Do blind tastings keep you honest?

Yes, blind tastings can help reduce or eliminate certain bias effects (e.g., label, price, etc), depending on how they are done. (There are some "traps" to avoid.)

Yes, lots have been set up and described on here. (But a search will net you more results than a call for links. )

The three-way test described in the link below can be done with beer and avoids many of the traps:

http://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2...lind-taste-test-that-can-help-you-save-money/

 

I'm a huge fan of Blind Tastings...best way to execute them is to cover everything but the caps (with a brown plastic bag or similar opaque covering) and then pour each beer and taste side by side

 

Love doing blind tastings. Usually get an unbiased opinion.

 

My local bar hosts and "IPA Smackdown" every summer. They do it in a bracket format so 2 beers at once, everyone votes using tickets, until a winner is crowned. The results are usually pretty interesting and the owner even sends out an "overheard at the Smackdown" email with things like "this is definitely Sculpin, I know this beer so well" (said while drinking a Stone). Several years back, Flower Power took the title and it actually caused my to start buying it again despite the fact that I had somewhat forgotten about it.

 

Blind tastings are the great humbler. It's nice to do it in all variety of ways. It sharpens skills for sure, but it strengthens humility as well.

Have a non participant number the bottles/cans, and the glasses and do the pours. Ideally the glasses should be able to hide the beer inside them, or alternatively each taster is blindfolded (never did it the blindfold way). Each taster writes or says an opinion for each number as he tastes it.

 

I greatly enjoy blind tastings. I need to make an effort to do it more often. Sometimes I will ask my wife to pick a beer out of the refrigerator for me and pour it without me seeing the label. I then do my best to identify the style and any specific ingredients. I've certainly fallen victim to the hype machine and have given up too much for certain beers, but I still try to rate them honestly without giving any "hype points".

 

while i enjoy blind tastings, drinking a whale blind kinda takes away the enjoyment a bit. it probably inflates ratings but i love the anticipation leading up to drinking a rare/highly rated beer

 

I do them all the time. Thats how ive found my favorite grapefruit ipa, coffee porter and BMC beers. Specifically those types of beers are similar. Its fun to do it with beers that only have subtle similarities.

 

If you've been doing side by side blind tastings, you might want to give the three-way tasting described in the link above. Might save you some money in the long run.

It certainly has saved me some. :-)

 

Don't really agree with this.

Beers should be judged on appearance as well as the other factors and 99% of beer drinkers cannot pick a beer out simply by looks. The new OJ looking IPA's are hideous and should be docked as so.

 

There is a difference between beer judging and trying to remove the hype factor from your own personal preferences.

If the hyped beer has the "hideous" look and the more common beer does not, and I don't somehow disguise that in the tasting, I have not removed the hype factor from the tasting.

 

I'm doing one with BA Vanilla Stouts later this month, will post the results upon completing!

 

My best friend and I do this constantly. We did one yesterday at our brewery in fact.. We hide the bottles in these guys so that we know there is no peeking

 

I do a large blinded tasting every year with a decent size group ~15-20. My experience is that blinded tasting tend to favor well balanced beers. Flavors that have strong flavors that arent kept in balance tend to stick out somewhat unfavorably compared to a beer that is balanced. I have not favored beers in blinded tastings that I love outside of that environment.

They are very fun to do in my opinion, but not the ultimate answer.

 

I did a blind tasting a few years back. Beers were poured by a non participant and served in numbered glass. All were IPA. I did not pick my favorite beer. Its still one of my favorites. Once you start drinking its hard to cleanse and really taste in a good way. All were good and on different days would score different.

Enjoy

 

@Giantspace brings up a good point. If you are drinking multiple beers as part of the tasting you need to properly cleanse your palate between beers:

“Use a palate cleanser between beers such as French bread or saltless crackers.
You don't want to introduce strong flavors or rough textures in your mouth because they will detract from the next beer. When in doubt, lightly chilled water is perfect.”

Cheers!

 

I personally think that knowing background information on a beer before you drink it is the best way to understand its structure and composition. You can put flavours into context much more quickly. Same day comparisons between many beers are palate wreckers. With lingering tastes from the previous beer, how can you understand what you are tasting? It's better to really get to know a beer by drinking 1-2 glasses of a single beer over multiple sessions.

Then when you have a similar beer on a different occasion, with your palate at 100%, you will instantly notice the similarities and differences from before. Making an instant judgement about a beer after the first few ounces is very rash. Most classic beers get better over the night.

 

The point of blind tastings is to compare beers without knowing anything about them except what you can get from the blind tasting. It is not the be-all end-all of beer reviews, and is not intended to be.

I agree. In fact, if I am reviewing a beer, I will ideally consume an entire serving (12-16oz) on two separate days before completing the review. It is valid to compare separate beers reviewed this way, but the real point of a blind test is to remove bias related to the beer's reputation, brewer, price, etc., etc.

As do most women in the bar get better looking ...

 

What bar is this and how do I attend?