Paste Magazine 78 porters blind tasted

It's listed .

 

Smuttynose Robust Porter should have been included. It's world class porter. Maybe it would help shine more light on a brewery that shouldn't be going under.

 

Mayflower Porter isn't on the list so I'll take solace in the fact that the greatest porter ever was not even tasted

 

Hmm ... interesting to see quite a few readily available beers made this list.

 

Summit? Crazy. I'm about to review Founders as well, quite nice. And Anchor is a long-time favorite.

 

Interesting that Left Hand snuck a new porter into the tasting and did rather well for itself! I'll have to look for this locally and give it a shot.

Even more surprising that Oskar Blues slots two beers in the top 25, Hotbox reaching #4. I didn't think Hotbox was that exciting but I've never done a blind tasting and I'm sure there is some batch variation as well.

Funky Buddha's MBCP is outstanding so it's not shocking to see this unique and tasty beverage ranked so high.

 

I always enjoy reading Paste's lists, and the comments about them, because,

a) The gripes about how a favorite / hyped "world class" didn't get ranked where it "deserved" to be are entertaining. Note: hype does not come through in a blind test.

b) The corollary to a), the gripes about how a beer from an ordinary / non-hyped brewery gets ranked are also entertaining. See above note.

c) Blind test results are MUCH more interesting to read than individual beer-by-beer reviews, since I, personally, find them more educational. They are completely absent any brand or hype bias. As much as I poke fun at this in a) and b), such bias is something I also am influenced by.

d) On the down side of Paste's lists, I really wish they would not lump all manner of flavored beers in with the unflavored of the same style.

 

I love lists, 78 is a weird number, I’ve had 9 of the top 25

 

Big list fanboi here.. feels like I’m reading so much more.

Aside from my homer stance on wondering how Cutthroat isn’t number one, I also really think that the list has done a disservice to itself with flavored and non alike by lumping them together

 

I think it would actually make more sense for these lists if they combined porters and stouts, but divided them by flavored/unflavored. The difference between a porter and a stout is not as great as the difference between a beer that has marshmellows in it and one that doesn't.

 

This was my first thought. I really wish this was a ranking of "regular" porters.

 

But it's to your credit that you recognize this and know what some of the biases are. While the biases are not eliminated, recognizing that they can have an effect goes a long way towards helping to aleviate the problem(s) with reviewing as we do it on this site.

 

Why shouldn't they be going under?

 

They make some world class brews. Mismanagement and pride in my opinion are leading to the closing. Biting off more than they can chew and not making what's what's hot right now, but many of the beers they make are award winning and top notch versions to style.

 

Agree, for example CRUX PCT Porter is fantastic for a regular porter. It's not in the top 25, but would be in a list of to style porters.

 

I would like to see how some English examples would have fared in this tasting.

My local bottle shop received some fairly fresh Fuller's Porter recently. I ended up buying three four packs. Incredible beer.

 

If Paste is looking for people to blind test beers, I'm available. But pretty solid list, most of their lists are, and it's a blind test. Beers don't coast on reputation in these, which I think makes for a quite interesting debate.