Sorry, Dude, You’ve Been Drinking the Wrong Beer for Years...

If BAs were involved in this test, I'd think (hope?) they'd distinguish a decent blast of Saaz in the Czechvar from the other two toothless macro lagers.

 

It never ceases to amaze me the people on this site who can claim they can pick out beers blind without actually doing so.

 

Even so, if you're a faithful beer drinker who only orders and only drinks your one favorite brand, you aren't doing it for taste if you can't tell it apart from others. I would give them a pass if they were promiscuous drinkers and didn't care which american adjunct lagers were available. But those people are often not like that. Coors is "their beer" and Budweiser tastes like piss, or whatever derogatory phrase is cool at the moment. Yet when they're served piss (the contrary to favorite adjunct lager), they can't tell.

And I think quite a few of the adjunct lagers are quite distinct in taste. Of course not on the same level as craft beers. But the above is still an enormous point that is often overlooked.

 

I, for one, would like to try this test. Think I may give it a whirl this weekend, even. Going into it, I am fairly confident I could pick up on the slight but noticeably perfumy quality of the Stella, the grainy sweetness of the Heineken, and the peppery hoppiness of the Czechvar. Three quite distinct beers to my mind. But I guess we will see if/when I perform the test.

 

A few months ago the lady and I did a blind tasting of 6 porters: Founders, Bells, Greenbush, Sierra Nevada, Great Lakes, Left Hand. We knew what 6 were poured, but were blind otherwise.

We both ended up 4/6, mixing up the SN and LH. So while we did well, we couldn't quite nail the who lineup.

Needless to say, we're building the lineup for a 10 porter tasting with friends once the weather turns. Should be a fun challenge.

 

A word of advice if you do. Be sure to review and follow the methodology as described in the study linked to in the article. Journalists are not noted for their ability to communicate critical details. :-). Should be fun if nothing else.

 

I seriously doubt I could pick the odd man out between Heineken and Stella (I've never had Czechvar) since they are both over hyped over priced nondescript euro lagers with that same semi skunked flavor. I'm certain the same is true with Bud Light and Coors Light and Miller Lite since they are basically the same product.

For a while my wife and I were members of a survey panel and for the lure of a free lunch participated in a test of frozen pizzas (sadly not beer). Before we even got to the new product, we both went through a triangle test where we (blindfolded I might add) were given three samples (2 of A, 1 of B) and had to get it right 3/3 to go on. We both passed and completed the survey. We were told the triangle test was a screen - basically if you couldn't tell the difference between two your opinion on the new product really wasn't of that much value.

Thinking about craft beer, I am now interested to see if I could pass such a test with a couple similar IPAs (my favorite style). The bottom line remains that I buy and drink a beer because I like it. If I like it because I like the label or even the reputation of the brewery so be it. All not being able to pass a triangle test means is that I am probably not the best person to survey about subtle changes to a product that I may not have a sufficiently sensitive palate to discern.

I guess if you're worried about money your best bet is to find the least expensive product that you actually like. I decide what to buy based on the only taste that really matters - mine.

 

Ethos and Pathos trump Logos with most people I reckon.
But I think, if presented with two servings of another porter* vs. Bell's I could pick that raisin bagel taste of Bell's out. Unless maybe I had a cold or something?

*picked this one because it is my favorite at the moment.

 

3 AAL lagers, well there you go, here's your sign. I bet I could pick them out every time.
hard to say, they claim wine all tastes the same (same type of grade or blend) maybe aal lager does also. I can tell stella apart from Heiny. and other one is very hop forward, as its supposed to be, still TBH, its a great test. the trick, is TEMP. if they are 32f good luck.

at 50f I can tell....

 

Yeah temperature would be important here.
I actually read the linked study and found a troubling lack of salient information about that. What kind of paper wastes a bunch of space talking about marketing but not much about methodology?

 

I suppose it depends on how regularly you drink certain beers. I really enjoy sampling as many new and different beers as possible, so even though I might have a "regular" beer such as Lagunitas Sucks, I'm not sure I could pick it out in a blind tasting against similar ABV/IBU/hop-profile beers. I think I have a reasonably sensitive palate after all these years of brewing and sampling great beers, but I'm not sure my memory of specific flavor profiles is that great.

 

I just hope that the "know it all" propensity in many wine "advocates" doesn't become a standard of behavior amongst beer afficionados. I'm afraid the genie is out of the bottle and geniuses are being born every minute, though I remain hopeful that the general collegiality surrounding beer will win the day. I've suffered through way too many snobs with wine through the years. Some people just can't seem to enjoy something unless they think they can impress you and everyone else with their knowledge.

 

One targed to an audience of marking folks that points us for methodological details to this source:

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Beer_Trials.html?id=k_V_PgAACAAJ

(which BTW is not listed in the bibliography and seems to appear with two different author orders)

 

I can tell the difference between some beers, not sure what my percentage would be. Coors has a very light mouthfeel, Bud is flavored with beechwood, High Ligh is slightly sweet and has a decent mouthfeel, MGD has a more pronounced cereal taste. I think I could pick out Bud and Coors light from the other lights (although I wouldn't bet any money on it) but may not be able to tell the difference on any of the others. I probably couldn't tell the difference between DFH 60 and Goose Island IPA. Can't tell the difference between Becks and Dab even if the bottles are sitting right in front of me. Most beers have some little nuance that separates it from the others. You have to train yourself to pick up on those things. Those nuances can be lost if the beer is drunk too cold or sometimes if it drunk direct from the bottle or can as your nose is taken out of the game. Anyway, now you know why beer makers spend so much effort on marketing.

 

Danke.

 

I don't think I'd be any good at this sort of test as I have no one regular beer that I drink most of the time, nor even one particular style, for that matter. I find as time goes on, I just enjoy trying ones I haven't tried before and enjoying them for what they are: new experiences for me.

 

Interesting timing for me. I have been drinking a lot of Dragon's Milk of late, as it satisfies my rather new desire for bourbon barrel aged beers. It is the only one that is available to me every time I visit the liquor store. Just this morning I decided to drink the last KBS that I had (made a note of it being my last on WBAYDN this morning.) Mentioned to my wife that while I was a little sad that I would have no more KBS to drink, my go to Dragon's Milk was almost as good. I know I may be jeered for such a ridiculous observation, but I'm okay with that. Started reading this thread while I was drinking that beer and the more I thought about it, I'm not so sure that with an aged Dragon's Milk (they are a little "hot" fresh,) I could tell the difference every time.

 

Mhm, I don't think I'd be the best at this either (depending on what you give me) but honestly - does it really matter? I can differentiate between the various styles and what tastes I like and don't like and that's enough.

 

I think that what matters here is the cost. If beer A tastes the same as beer B, yet cost's more, then beer B is the one you should be drinking.

 

Three lagers designed alike will be hard to differentiate.