Landing the Whale: Beer thread

[Root]

Just share all the glasses. Are people afraid of cooties?

1) You can't ALL share glasses, unless someone not involved pours all the beers.
2) Not cooties, but I don't want to pass my cold on to other people.
3) If you taste a beer, and give it three 1 point scores, I will be less likely to give it three 4 point scores, (or, I guess, 12 points, if you just do all of them at once). We know because of anchoring that even hearing an unrelated big number before asked to score something with a number (or establish a value for something, etc) will skew the resulting score. If I don't know that the beer I am tasting is the same beer you are tasting, I will be less likely to give it a score related to what you gave it.

1) Tape a piece of paper, folded over for secrecy, to the bottom of each glass. Pour full beer into each glass and tape on the paper. Leave the room and have someone mix them up and place them in front of numbers that you'll use to refer to them for scoring.
2) Use fish oil mixed with day-quill for a palate cleanser. Problem solved.
3) Have everyone note their scores on a private sheet of paper.

[Allentown]

1) Tape a piece of paper, folded over for secrecy, to the bottom of each glass. Pour full beer into each glass and tape on the paper. Leave the room and have someone mix them up and place them in front of numbers that you'll use to refer to them for scoring.
2) Use fish oil mixed with day-quill for a palate cleanser. Problem solved.
3) Have everyone note their scores on a private sheet of paper.

1) Even within a style there is still a bit of color variation, and unfortunately all my pint glasses are stupid souvenir glasses. I'd know I poured Sam Adams into the Founders Black Party 2015 glass, and I highly doubt I'd score it highly knowing it was Sam Adams. And wouldn't the person mixing things up and writing the numbers know which one was which?

2) that sounds horrendous

3) but talking about the beers is fun, and when you don't really know what everyone else has won't really effect their scoring. Except for that super dark, smoke flavored beer in a field of toasty, caramelly lagers.

[Root]

1) Tape a piece of paper, folded over for secrecy, to the bottom of each glass. Pour full beer into each glass and tape on the paper. Leave the room and have someone mix them up and place them in front of numbers that you'll use to refer to them for scoring.
2) Use fish oil mixed with day-quill for a palate cleanser. Problem solved.
3) Have everyone note their scores on a private sheet of paper.

1) Even within a style there is still a bit of color variation, and unfortunately all my pint glasses are stupid souvenir glasses. I'd know I poured Sam Adams into the Founders Black Party 2015 glass, and I highly doubt I'd score it highly knowing it was Sam Adams.

So how do you avoid that pitfall now?

And wouldn't the person mixing things up and writing the numbers know which one was which?

No, because the glasses only have a folded piece of paper taped to the bottom that they can't read, and they're only placing in a line at random.

2) that sounds horrendous

Yes. Yes it does. I hope it's clear that I'm joking.

3) but talking about the beers is fun, and when you don't really know what everyone else has won't really effect their scoring. Except for that super dark, smoke flavored beer in a field of toasty, caramelly lagers.

Right, and everyone can talk about them because everyone is tasting all twelve at once. If you have an agreement that you talk about what you see, smell, and taste rather than what you like, then you can discuss them all freely.

[Allentown]

The way we do it now is that I pour your beers when you are out of the room, then I leave, and you pour mine. You write on the back of my score card which beer your poured into what glass.

I think I figured out what you meant by the pour, number, shuffle method. Each glass has a number, in order, 1-12, on the bottom. I pour, and note the number of the glass I poured into on the bottle. Then someone else comes in, after I removed or shuffled the bottles, and shuffles the glasses.

I think if no one was sick the "pour them all" method would work. You could even have one person pour 6, another pour the other 6, then a third person shuffle them. So two people wouldn't have any idea which glass has what beer for half, even doing their best to ignore the label on the glass of the ones they poured.

[Root]

I think I figured out what you meant by the pour, number, shuffle method. Each glass has a number, in order, 1-12, on the bottom. I pour, and note the number of the glass I poured into on the bottle. Then someone else comes in, after I removed or shuffled the bottles, and shuffles the glasses.

I think if no one was sick the "pour them all" method would work. You could even have one person pour 6, another pour the other 6, then a third person shuffle them. So two people wouldn't have any idea which glass has what beer for half, even doing their best to ignore the label on the glass of the ones they poured.

