tnlandsailor
Well-Known Member
Our club did an "American IPA Shootout" last night. Very interesting. We blind judged 7 IPA's, 6 of which were commercial examples listed in the BJCP guidelines:
Avery IPA
Anchor Liberty
Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Founders Centennial IPA
Victory Hop Devil IPA
The 7th was a homebrewed APA that our steward threw in to throw us off. We had no idea what the beers were before we started, we only found out at the very end.
There were 4 judges and we scored each beer per the BJCP guidelines. Then, our host poured another sample of each one, mixed up the order, and told us to rank them from best to worst - sort of a "best of show round".
The results were very interesting. Hands down and head and shoulders above the rest was the Bell's (IMHO). What a wonderful beer! So well made with an excellent floral/perfumy hop aroma, not exactly subtle, but just big and pleasant. Sharp, crisp bitterness without that lingering astringent bitterness common in many IPA's. Excellent malt backbone that definitley plays second fiddle to the hops, but really added to the body and the balance. By far, the best IPA I've ever tasted (I gave it a 47). A close second in scoring was the Founders, however, the difference between the Bell's and the Founder's was striking. I found the Founder's to be brash, over-the-top and in-your-face with hops and bitterness to a fault. A bull-in-a-china-shop IPA. Good per the guidelines (I think I gave it a 43), but when it came time for the best of show ranking, my pallate was pretty fatigued and I just couldn't take the brashness and astringent bitterness. I picked out the Bell's as my favorite right off the bat. It was just so much better than the rest. I had no idea what brand it was at the time, but I knew I liked it. I ended up putting the Founders dead last which really surprised me given the fact that I judged it so high, but like I said, it was so brash, my poor pallate just rejected it. Oh well. Other than that, I put the rest of the beers in pretty much the same order as I scored them. Our host kept our scoresheets and plans to summarize all of our data later today. If the board is interested, I'll post our results.
Two big surprises for me. First, I couldn't pick out the Avery. It's actually one of my favorite beers but it finished in the middle of the pack. Second, the Anchor actually finished dead last. We later found out that the beer was purchased at a local market that morning but the date on the sixer was May of 2005! Definitely past it's prime and it showed. I tasted some more of it after I found out what it was and totally agreed with my score sheet - that beer was messed up.
If any of you guys in clubs are looking for a fun and enlightening event, you ought to try this, especially if you can lay your hands on some of these really good commercial examples listed in the guidelines. I think we're going to try this with another style later this year.
Lastly, you folks in Michigan are spoiled and I envy you. Anyone want to send me a case of Bell's, please?
Prosit!
Avery IPA
Anchor Liberty
Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Founders Centennial IPA
Victory Hop Devil IPA
The 7th was a homebrewed APA that our steward threw in to throw us off. We had no idea what the beers were before we started, we only found out at the very end.
There were 4 judges and we scored each beer per the BJCP guidelines. Then, our host poured another sample of each one, mixed up the order, and told us to rank them from best to worst - sort of a "best of show round".
The results were very interesting. Hands down and head and shoulders above the rest was the Bell's (IMHO). What a wonderful beer! So well made with an excellent floral/perfumy hop aroma, not exactly subtle, but just big and pleasant. Sharp, crisp bitterness without that lingering astringent bitterness common in many IPA's. Excellent malt backbone that definitley plays second fiddle to the hops, but really added to the body and the balance. By far, the best IPA I've ever tasted (I gave it a 47). A close second in scoring was the Founders, however, the difference between the Bell's and the Founder's was striking. I found the Founder's to be brash, over-the-top and in-your-face with hops and bitterness to a fault. A bull-in-a-china-shop IPA. Good per the guidelines (I think I gave it a 43), but when it came time for the best of show ranking, my pallate was pretty fatigued and I just couldn't take the brashness and astringent bitterness. I picked out the Bell's as my favorite right off the bat. It was just so much better than the rest. I had no idea what brand it was at the time, but I knew I liked it. I ended up putting the Founders dead last which really surprised me given the fact that I judged it so high, but like I said, it was so brash, my poor pallate just rejected it. Oh well. Other than that, I put the rest of the beers in pretty much the same order as I scored them. Our host kept our scoresheets and plans to summarize all of our data later today. If the board is interested, I'll post our results.
Two big surprises for me. First, I couldn't pick out the Avery. It's actually one of my favorite beers but it finished in the middle of the pack. Second, the Anchor actually finished dead last. We later found out that the beer was purchased at a local market that morning but the date on the sixer was May of 2005! Definitely past it's prime and it showed. I tasted some more of it after I found out what it was and totally agreed with my score sheet - that beer was messed up.
If any of you guys in clubs are looking for a fun and enlightening event, you ought to try this, especially if you can lay your hands on some of these really good commercial examples listed in the guidelines. I think we're going to try this with another style later this year.
Lastly, you folks in Michigan are spoiled and I envy you. Anyone want to send me a case of Bell's, please?
Prosit!
