What’s the Difference? Share your Side-by-Side (2022)

A Sierra Nevada classic that was decades ahead of its time and an (imo) instant classic that impressively captured the modern beer zeitgeist while maintaining the Sierra Nevada brand DNA. Let's see how they compare.

Both cans are about 2 months old (10/3 for the Celebration and 10/5 for the Dankful) which is not ideal for either I guess but at least it's fair! Let's get to the nitty gritty;

Appearance: Celebration has a lovely rich amber color and a truly delightful head. Dankful is much paler with a less impressive head. Both are beautiful beers.

Aroma: Celebration has a classic pine forward aroma with hints or rose and overripe grapefruit. The malt is present as a sort of base note of sweetness that softens the sharp hop notes.
Dankful has prominent tangerine notes supported by vaguely tropical notes like pineapple and mango. There's way less malt present here, but there is a hint of muffin that may be the malt coming through.

Taste: Celebration hits that classic pine and grapefruit note, malt sweetness holds things up well and gives a full, well rounded impression. Dankful feels downright lean in comparison. Full spectrum citrus leads the way with some mango softness at one end and passionfruit bitterness at the other.

Feel: Celebration is full bodied and soft, Dankful is very light and crisp. Both finish clean and are easy to drink.

Overall: These are two delightful beers, and the fact that they were made by the same brewery over 30 years apart is amazing and speaks volumes to that brewery's skill. Celebration harkens back to an earlier era, honestly a bit before I started drinking, and is still surprisingly unique. Definitely a seasonal treat.
Dankful, on the other hand, exemplifies everything I love about the modern west coast ipa. A leaner malt bill and reliance on the more balanced flavors provided by modern aroma hops. This is the beer I want to reach for day to day.

In some ways, this (totally non blind and bias filled) comparison confirmed my existing opinion of these two favorite beers. But I'm really impressed by how unique Celebration remains and how well it stands up all these years later.

Two great beers from a legendary American brewery. This was a wonderful time enjoying these two beers side by side

 

Great minds, I was recently thinking that a Celebration vs another SN IPA would make for an interesting comparison, particularly Torpedo. I enjoyed this and if you have any Torpedo on hand I would be interested in your thoughts

 

That's a good idea. Doing a 3 way comparison of Celebration, Torpedo, and Dankful would be an interesting exercise tracing the trajectory of Sierra Nevada's IPA sensibilities over the years.

That also makes me curious to compare Tropical Torpedo with Dankful.

 

Embarking on my second Lagunitas Willettized vs. Goose Island Bourbon County Side by Side. The first was a comparison with GI's 2022 Coffee, linked here. To summarize, I didn't get much coffee from the Willettized, but enjoyed the rye barrel and base stout, whereas the GI Coffee burst with a nice dark roast coffee flavor, but used blended barrels.

Today's side by side is more of a focus on the barrels, comparing the 2022 releases of Lagunitas Willettized (LW) vs. the single barrel Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout aged in Willett barrels (GIW).



Bottle Notes:
Similarities: Both 12 oz bottles brewed & bottled in Chicago in 2022, ABVs are close (LW 13.1% vs. GI W 14.3%).

Differences:
LW aged in rye barrels, bottled March 17 & $4/bottle vs.
GIW aged in bourbon barrels, bottled October 11 & $10/bottle.

Appearance:

• Head: LW Light Tan, bubbly, fine lacing. GIW Darker Tan, fuller, fine lacing. Both lay a nice cover over the base.
• Base: LW black but with hints of brown vs. near black GIW.
• Body: Appeared thinner and more brown than expected pouring each.

Aroma: (10-15 minutes after pouring)

• LW Rye leads, malty and fruity base follows. GIW Bourbon, Oak, Malt. Both light, needed a bit of searching.

Taste: (Began 15-20 minutes after pouring)

• LW Chocolate malty lead, rye more subdued than last week's side by side, at least 15 minutes in. Fruit and leather subdued but there, still not a smidge of coffee, such a pity but leaves this battle on fair terms.
• GIW sweetness permeates, much higher than expected. Barrell well incorporated, similar to the blended version, and far better than previous year single barrels I tried. That said, this does not have the depth in terms of flavors I nearly always get with a blended regular. The leather and oak are subdued/negligible.

