Arrogance or Delusion?

CornyKegs 728
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Yooper

Yooper

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So, I'm having a head-to-head comparison of my Dogfish Head 60 minute clone and the real thing.

The "real" mccoy is clear and mine is hazy (damn- forgot the Irish Moss again!) but otherwise same color, same head, etc. But, dare I say it, my clone tastes better! Don't get me wrong- that DFH 60 minute is a mighty fine beer. But for an IPA, there's not a whole lot of hops aroma.

Mine tastes very similar, but my husband described mine as "fresher" tasting. I think it's the hops aroma from the dryhopping. And I made it on 1/30/07, so maybe it is fresher!

Either I'm arrogant enough to think it's better, or else I'm delusional. Either way, I'm drinking some good beer!
 
Not arrogant. It shows your ability to make great beer. Fresh makes a difference but it took a pretty damn good effort to even get close to what I consider one of the best IPAs out there.

Great job! Now send me some. Please? :D
 
like the dude said, we'll need samples for a head to head comparison... ;)

it is always more satisfying to imbibe your own pint than pay someone else for one, even if the commercial is a standard of the style.
 
Sure, I'll share the recipe! It's not mine, just pulled together from "here and there". I'll put it in the recipes section, under IPAs. But I have it in beersmith, so if you want it emailed to you, just pm me. (With the directions on how to do it)
 
Maybe you should call it Arrogant B*tch IPA. To me, there is nothing like the taste of a fresh beer. I can always tell when a bottle has been sitting around for a while. I'm glad to hear that it turned out so good. I remember a while back when you were looking for pointers on the recipe. I was genuinely curious to know how it would turn out.
 
uglygoat said:
like the dude said, we'll need samples for a head to head comparison... ;)

it is always more satisfying to imbibe your own pint than pay someone else for one, even if the commercial is a standard of the style.
Click to expand...

:off: woah, is that GG Allin? Are you Toilet Rocker?
 
Yooper Chick said:
So, I'm having a head-to-head comparison of my Dogfish Head 60 minute clone and the real thing.

The "real" mccoy is clear and mine is hazy (damn- forgot the Irish Moss again!) but otherwise same color, same head, etc. But, dare I say it, my clone tastes better! Don't get me wrong- that DFH 60 minute is a mighty fine beer. But for an IPA, there's not a whole lot of hops aroma.

Mine tastes very similar, but my husband described mine as "fresher" tasting. I think it's the hops aroma from the dryhopping. And I made it on 1/30/07, so maybe it is fresher!

Either I'm arrogant enough to think it's better, or else I'm delusional. Either way, I'm drinking some good beer!
Click to expand...

Just send some my way and I'll be the judge of that statement ( Either I'm arrogant enough to think it's better, or else I'm delusional):cross:
 
Sounds like a big success. Don't worry about the chill haze. I think I've found a good way to deal with that, though. While some people think the best way is to condition it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, that takes too long for my patience. I've found that for me the best thing is to not refrigerate them at all. I keep my bottles in my basement where it's basically cellar temperature. When I want to drink I get out a container that's the right size, put the bottle in it and fill it up with ice cubes and water. 15 minutes later it's perfectly chilled, but with no haze.
 
Pfft. I don't believe you. I bet the real thing is way better. I guess you'll just have to let me try some to prove me wrong. :mug:
 
I'm not surprised, Yooper, and I doubt it's arrogance at all. My second ever batch of homebrew was an Oktoberfest made with extract and ale yeast and without a secondary. It was not "lagered" either. It was finished in October, so there was lots of Oktoberfest beer in the stores. SWMBO and I blind taste tested it against some "real" stuff from Germany.

We both were very surprised that mine tasted better. Both beers actually tasted extremely similar to one another, which, as a fledgling homebrewer. We both ended up giving mine the nod because it tasted "fresher."
 
What I wonder about this clones vs. commercial beer thing is how would our homebrew clones stack up against a nice fresh glass of draft beer?

The biggest advantage our beer has against most commercial brews in bottles is that ours is alive and there's is usually pasteurized. It's almost like comparing fresh vegetables to canned ones.
 
Hop aroma starts declining immediately. Hazy IPAs are all the rage (not) and there is no reason to doubt that you can make something as good or better than the pros.

It's always interesting how the nose changes over the months. I've actually re-dry hopped on two occasions because the keg was "losing it".

Don't know about other brews, but my Rogue Mocha Porter clone (thank you AHB) stands up to the real thing on tap.
 
I wonder if the "freshness" thing is due to most homebrew being unfiltered and (especially) un-pastuerized. Even when a batch has been aging 2-3 months, it still has that "fresh" taste that commercial beers often lack.
 
The real key to the head to head is to make it blind. Use identical opaque glasses/cups and have someone pour and mark the bottoms with a piece of tape. Taste and pick your favorite, then find out which one it is. I'm not saying it's not great, but as the brewer, you're biased.
 
Bobby_M said:
The real key to the head to head is to make it blind. Use identical opaque glasses/cups and have someone pour and mark the bottoms with a piece of tape. Taste and pick your favorite, then find out which one it is. I'm not saying it's not great, but as the brewer, you're biased.
Click to expand...

Yep. I have SWMBO do the testing. She picked my Bavarian Hefe over a Weihenstephaner last time. She could not tell which was which, but she liked mine the best.

Congrats Lorena on great brew! I'd love to try it.
 
I put my DFH 90 min. to a similar test and prefered it for the same reasons, the hop boquet was just a lot fresher than the bottled version. I crash cooled mine after secondary and that helped a lot with the clarity, but it was kegged, not bottled.
 
cweston said:
I wonder if the "freshness" thing is due to most homebrew being unfiltered and (especially) un-pastuerized. Even when a batch has been aging 2-3 months, it still has that "fresh" taste that commercial beers often lack.
Click to expand...

That is a huge part of it.

Lorena, it is not arrogance. You have a valid opinion on what is good and what is not! :D
 
I have been away from Brewing for about a year now. Last weekend, went on a Breakfust Ride with a buddy of mine and we wound up, when the ride was over at about 10:30 AM in his Garage, Brewing. Brewed a Simple AG Brown Ale Recipe, but the Homebrew I Drank (He has a fridge with his kegged beer in it on Tap), made me stop and think why the hell I have not been Brewing. Last night, I Mini Mashed an American Pale ale. Next Weekend, an AG Lucknow Clone. What I am getting to is that yes, I have the opinion that our Home brewed Beer is every bit as good, and more times than not, Better then Off the shelf beer.


Congrats on how your Batch turned out.:mug:
 

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