What’s the Difference? Share your Side-by-Side (2021)

Where were you looking? If you just stay on the strip, than yeah, a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is likely your best option on most casino floors.

If you are looking Downtown, The Arts District, Henderson, Summerlin, even a few blocks off the Strip, there are plenty of solid options. If you are ever returning to Vegas, check out the Visiting Vegas thread here. I typically spend 2-3+ weeks a year there visiting family. Revision is a solid Reno brewery we are starting to see here now known for their haze and standard IPAs f folks are looking for a Nevada tick.

Still miss Old School Vegas - Viva Las Vegas Opening Theme with the great casino neon signs.

 

König Pilsener and Hill Farmstead Mary in a blind comparison. A despised Fernsehpils vs. the so-called "greatest brewer in world."

A bit of context and background: König is my favorite easily available pilsner... and I always thought Mary was a very nice beer but overvalued due to brewer-bias back when it was the highest rated pilsner on BA (I think it used to be in that spot if I remember correctly... now it's down to #4 in German... probably #5 out of all the pilsners).

Mary is about 3-4 times the price of König. Before going into this, it was a given that I'd prefer König over Mary for value and availability... but would I prefer it as a drinking experience w/o concern for price? For me and my taste preferences, the answer turned out to be a clear "yes."

I enjoy both of these beers. They are both quality beers in my eyes. They both had a nice head. König is very hoppy. It's drier and bready, with a lingering leafy bitterness. It tasted a bit tired. Mary is hoppy, with a herbal, floral, and grassy quality. It starts too sweet for my tastes but finishes bitter. It's the fruitier beer. There's an orange citrus quality that separates it from the import.

Personally, I prefer the more "industrial" beer in this case. I'm not automatically picking König due to it being less of an American expression of pilsner though... I happen to love Palatine Pils.

@steveh

 

Chris, I agree with you 100% here. It is indeed a nice beer to drink but not worth what is charged. FWIW I feel the same way about Rothhaus Tannenzäpfle.

Can you please expound about "very hoppy"? Are you referring to the bitteness level here?

You made mention of "tasted a bit tired". Is there a canning date on this beer?

Cheers!

 

Hey @zid,

König Pilsener in Duisburg is about 35km/22m from here and you can find the Pilsener fairly fresh in many supermarkets. I agree that this is one of the better "industrial" beers. A fresh Veltins or KP is always nice and "universally" drinkable.
Are you fimilar with other beers from the "Ruhrgebiet" (e.g. Bochum, Dortmund, Essen)?

Prost!

 

ehrm wtf happened there -_- I meant familiar, sorry!

 

Agreed.

I've had a decent amount of Hill Farmstead lagers. While good, and I wouldn't turn one down, I do feel they're a bit overrated.

You and I pretty much are in agreement overall regarding this. Even to the point that I don't necessarily prefer an import over an American version. For example, I adore Notch lagers.

 

Man, we didn't see any northern hemisphere this year and celebration still hasn't shown up either. This one stings...

 

Pretty cool! I did a Pale Ale, Celebration, Bigfoot, Anniversary comparison earlier in this thread.

Almost sounds like you're describing them opposite of what I would expect. That's the fun with blind tastings though!

 

Rothaus: Personally, I would put Rothaus between Mary and Konig in my preference order, but I know that probably makes Rothaus fans shake their heads in disbelief. In this particular case, my preference order is the reverse of the cost per ounce order for all three.

Hoppy: Not just bitterness, but bitterness is a big part of it. I like leafy beers. There's no post-Citra hop character to Konig. Having said that, my impressions about the hop character/level of Konig swings drastically. I used to wonder if age was the factor, but I think it has to do with what other foods I'm having. When I'm just drinking a Konig, I rarely think "this is a hoppy beer." When I'm having it with other beers (as I did in this case), sometimes it jumps out with a hoppy quality that I ordinarily don't get. It's like two different beers.

Tired: Mary was 8/16 and Konig was 6/23. Mary is a more vibrant beer, but I don't think I would have a different reaction to the Konig if it was 2 months fresher. I think it's just a character of the beer - a vibe it gives off. I couldn't tell you how much of that is due to German sensibilities, recipe formulation, brewing practices, pasteurization, or negative changes as a result of importation.

I'm not a fan of Veltins. I don't know what KP is. What is that? Regarding your question, I'm only familiar with what gets imported here. I like DAB. I've heard of Moritz Fiege and Stauder but I don't know a thing about them.

Don't go too fast there . I don't necessarily prefer anything, but I almost always prefer the imported lagers that I like over what's available to me from US brewers. The US lagers that I really like aren't everyday drinkers due to price and availability. The imports that I dislike I REALLY dislike.

