Blind Tasting Reveal Time!

For the last five Fridays I've been featuring unnamed blind taste tested session beers, and now it's time to reveal which one was which. Did I guess any correct? And more importantly, which one did I and the rest of the group think was the best?

Beer #1 - We all enjoyed this one, it had a good grapefruit note to it and a solid amount of bitterness. I scored it a 71, compared to the group score of 67.25, and I took a guess, based on the grapefruity profile and high IBU level that this was the Stone Go-To IPA... it turns out that beer #1 was... the Founders All Day IPA! I'm 0/1 so far, but I've been drinking a lot of All Day IPA this football season, so I'm glad to know I scored it well even drinking blind.

Beer #2 - Another good one, but we all scored this one a little lower than Beer #1. I had it at a 67, compared to the group score of 64.5. My guess for this one was the Terrapin RecreationAle, being the only "pale ale" in the group of IPAs... and I was right! That makes 1/2 so far, but three more to go.

Beer #3 - This was the first of two that we didn't enjoy much, with a pungent and funky flavor that didn't hold up to the hops in the first two brews.  I scored it a 50, and it had a group average of 53.75.  I guessed at the Southern Tier Farmer's Tan, mostly because it was one that I didn't know much about and hadn't tried before. Beer #3 actually was... the Sierra Nevada Nooner. This was a bit of a surprise, I really expected better from the good people at Sierra Nevada.

Beer #4 - This is the one we all agreed was the best of the 5, with powerful grapefruit hop bitterness throughout. I scored it a 77, and it had a group average of 71.25. My guess was that this was the Founders All Day IPA, but we now know that that beer was #1, so I'm down to 1/4, and Beer #4, the winner of the day, was actually the Stone Go-To IPA. So, congrats to Stone Brewing! 

Beer #5 - And that leaves Beer #5, one that I thought was a little on the sweet side and a little boring.  It scored a 55 on my sheet, and a 57.5 with the group.  Process of elimination leads to the Southern Tier Farmer's Tan, but I had incorrectly guessed that this was the Sierra Nevada, leaving me 1/5 on the day.  

Most important though, our blind taste test ranks:

1. Stone Go-To IPA (71.25)

2. Founders All Day IPA (67.25)

3. Terrapin RecreationAle (64.5) 

4. Southern Tier Farmer's Tan (57.5)

5. Sierra Nevada Nooner (53.75) 

I'm not surprised that we picked Stone #1, but I am a little surprised at Sierra Nevada bringing up the rear. That's why we tasted them blind though, to eliminate that prejudice and judge solely on the beer.