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BrewPalace Summary
# Beers	3668
# Bottles and Cans	4262
# Bottles	4242
# Cans	20
# Bottles and Cans this Year	1
# Projected Bottles and Cans	3
# Companies	1070
# Countries	79
Avg. Alcohol	6.94
Avg. Rating	3.27

Wisdom Menu

Official Brew Palace Taste Tests

Every so often, the BrewPalace will host a double-blind comparison of several beers. These tests usually will have four or more people ranking several beers from their favorite to least favorite. To ensure quality testing, neither the adminstrator of the test nor the subjects knows which beer is which.

May 6, 2006

First Annual Cardiff by the Sea Microbrew Festival (FACSMBF)

The First Annual Cardiff by the Sea Microbrew Festival held on May 6^th, 2006 in Cardiff by the Sea outside of San Diego was by all accounts a smashing success. Held at the private residence of one Paul Gelbach, the small gathering sampled a variety of beers from around the US - 23 of them in fact. The vast majority of the beer was provided by Davey J, through his Beer of the Month club.

Food for the event was far and away the best you’ll ever see at a beer festival - no cheap burgers or dogs for this crew. The lobster, shrimp, salmon, halibut and carne asada were all fantastic, supplied by the folks who participated and actually knew a thing or two about cooking (that would not be me BTW).

The winners of the day?

Ballast Point Porter
Sam Adams Black Lager
Ale Smith IPA

The losers:

Wild Goose Nut Brown Ale
Saranac IPA
Olde Towne Amber

So, shown below are the breakdowns by everyone. Note that a couple of the beers were most likely a little skunked (my reason for the low showing of Wild Goose and Saranac). Ale’d out - so many IPAs and Pale Ales kind of run together after a while. Towards the end we got into the more interesting varieties, and hence some higher scores.

Towards the bottom of the photos, you can see that a few of us had a long day of beer tasting and eating. Amazing thing about Ale - it gives a rubbery quality to one's neck.

Also note that yes, that is in fact an Amstel Light, the unofficial whipping boy of good US ale.

Beer	Paul	Jeff B	TH	Ronnie	DJ	Lisa	Randy	Avg.
Downtown Brown	3	3		4	3			3.3
Saranac IPA	1	2	2.5	1.75	4			2.3
Olde Town Amber	2	2	2	2	3.5			2.3
Snake River Pale	3	3	3	3	2.5			2.9
Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA	3	3	3.5	4	4			3.5
BBC Pale Ale	2.5	2	3.5	3	3.5	3.5		3.0
Casco Bay Pale Ale	3	3	3.5	3	3	2		2.9
Wild Goose India Pale Ale	2	1	3.5	2.5	3			2.4
Mirror Pond	2	2	3.5	3	4	4		3.1
Shipyard Export	3	2	4.5	2.5	3	2	2.3	2.8
Sweetwater 420 XPA	2.5	2	3	2.5	3	2		2.5
Stone Pale Ale	4	4	4	3	4	2		3.5
Wild Goose Nut Brown	0	1	2.5	1.5	2	1		1.3
Stone IPA	4.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5			3.7
Abita Xmas 2005	3.5	2	4	4	4.5		3	3.5
Abita Turbo Dog	3.5	2	3.5	3.5	4		4	3.4
Ale Smith Wee Heavy	3.5	3.5	4.5	4	5	1.5	4	3.7
Ale Smith IPA	4.5	4	4.5	4.5	4.5	1.5	5	4.1
Casco Winter		3	4.5		3.5			3.7
Flying Dog Old Scratch		2	4	3	3			3.0
BBC Porter			2.5		4			3.3
Ballast Point Porter	4.5		5	3.75	4.5			4.4
Sam Adams Black Lager	4.5		4				3.75	4.1
Avgerages	3.0	2.5	3.6	3.1	3.6	2.2	3.7	3.1

A couple of people

We didn't let the chicks drink the good stuff (but they didn't know any better)

Yes, it was a family affair

FACSMBF Tshirts for all those who wanted. Free too. (Thanks DJ)

The tally board

This is what happens when you stop with the beer and switch to Jack and Coke

This is what happens when you are Dave Johnson

South American Face Off

May 28, 2005

Overview

This test was long overdue for two reasons. First, it’s been nearly two and a half years since the last one, and second, I’ve been in SoCal for 2 years and it was just time for a Mexican beer showdown.