 

For those interested it looks like @jonphisher and I were doing the same comparison around the same time and had no idea...great minds I guess Here was my take and it's funny to see that we had similar impressions but the beers were flipped for us and I found Celebration to be the softer, more balanced of the two:

I picked up some Celebration and decided to do a side by side with the Northern Hemisphere:

NH is the darker of the two and clearer, Celebration is lighter and just a bit hazy. Head is about the same on both and Celebration took a tad longer to settle down a bit. The nose doesn't have much going on with either [in comparison to some of the newer beers] but the hops and malts are there. Taste: NH is crisper, bitter, the hops are definitely the star here with the malts playing a close but yet still supporting part. Celebration is a bit smoother, the hops come in but then there's a nice sweet malt that wraps it all up nicely and it's more balanced than the NH. Similar beers but yet different and my preference is Celebration because of the balance, and as they warm this becomes more evident to me. Fun comparison and I enjoyed this one. Prost!

 

For what it's worth, I've found Celebration to be "hoppier" this year. The hop profile reminded me of Northern Hemisphere this year.

 

Two beers I shipped home from a recent vacation to NYC: Fiddlehead's IPA (canned 9 Sep) and Second Fiddle DIPA (canned 16 Sep).


Appearance: DIPA is pretty clear and although fairly light, it's darker than IPA. IPA is hazy, whitish-yellow, and has a slightly bigger head and clearly better retention (and more consistent lacing).

Smell: DIPA is fairly mild, mostly citrus / lemon. IPA is also mild. I get more juicy citrus notes from it.

Taste: DIPA is piney, resinous, bitter, with a strong lemon theme throughout. IPA is brighter, lighter, still primarily citrusy but also presenting a little bit of a vaguely tropical tone. I get more pith than zest in the IPA.

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly similar weights IPA has a little bit of the chalky / gritty texture I sometimes get (or imagine) in hazies, which I still think works pretty well.

Overall: These are both really nice. I expected them to be more similar -- but Second Fiddle seems closer to a WC IPA, and the single IPA makes me think of a somewhat reined-in NE IPA.

 

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen in bottle vs can.

In my various comparisons of bottles vs cans, I knew I'd eventually want to do a German Hefeweizen again since it's a bottle conditioned style. There's no info on these packages regarding yeast in the beer (other than the style name). The bottle is from April and the can is either from March or April (I don't know with certainty if they use a MM/DD or DD/MM format).

I compared 5oz blind pours from each package twice. Both containers were equally good at providing a head (which I was happy to see). The first pour from the full can wasn't too kind to the liquid though... causing all of the carbonation to be released from the beer. This resulted in a much flatter beer in the mouth compared to the pricklier beer from the bottle. My second pours for the second blind round avoided this issue though. Both beers were hazy (I was also very happy to see this... even though I ordinarily like to decant my Hefeweizens). Is it safe to assume that the canned beer is can-conditioned?

When it came to appearance, I was pleased with the canned beer. These two beers were very similar. Tasting the beers revealed big differences though. The canned beer was a little bitter and earthy. It was bready and lacked fruitiness. The flavor was quite subdued. The bottled beer had more aroma. The taste had the characteristic banana quality. There was a touch of lemon. When I tried the beers blind for a second time, I was able to identify each one... confirming my initial impressions.

In this one isolated drinking experiment, while both beers were tasty, if I desired the famous character of a German Hefeweizen, I would be disappointed in the canned beer, and I'd be pleased with the bottled beer. If the canned beer was indeed a month older than the bottled beer, I do not think that this age difference was the X factor here. I couldn't tell you if the differences in these two beers were a result of one being more abused, or differences in bottle vs can conditioning, or simple batch variation.

Regardless of my inability to know the main cause of this difference, out of my three blind can vs bottle comparison tastings of Weissbier (the other two being Aventinus and Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier), all three resulted in the canned beers being clearly different in character from the bottled beers (with the difference being for better or worse depending on one's POV).

@steveh @JackHorzempa

 

Chris, FWIW my guess here would be a difference in "abuse" that the beers received in storage/transport from Germany to your beer retailer.

As another example, a couple of months ago I purchased a mix-a-six of beer which included a bottle of Hofbrau Okoberfest. I really enjoyed that bottle so I decided to purchase a six-pack of that beer at a later shopping experience. That six-pack was bottled in the same month as the previous bottle but the beers were notably less pleasant to drink. I really do not think that just a couple/few weeks would account for this difference. I am giving Hofbrau the benefit of the doubt that they would not have such a varying batch variation in their products.

Cheers!

Jack

P.S. As a reminder to others I did a side-by-side of Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier can vs. bottle in the past and I personally had a slight preference for the can:

"Overall:

Can: This beer is very good - excellent!

Bottle: This beer is very good too with the exception of the ‘off’ aroma aspect previously discussed (which is very subtle)."

For emphasis I should point out that I did not perceive any difference in these two beers as regards mouthfeel."