Mouthfeel:

• Very similar, both thinner than expected but would classify as medium / typical body for the style,. Carbonation more persistent with the LW, though both light and consistent with style expectations.
• I'm about a 1/3 of the way into to both bottles, so hard to isolate the ABV / strength impact, but would say the LW Rye in terms of flavor and strength appear to be stronger / more impactful vs. the more subdued GI bourbon barrels.

Overall:

• The most striking and unexpected observation is the fact that going in I thought the primary differentiation would be Rye vs. Bourbon, but I was surprised to find both flavor components more similar in terms of taste and impact. I can note the differences, and while I prefer Rye typically, setting aside my personal tastes, I feel the barrels are well incorporated, wish I had a broader taste experience for both, really enjoyed this side by side.
• Value: There have been firm opinions expressed in terms of the taste and value components, considering the fact the price differential is between 2.5 Xs (Chicago F U Pay me pricing) and 4.0 Xs (The rest of the country) pricing. My personal opinion is you will rarely feel the best of two well made beers is worth such a premium, but at the same time, both are accessibly priced (unlike say TG KBBS).
• These days I'm buying say a couple dozen stouts total above my Revolution Deep Woods Series allotments (plus extras, sorry, not sorry), and with keeping most purchases throughout the year save for occasional Saison / Geuze splurges, I feel my frugal self and most BA Stout connoisseurs can access BOTH of these well crafted stouts. I would much rather have four of each than eight of either. I understand others may feel differently, and this is not a cop-out, but I can only go with my gut and heart.

Por que no los dos?!

 

Once again thanks for conducting this side-by-side tasting and sharing your thoughts.

An interesting side-by-side if you are willing to do it would be BCBS blended vs. BCBS single barrel.

Cheers!

 

Spectacular review and dedication to science

Pricing reflects area/distribution as I haven’t seen Bourbon County in twelve ounce bottles, and I doubt I will. Always a late comer here, Willetized has yet to land here.

 

Willetized vs Parabajava

Look very similar, PJ has a bit of a more robust head that is also a hair darker brown.

Noses are also similar, but Willetized has more prominent booziness and a much thinner coffee note (more like cold brew vs pour over). PJ leads with a nice rich darker roasted coffee aroma and the classic Parabola bourbon-barrels-of-dark-fruit aroma is resting calmly in the background.

Taste is where these two really start to deviate. Willetized is all rye spice, whiskey, charred wood, and some rich malt flavors (some prune, some chocolate, some coffee). The coffee flavors could easily be chalked up to malt bill alone (it'd be impressive if that was the case) and to the extent they do come though it's a little more like thin, semistale, coffee.
Parabajava on the otherhand hits like an Irish coffee. Rich, robust, fresh brewed diner coffee leads the way with nice whiskey and barrel flavors playing second fiddle. In a sort of inverse to Willetized, you could almost be convinced that the dark malt/BA stout flavors were just a happy accident of coffee and whiskey barrel flavors playing together in your mug.

Overall, this is a no brainer. If I want a bourbon barrel coffee stout, Parabajava is delivering that in spades. Willetized is great, especially as a fan of Rye barrels influence on stouts. But it doesn't whop you over the head with coffee the way I want a coffee stout too.

As usual, with discussions of Willetized, when a 4 pack of willetized is the price of a single bottle of Parabajava there's got to be a note on value. For the budget conscious, lagunitas is absolutely out here doing the lord's work. But between Parabajava and Parabaloid, Firestone Walker is seriously making the case for its inclusion among the world's best dark beer barrel programs this year.

Happy Stout Season BA!

 

I'm doing an ill advised blind side by side involving two 750ml bottles. I hope I like these cuz they're all I'm drinking for the next couple of days! Both are 2018 barrel aged Behemoth from 3 Floyds, one is aged 1 year and the other two years in bourbon barrels.