This test put a few popular Mexican beers, including one of my all time least favorites, Corona, up against an established European player and an unknown underdog from Chile. It turns out this test wasn’t planned, but just happened at a Memorial Day gathering.

As usual, a double blind methodology was used, where the tasters did not know what the glasses contained and I didn’t know which was which either. They were asked to force rank each of the beers.

The Contestants

Beer	Company	Country	Role
Imperial	Embotelladoras	Chile	The Underdog
Dos Equis Special Lager	Moctezuma	Mexico	The Underappreciated Journeyman
Cornona Extra	Modelo	Mexico	The Pretty Boy
Pacifico Clara	Pacifico	Mexico	The Cool Professional
Stella	Artois	Belgium	The Seasoned Veteran

The Testers and their Order

Tester	1^st choice	2^nd choice	3^rd choice	4^th choice	5^th choice
Matt	Corona	Stella	Pacifico	Dos Equis	Imperial
Erik	Stella	Dos Equis	Corona	Pacifico	Imperial
Elizabeth	Corona	Pacifico	Stella	Dos Equis	Imperial
Adriana	Corona	Pacifico	Imperial	Dos Equis	Stella
Marney	Stella	Pacifico	Corona	Dos Equis	Imperial
Jesse	Stella	Dos Equis	Corona	Pacifico	Imperial
Helen	Dos Equis	Pacifico	Corona	Stella	Imperial
Mariza	Corona	Pacifico	Dos Equis	Stella	Imperial
Alicia	Dos Equis	Corona	Pacifico	Stella	Imperial
Jeff	Dos Equis	Pacifico	Imperial	Corona	Stella

Results

Place	Points	Beer
1	28	Corona
2 (t)	24	Pacifico
2 (t)	24	Dos Equis
4	20	Stella
5	4	Imperial

Interpretation

I must say I was a little shocked at these results. I really did not expect Corona to come in first, and was really shocked that Stella came in towards the bottom. I had a feeling that the Stella was not as fresh as it should have been, which would account for why I placed it last. I was glad that I was able to rank Corona near the bottom, as it is one of my 3 most despised beers, due to the fact that it is so popular but has no taste. Additionally, this was a different crowd that I usually test on – not a bunch of yuppies – this time it was more diverse.

Wintertime Goodness

January 25, 2003

Overview

Having been many months since having a decent group of people over, The Holmes took the opportunity of his yearly superbowl party to host another beer tasting. This time, instead of weak light beers and bad pilsners, Porters and Stouts were tested. Once again, I wanted to prove something, and once again The Holmes was correct.

Personally speaking, I had a real tough time ranking the 1st 4 - the guinness was evident and clearly last. I guess for that 1 beer, this test was not double blind, but for everthing else it was.

This test puts Porters and Stouts together. I don;t think there is a problem doing this, as there is such overlap between the two styles, and besides, The BrewPalace is concerned about Absolute taste, not relative taste (i.e., within its category).

Contestants
Draught, Guinness, Ireland
Porter, Anchor, USA
Mocha Porter, Rogue, USA
Taddy Porter, Samuel Smith, England
Chicory Stout, Dogfish Head, USA

Testers
The Holmes, Bubba, Prior, Step Armah

Raw Data
Individual results, in order of their preference:
The Holmes:
Anchor Porter, Sam Smith Taddy Porter, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Rogue Mocha Porter, Guinness Draught
Bubba:
Guinness Draught, Sam Smith Taddy Porter, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Anchor Porter, Rogue Mocha Porter
Prior:
Rogue Mocha Porter, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Anchor Porter, Sam Smith Taddy Porter, Guinness Draught
Step:
Rogue Mocha Porter, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, Sam Smith Taddy Porter, Anchor Porter, Guinness Draught

Results
Added all together (5 pts for a 1st place vote, 4 for 2nd, etc), the results were:

Place	Points	Beer
1	14	Dogfish Head Chicory Stout
2	13	Sam Smith Taddy Porter (Tie)
2	13	Rogue Mocha Porter (tie)
4	12	Anchor Porter
5	8	Guinness

Analysis
The sample set here was really small, but ignore that for a moment. The Guinness came in last, which is what I expected out of this.

