A Friday evening at the Jug Shop in San Francisco and the theme was a blind tasting across four different styles, with folks ranking within styles and submitting votes before all was revealed at the end.
The first category: American-style pilsner in a can
Beer #1. Appears perfectly clear, no head, no nose, only suggests dead corn, taste slight sweetness, very thin ticklish carbonation, dead in the mouth, nothing about this feels alive. Watery and a little tinny. Not much to like here.
Beer #2. Immediately obvious on appearance and smell that this is something completely different. Not so clear as to serve as a magnifying glass and the nose suggests something darker encased by a dusting of flour. Not a bad nose at all. Crisp, layered. Heather and grains. Touch of Smarties tang. The crunch here I like, but the vegetal greenness of the hops less so. Nonetheless, drinkable unlike its peers.
Beer #3. Huge foamy white head, perfectly clear again. Simple corn nose, less sweet than #1, loose carbonation, lacks any verve whatsoever in the mouthfeel, barely any flavor, really unpleasant due to flatness. Wonder if it is supposed to be this flat?
My votes:
1st place: Beer #2
2nd place: Beer #1
3rd place: Beer #3
Though ranking #1 and #3 was pretty trivial, nothing to like about either.
The beers revealed:
Beer #1 - Labatt Blue
Beer #2 - Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils
Beer #3 - Pabst Blue Ribbon
Category 2: German-style Hefeweizen
Beer #1. Huge and frothy appearance. Very spiced nose, lots of clove, less banana. Tightly bound carbonation, cleaner style in terms of flavors. Clean and precise, but kind of boring. But not over-the-top, which I do appreciate.
Beer #2. Nose swimming in sea of sulfur. What a stink. Medium carbonation, barely any taste at all. Only off flavors and aromas. Nothing to like here. If it is damaged, multiple bottles were damaged similarly.
Beer #3. Steel and seawater suggestions on the nose. The beach! More elegant aromas underneath, nice crisp flour, pastry shell, fantastic focus. Phenomenal beer.
My votes:
1st place: Beer #3
2nd place: Beer #1
3rd place: Beer #2
The beers revealed:
Beer #1 - Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse
Beer #2 - Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Beer #3 - Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Category 3: Porter
Beer #1. Soy sauce and caramel on nose, dark and sticky. Excellent roast quality. Taste dark roasty/syrupy. Suggests too much syrup for me. But pleasant enough.
Beer #2. Boozy roasted meat on the nose, smoked malt, just the faintest hint of smoke. Lovely. Taste sweet tang, very pleasant to drink, a sour balance that makes it eminently drinkable. Could drink a lot of this.
Beer #3. The most roasted of the three. Hint of earth. Loose and flat carbonation, flavors of root beer, which are okay. But no finesse, here. Good ingredients, perhaps, but need more focus on execution?
My votes:
1st place: Beer #2
2nd place: Beer #1
3rd place: Beer #3
The beers revealed:
Beer #1 - Anchor Porter
Beer #2 - Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Beer #3 - Sierra Nevada Porter
Category 4: American-style IPA
Beer #1. Very,very green aromatic, tangy aggressive hops. Taste unripe banana skin, halfway developed flavors. Feels like it is aggressive in the wrong places and makes it hard to like.
Beer #2. Sour nose, floral, big and expressive aromatics. Medium carbonation that feels a tad loose. Crisp and focused flavors, crunchy lovability. Oats/grains/farm feel. Very toasty likability.
Beer #3. Huge nose, spreading in all directions. Layered and very warming. Cleaner and more streamlined on the palate, warm and toasted. Looser. More frivolous than previous.
My votes:
1st place: Beer #2
2nd place: Beer #3
3rd place: Beer #1
The beers revealed:
Beer #1 - Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
Beer #2 - Racer 5 IPA
Beer #3 - Abita Jockamo
And so goes another educational well-attended evening at the Jug Shop.