The color may have spoiled the surprise, I'll guess that the darker one on the left spent more time in oak. I'll carry on with the experiment regardless.

"B" has an aroma that is appealing enough but not show stopping. Dried apricots and caramel primarily along with some honey, tobacco, and mellow booze. The dried fruits are caramel are soooo much better on the tongue than in the nose. Not overbearingly sweet, a woody spice note and ample whiskey prevent that from happening. Probably a bit better than the fresh BA Behemoth I've been enjoying this past year. Call it a 4.5 overall.

"A" has an aroma that also falls just a bit short. Dried fruits again but a bit more dates than apricots to go along with the caramel. Rather that honey, I'm getting King's syrup and molasses to go along with robust but well incorporated whiskey. There is a note in the aroma of both of these that isn't present when I taste them that just doesn't jibe well and I can't quite find the words for it. Again, the flavor far surpasses the aroma. There is a range of dried fruit here from dates to raisins to apricots that meld extremely well with the charred caramel. I'm getting vanilla and more woodiness at the finish on this one. The whiskey throughout is wonderfully potent. I'd call this a 4.6.

After tasting I'll still guess that "A" is the 2 year bottle and it's the one I slightly prefer. Regardless of whether I'm right or not, I hope to be to buy a ton of next year's release as I intend to set some aside for 3-7 years or more.

I'm going to wait to do the reveal until after I finish both bottles in case my opinion changes.

 

Couldn't wait, I had another short pour of each then did the reveal, I'll finish them up tomorrow and Monday. I was right, sample "A" spent 2 years in barrels. No wrong answers here, these were both great, but I did prefer the extended barrel aged version.



This was fun. I'm glad to learn that a reasonably priced, now sensibly packaged in 12oz bottles barleywine ages extremely well. Looking forward to stocking up.

 

I didn't follow protocol, but I drank a fresh bottle of Old Rasputin along with a bottle of BBA Old Rasputin that was about a year old.

It was remarkable how much hop bitterness shined through in the fresh OR when compared against the softened, woody, boozy, BA version.

Ultimately, it was just a great reminder of why we seek BA stouts. It was so much boozer and full of these extruded bourbon notes.

It was also a reminder of how nice straight up imperial stouts are

 

Having a 2017 Lagunitas Brown Shugga' next to a 2014 Stone Old Guardian, and the short of it is the Stone OG blows away the Lagunitas BS (Perhaps that acronym has more meaning than I originally intended? ). And while Old Guardian (11.6%) is a little higher in alcohol vs Brown Shugga' (10%) that doesn't account for the drinkability difference between the two. In my opinion, the Brown Shugga is going downhill (at 5 years old) while Old Guardian (at 8 years old) is still going strong.

I am honestly surprised that Old Guardian is still incredibly drinkable. Certainly makes me wish I had another! I guess I am not as surprised at the Brown Shugga'; I did a mini vertical a few years ago, and found for my tastes that it peaked at about 3 - 4 years.

I know a lot of people have their criticisms about Greg, and I share many of them. Still, he and Steve made damn good beer!

Cheers!

 

These are not necessarily beers that are comparable. One of them is about as West coast classic bitter IPA as a Chicago beer can be, while the other has been a juicy New England IPA before such a thing officially existed, I guess. Either way, they are great examples of a Midwest take on the IPA. And they are a great side-by-side at working off of each other. Both of them rate an even 4.75 for me.

 

Thanks for starting and hosting the thread. I didn't contribute this year but I enjoy reading the comparing and contrasting that occurs in these match-ups. And also thanks to everyone who did contribute. These posts are always entertaining as well as educational.

 

Hmm, a New Years Resolution here!?!

Cheers!

 

10 year Bourbon County Vertical. Favorites were the 2013 and the 2022 was probably my favorite. Surprisingly no oxidation on any of them. All drank at room temp.

 

OMG! Did you do this with friends? If not, how are you still breathing? Definitely happy either way I’m sure.

 

Taking one for the team!