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-side-by-side-2021.653775/page-9#post-7291779

 

Ok, this comparison is a long time coming. Our trip to Vermont was back in early September, which is when we purchased competitor #1 - Luscious from The Alchemist. After having it and really enjoying it, I wanted to compare it to another American version of a RIS that is often hailed as a standard bearer, North Coast's Old Rasputin. This ends up being an east coast / west coast battle, but not by design.

So I poured both with a little aggression, and the thicker looking, more spent oil vibe from Luscious was met by a less dark, thinner-looking beer pouring from Old Rasputin. The explosion of head belongs to the North Coast beer, which settles its slightly less dark volume down with globs of lacing. Above the waterline, Luscious' glass is clean. Simply because I noticed, the speed of the tiny brown bubbles from their abyss of darkness was slower in The Alchemist's beer.


Old Rasputin's nose is heavy on roasted malt, with a light char on a dark, unsweetened coffee base. Luscious has a slight bit more of a baker's chocolate vibe to it, and something that could be the alcohol seems to want its presence known. These beers are about the same strength (.2% "advantage" to the east coast brew), so it's not purely that. Even though neither of these is barrel-aged, there is a little more of a fresh wood note from Luscious - I'd guess this is my interpretation of the hops mixing in with the darker malts.

Old Rasputin brings roasty goodness in an approachable way for a 9% beer. It has little to no sweet malt notes, but isn't too bitter out of the gate. The bitterness creeps in as a sip evolves and rolls over my palate. Luscious brings a bit more heft and thickness up front and includes some sweetness that one might expect from a thicker beer. There's a bit of a cherry/blueberry to the beer that brings an fruity/acidic aspect I am not getting from Old Rasputin (which is increasing its outward appeal even more as I sip, even though the head colors have diverged more than the original pour).

I'm a little surprised that the west coast beer is more bitter. It seems odd to write that sentence, and it's true whether I can defend the reasons behind it or not.

So, there is a strong enough bitterness in Old Rasputin that I could argue would be off-putting to anyone who disdains the bitterness of an older school west coast IPA. Luscious has some of that "thickness" that I think a swath of BAs favor, and comes with a little more residual sugar, in my opinion. I feel roasted malts show off their charred nature quite well in Old Rasputin, whereas the reminiscent flavors that "overcooking a malt" can provide is shown in Luscious.

Which do I like more? For the first time in a while, this wasn't the goal. I honestly thought these beers might be more similar, though I thought Luscious would be thicker and a little sweeter. This turned out to be true, but if degrees matter, I was wrong.

On this wonderful fall day, I am digging Old Rasputin more. I think it would win 8 times out of ten with me, though I also feel me of three or so years ago would want Luscious by about the same margin.

I know Luscious isn't widely available, but if any of you have a local "plain ol' RIS" you like, I wonder if (nay, challenge) you to do this comparison and give your thoughts. Cheers, all!

 

I posted the below yesterday in the NBW thread:

November/Thanksgiving Beers

Well, Thanksgiving is still a few days away but I figured now would be a good time to discuss a Thanksgiving ‘themed’ beer style: Pumpkin Ale.



For some reason I ‘lost track’ of a bottle of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale that has been in the back of the refrigerator from last year/season. The ‘good news’ is that this beer has been continuously stored cold for over a year. The ‘bad news’ is that it is over a year old.

I discussed the fact I ‘lost track’ of this bottle in a past thread and Chris (@zid) replied that this fact presented me with the opportunity to conduct a vertical tasting. I was able to find a single bottle of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale in my local Wegmans Supermarket last month in the singles section so here we go for another one of my ‘famous’ side-by-side tastings.

From the Schlafly website:

“Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 8.0% | IBU: 16

Hailed as one of the best beers of its kind, it’s the reason why fall is your favorite season. Schlafly’s Special Release Pumpkin Ale is well-balanced from start to finish, with notes of caramel and ginger throughout. Fermented in pounds of fresh pumpkin squash and a brewer’s wort and sugar mix before being filtered through a spiced infusion of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, it turns out exactly how we intend it to taste: like a slice of pie in a bottle.”

Will a bottle of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale that has been in my refrigerator for over a year still drink nicely as compared to a fresh(er) bottle? As the wise owl says: “Let’s find out”.



Beers served in small tulip glasses:

Appearance

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2020: An orangeish/amber color with an off-white head. In comparison a smaller head with lesser head retention. Unfortunately, the beer glass is not very clean (too many bubbles).

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2021: An orangeish/amber color with an off-white head.

Aroma

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2020: It smelled of pumpkin, very noticeable nutmeg and some cinnamon. Quite similar to the 2021 beer for my nose (read more below).

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2021: It smelled of pumpkin, very noticeable nutmeg and some cinnamon.

