dbb@fluke.UUCP (Dave Bartley) (01/19/84)
Although net.wines isn't chartered to cover malt beverages, it
seems the most appropriate place for this report. Enjoy...
Several of us at Fluke have begun a new special interest group,
SIGBREW, for the pursuit and enjoyment of things brewed. Just
in case you're interested, here are the minutes of the first
meeting.
The body of the first meeting was a single-blind beer-tasting of
nine brews. There were 13 tasters altogether, who rated each
brew on a scale from 1 (pathetic) to 10 (ambrosia) and were also
encouraged to comment on each brew's taste, aroma, bouquet,
appearance, etc. Only two of the thirteen tasters knew what
brews had been purchased.
There were 2 ales and 7 beers. They were not separated into
categories, so the ales finished first-second. This should be
taken into account when examining the results, which follow:
Brand Name, Country Average Rating
Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale (England) 7.22
Anchor Liberty Ale (USA) 6.95
Pilsener Urquell (Czechoslovakia) 6.55
Kulmbacher Schweizerhofbrau Bock (West Germany) 6.38
Corona (Mexico) 5.06
Pinkus Weizen (West Germany) 4.35
Foster's Lager (Australia) 3.88
Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve #74 (USA) 3.67
Moosehead Lager (Canada) 3.36
Little of a global nature can be concluded from the results,
except our group generally preferred more complex-flavored
brews, and it's reassuring that there is some positive
correlation between price and quality. Mostly, it's fun to
quaff a variety of brews in the name of furthering Human
Knowledge.
A few comments, taken from the evaluation sheets:
Sam Smith's:
"Funny smell. Tastes like it's made from elderberry stems"
"Stout, strong."
"Nice baland, somewhat sweet."
Anchor Liberty Ale:
"Smells good. The short term aftertaste is blech but it gets better"
"Apricot odor, wonderful! Plain finish, but produce-department-ish"
"Good upholstery - taste wears on you."
Pilsener Urquell:
"Cottage cheese aroma; smooth; slightly smoky taste"
"Mild bite - salty. Fine in little quantities. Isn't a beer I could
drink in "whole" bottle quantites."
Kulmbacher SB [chosen as it has the highest taste rating of over 1000 beers
in Jim Robertson's "A Connoisseur's Guide to Beer"]
"This smells like dead fish. It tastes like cauliflower"
"Bitter; `Red Hook'-ish. Not my type, but proper beer. Better than
bland beer."
"Great bubbles -- form weather front. Semi-dark. Almost sweet --
real interesting taste."
Corona:
"Skunky. Very Mexican."
"Very fruity, like wine. Tart. Slightly above average. Interesting.
Light color."
Pinkus:
"Slightly bitter, smell of burning rubber. Maybe Eastern European?
Not too bad."
"Rude & unnecessary"
Foster's Lager:
"Definite hints of industrial waste."
"Different. Slow-creeping aftertaste - I could live without it."
"Desperately trying not to be boring."
Henry's:
"GENERIC AMERICAN BEER like Rainier/Budweiser/Lucky/etc."
"Light gold, lightly sweet, very effervescent."
Moosehead:
"This is tasteless."
"Forgettable!"
--
Dave Bartley
John Fluke Mfg Co, Inc
M/S 245F; PO Box C9090; Everett, WA 98206
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