Ok, here's a way to do it. Get a bottle coozie that covers the bottle's label. While you look away, I take a bottle and put it in the coozie so you can't see it. I hand it to you and you pour it into a glass while I look away (so I can't correlate colors with beers.) While you pour, I write the name of the beer on a paper and fold it up so you can't read it. I hand it to you and you tape it to the bottom while I dispose discreetly of the bottle and coozie-up a new one. Repeat for all 12 beers. Then I look away while you mix them up and put them in a line with the numbers 1-12 on the table in front of each beer. Or tape each number to the side of each glass. The tasting ensues, everybody referring to the beers by their number. At the end you peel off the paper taped to the bottom to reveal the beer name.

[Allentown]

Assume no cans and uniform bottle shapes.

[Root]

[Allentown]

Don't drink much these days. I did a blind comparison of Boulevard Brewing's and Brewery Vivant's Bourbon Barrel Belgian Quads. The Boulevard actually won for me, I think because of a hard pour- the yeast was very banana-bready, and I really liked it. They were very, very close though. I'm not going to abandon Vivant just yet, it's the first blind comparison it hasn't come out ahead.

[bugbomb]

Losing out to Boulevard is no shame.

[Allentown]

Losing out to Boulevard is no shame.

I've only had a handful of their stuff. I'm afraid to ask if they are owned by AB or someone...

[LexAnderson]

Ok, here's a way to do it. Get a bottle coozie that covers the bottle's label. While you look away, I take a bottle and put it in the coozie so you can't see it. I hand it to you and you pour it into a glass while I look away (so I can't correlate colors with beers.) While you pour, I write the name of the beer on a paper and fold it up so you can't read it. I hand it to you and you tape it to the bottom while I dispose discreetly of the bottle and coozie-up a new one. Repeat for all 12 beers. Then I look away while you mix them up and put them in a line with the numbers 1-12 on the table in front of each beer. Or tape each number to the side of each glass. The tasting ensues, everybody referring to the beers by their number. At the end you peel off the paper taped to the bottom to reveal the beer name.

Very extravagant.

[bugbomb]

Well shit, I just checked and they are indeed owned by the conglomerate that also owns Duvel. But, their Smokestack series is always really, really good.

[Allentown]

Also Firestone Walker. Looks like a bunch of craft breweries. So I'm fine with that. It's not like Goose Island being owned by AB-Inbev. I will never buy a Goose Island beer. And Bourbon County is mediocre at best.

[bugbomb]

Also Firestone Walker. Looks like a bunch of craft breweries. So I'm fine with that. It's not like Goose Island being owned by AB-Inbev. I will never buy a Goose Island beer. And Bourbon County is mediocre at best.

Yeah, I saw that too. The one that bummed me out was when InBev bought Karbach about a year ago.

[LexAnderson]

I like Goose Island beer honestly.

[Allentown]

I like Goose Island beer honestly.

There is nothing wrong with liking it. But know your money is going toward pushing craft beer out of the market.

[LexAnderson]

I like Goose Island beer honestly.

There is nothing wrong with liking it. But know your money is going toward pushing craft beer out of the market.

Oh, I know that, but also all current major beer companies were once craft beers that succeeded. I like Stone beers a a lot, I also like Red Oak which is a local brewery here in NC.

[Allentown]

Oh, I know that, but also all current major beer companies were once craft beers that succeeded. I like Stone beers a a lot, I also like Red Oak which is a local brewery here in NC.

And are now large enough to be in a position to prevent success of other craft beers, and are actively taking action to do so.

[LexAnderson]

Oh, I know that, but also all current major beer companies were once craft beers that succeeded. I like Stone beers a a lot, I also like Red Oak which is a local brewery here in NC.

And are now large enough to be in a position to prevent success of other craft beers, and are actively taking action to do so.

Yes, and as a business that's your goal, to control the market and be the only option people have. Can't really be mad at them for that, as unfair as it is to the smaller companies.

[Root]

Oh, I know that, but also all current major beer companies were once craft beers that succeeded. I like Stone beers a a lot, I also like Red Oak which is a local brewery here in NC.

And are now large enough to be in a position to prevent success of other craft beers, and are actively taking action to do so.

Yes, and as a business that's your goal, to control the market and be the only option people have. Can't really be mad at them for that, as unfair as it is to the smaller companies.

Certainly can't be mad, because business is gonna business. But you can dislike the effects of it and choose not to support it.