Taste:

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2020: A very pleasing blend of pumpkin and nutmeg. The cinnamon flavor was subdued but good. It has a low bitterness. The flavor intensity level is a bit lower than the 2020 beer.

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2021: Same

Mouthfeel

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2020: A thinner mouthfeel in comparison to the 2021 beer.

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2021: A rounder, smoother mouthfeel in comparison to the 2020 beer.

Overall

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2020: This beer is good – very good. The flavor aspects of the pumpkin and spices are well balanced and play very, very nicely together.

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale 2021: This beer is better in comparison with a small yet noticeable increased flavor intensity and a much-improved mouthfeel aspect.

I was a little surprised that the 2020 beer tasted as good as it did but I chalk this up to the fact the beer was continually stored cold over the year+ duration. Storing beer continuously cold did assist beer flavor stability for this beer.



My wife watched me as I was conducting my side-by-side tasting but she was not cognizant of the specifics (i.e., same beer but different vintages). She took a few sips blind and was a little perplexed since the beers were quite similar (she was expecting two different brands). She did comment that for her the aroma was diminished in the 2020 beer (which was different from my perception) but overall she stated the beers tasted very similar. When I provided the BIG reveal that the beers were the same brand but differed by age she stated “Ah!?!”. Since I had two beers, I offered one to her; she requested a make her a blended beer she calls Chocolate Pumpkin using one of the Pumpkin Ales and a bottle of Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter.

I used the 2020 to make the blended beer and I noted there was quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Below you can see how murky the bottom ½ - 1 ounces of the beer looked (I decanted that bottle):



And here is a photo of the blended beer in her favorite beer glass, which she calls the Bear Glass (depictions of bears and pine trees etched on the glass).



Cheers!

 

Prologue
As a follow up to my previous Bigfoot vertical, I decided to try a couple more vintages. In the past post, I did 2011, 2016, and 2021 (five year gaps, for you non-math inclined). Today, I grabbed two different years (2014 and 2019) from the vertical pack Sierra Nevada sent, and another 2021 (won't be too long before I can throw 2022 in the mix, I imagine).

Anyhow, I don't recall a lot about my June tasting, and am going to compare today's beers without looking whatever crazy stuff I typed up last time. Then I'll see if there's anything to be gleaned from all the words I spew into the two posts.


Act I
First note: the 2014 is considerably lighter than the other two, only part of which can be attributed to the thinner glass. The 2021 seems to be a bit clearer than the other two. All seem to have sustaining head (with one glass of the six being an outlier - the GF is participating as well).

The 2021 has the least interesting nose on first check, with 2019 bringing more of a malt and pine mix. The 2014 is similar to 2019, but with only a slight bit more of an earthy to cardboard oxidation note.

Act II
So I tested them newest to oldest first:

• 2021 - medium dark bread malt, pine, mineral and lightly boozy
• 2019 - fall leaves, melanoidin and mineral, pine, bit of oxidation
• 2014 - flavors have a lighter profile, medium light bread malt, citrus with peel, earthy with a bit of oxidation

So the 2014 brought in citrus and was actually the most enjoyable to me initially. The oxidation level seemed to meld into the beer a bit better than the 2019. The 2021 was a bit sharper overall to me.

Act III
I went back to the 2019 after getting the citrus from 2014, and I got more citrus than I did in my original taste. So I tried this with the 2021, and didn't get it as much. However, the harshness of the sharper flavors in 2021 were mellowed using 2014 as an opener.

This was weird, so I decided to reverse it again and try them closer together, after a palate cleanse.

<<Intermission>>

Act IV
So 2019 following 2021 more closely without anything in between, and 2019 becomes a bit more mellow and composed, with a little bit of brown sugar coming out. Flashing forward: when I reversed this, I got a similar smoothing of the 2021.

Returning, with 2021 opening for 2014, the latter didn't seem to change much in my perception. In a twist, the 2019 did seem to squelch the 2014 just a little bit - perhaps because they are a little more similar than the 2021 and 2014.

Act V
So, the GF (doing this blind) said she liked 2014 the most (as did I), and then the 2021 followed by, obviously, the 2019. She seemed to get a similar vibe from the oldest beer, "It's smoother and less bitey. Plus I like the flavors." Though she also said, "However, I like the flavors of the [2021] the best.

Epilogue
So apparently in my last tasting, the oldest won out as well, providing more of a citrus vibe like the oldest of this tasting.

I mentioned a sweetness factor that affected my enjoyment in that tasting, not something that entered my consciousness in this tasting. I do think some of the "sharpness" I got this time could be the dichotomy of the sweeter malt and bitter hop notes that could parallel my previous description.

It's turning out that I am enjoying the older vintages, and they seem to either bring more citrus (evolution of the recipe of the hop crops or ???). This is something I may remember for my next version of this (which, yes, y'all will have to scroll through).