspective. This is the result of a group of people offering opinions but in reality the only opinion that should matter to you is your own.

 

More than you might think.

 

Am I the only one who scrolled through the list and did "had it, had it... haven't had it.... had it..."

 

No

 

Putting Stone IPA and Smutty Finest Kind in the bottom half is a travesty. Stone Delicious is a top 10 IPA, but the flagship isn't top 50? Same with Smutty Rhye at 27. And Snake Dog, come on!

 

It's all so subjective though. That's why I like this test because it eliminates any brewery/beer bias. You may say Stone IPA is better than Delicious, but I would whole heartedly disagree. And that's fine.