Le France

August 1, 2001

Overview
In a suprise move by The Holmes, The BrewPalace sponsored a (mostly)French Beer tasting. Why? It seemed appropriate, as Kristin was preparing a huge French dinner for several guests. Unfortunately, I could only dig up 3 French beers, so I added 2 American beers to round out the field.

For a complete set of pictures from the eveneing, click here.

Contestants
La Belle Strasbourgeoise, Fischer, France
Budweiser, Anheuser Busch, USA
Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn, USA
1664, Kronenbourg, France
Bitter, Fischer, France

Testers
The Holmes, Kristin, Tom Buckley, Jon Ghiloni, Jit Singh, Daniel Argandona

Raw Data
Individual results, in order of their preference:
Tom:
Brooklyn Lager, Fischer Bitter, Kronenbourg 1664, Bud, Fischer La Belle
John:
Brooklyn Lager, Fischer La Belle, Kronenbourg 1664, Fischer Bitter, Bud
Daniel:
Brooklyn Lager, Kronenbourg 1664, Fischer La Belle, Fischer Bitter, Bud
The Holmes:
Brooklyn Lager, Fischer La Belle, Bud, Fischer Bitter, Kronenbourg 1664
Kristin:
Brooklyn Lager, Bud, Fischer La Belle, Kronenbourg 1664, Fischer Bitter
Jit:
Brooklyn Lager, Fischer La Belle, Bud, Kronenbourg 1664, Fischer Bitter

Results
Added all together (5 pts for a 1st place vote, 4 for 2nd, etc), the results were:

Place	Points	Beer
1	30	Brooklyn Lager
2	19	Fischer La Belle
3	15	Kronenbourg 1664
4	14	Budweiser
5	12	Fischer Bitter

Analysis
Brooklyn Lager blew the field out of the water on this test, scoring first place votes from everyone of our contestants. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else these results mean. Aside from Brooklyn Lager, every beer had at least one last place vote and at least one second place vote.

The most painful beer taste test possible

June 2, 2001

Overview
In my never ending quest to prove to the world that Amstel Light sucks, I have again devised another taste test pitting Amstel Light vs. some beers that people would never drink. This test would compare it to some non-alcoholic beers.

Contestants
O'Doul's Amber, Anheuser Bush, USA
Haake Beck, Beck's, Germany
Amstel Light, Amstel, Holland
Lone Star, Pabst, USA
Buckler, Heineken, Hollnad

Testers
The Holmes, Kristin, Amy McDonnell, and Scott Chirchetti (sp?).

Raw Data
Individual results, in order of their preference:
Scott:
O'Doul's, Haake Beck, Amstel Light, Lone Star, Buckler
Amy:
Lone Star, O'Doul's, Amstel Light, Buckler, Haake Beck
Kristin:
Amstel light, Lone Star, Buckler, O'Douls, Haake Beck
The Holmes:
O'Doul's, Lone Star, Buckler, Amstel Light, Haake Beck

Results
Added all together (5 pts for a 1st place vote, 4 for 2nd, etc), the results were:

Place	Points	Beer
1	16	O'Doul's Amber
2	15	Lone Star
3	13	Amstel Light
4	9	Buckler
5	7	Haake Beck

Analysis
All in all, Amstel Light was beaten by a non alcoholic beer and a really bad beer from Texas. Two voters judges 2 N/A beers to be better than Amstel. Pretty weak.

Do you still think Amstel Light is good?

The power of marketing

Check out this double blind experiment I performed on some yuppies a in March of 1999:

I had 6 20-somethings rank six beers in order of their preference. They did not know which beer was which. There beers were:

Miller Genuine Draft (Can)
Miller Light (Can)
Coors Extra Gold (Can)
Coors Light (Can)
Amstel Light (Bottle)
Bud Light

Most yuppies wouldn't be caught dead with a can of anything, much less Coors Extra Gold. The results were tabulated, and Amstel Light came in last place (even though it was in glass), with MGD in first. No big surprise there, right? The group was told the group preference, as well as their own individual preference.

The interesting part came after the test was complete. When reaching for another beer to drink on their own, what did they grab first? The Amstel Light! Even though they prefered all of the other beers, the trendy yuppie import was what they chose. They were even offended when I pointed this out to them. That is the power of marketing.

Special Features

Official Brew Palace Taste Tests

First Annual Cardiff by the Sea Microbrew Festival (FACSMBF)