I got my friends together for another double blind taste test. This took place on October 30th. We wanted to do beer, and we wanted to be thematic. Consequently, we did both Oktoberfests, an appropriate seasonal and fairly orange style of beer, and imperial stouts, the blackest of all beers.

The usual disclaimer applies: your favorite beer is probably not here. If you want it tested, get your own friends together and do something similar. It makes for a pretty fun night.

Doing double the beer runs the risk of severe drunkenness. This was partially by design: obviously Halloween night would not be enough, so we wanted to pre-pickle our livers the night before. However, we still wanted to be somewhat objective. Consequently, we did the lower-ABV Oktoberfests first, and everyone was especially modest in their consumption while the test was going on. Once we crowned the winners, then we finished off the leftovers and went nuts. I was pretty far gone at the end of the night, but I'm no less confident in these results as any that have come from this group.

First, the Oktoberfests!

Contestant #1:



Spaten Oktoberfest
Munich, Germany
5.9% ABV
$8 for a 6 pack

I actually got this on sale for $7, but $8 is what I'd normally pay. I got this since we should obviously have an authentic one in attendance.

Contestant #2:



Saratoga lager
NY, USA
?% ABV
$6 for a 6 pack

This is a cheap beer that I'd liked pretty well when I tried it. It doesn't indicate in its name that it's an Oktoberfest/Maerzen, but it is.

Contestant #3:



Sly Fox Oktoberfest
PA, USA
5.8% ABV
$8 for a 22 oz bottle

This was the most expensive beer of those brought by my friends.

Contestant #4:



Saranac Oktoberfest
NY, USA
? ABV
$6 for a 6 pack

This is one of upstate NY's larger microbrew operations.

Contestant #5:



Stoudt's Oktoberfest
PA, USA
5% ABV
$10 for a 6 pack

I'd never tried this one before. Some Stoudt's beer I've loved. Some has been poor.

Contestant #6:



Blue Point Oktoberfest
NY, USA
5.5% ABV
$8 for a 6 pack

I'd never tried this one before either.

Results!

In first place!



This fared pretty well across the board. Most people had it in their top three, although one person had it dead last. I don't recall why. It was very malty with a light grassy hopping characteristic of German beers. It had a light caramel sweetness that was tasting but not overpowering, either. All in all, this would be a solid purchase for lateSept./early Oct. drinking.

Second place:



I found this very similar to the eventual 4th place finisher. This was a little lighter and sweeter in character, making it more broadly appealing. The other was a little earthier.

Third place:



This beer definitely stood out as being a little different from the rest of the line up. Despite this being my selection, I couldn't pick it out of the line up, and I didn't even care for it that much. It was on the sweeter side compared to the others, and it had a hint of citrus and even pumpkin. It also had a slightly funky character that I couldn't place. I'm not sure what it was. Some found it desirable. Others didn't like it.

Fourth place:



This was malty, spicy, and just a little earthy as I'd mentioned. It was a little less hoppy than some others in the style. However, this beer was still pretty well-liked all around

Fifth place:



Here, things started dropping off quickly. The Sly Fox was probably the driest of the beers we had, less malty, and more hoppy. This didn't play well with much of the crowd, but I only ranked this 4th myself, and I like hoppy beer. It wasn't what I was looking for in an Oktoberfest style beer.

Sixth place:



Oddly, one person ranked this first, but five ranked it dead last. Most found this beer to be the blandest. There wasn't much to really be excited about.

I guess the bottom line is to look for the authentic German Oktoberfests for the highest quality and to hope for sales, but the gap between the old world originals and the new world imitators is much smaller for this style than it is for hefeweizens. If you're looking for something cheaper in this style, Saranac makes a more traditional offering while Saratoga Lager may be more appealing to some.

I'm going to post the imperial stout results later.

I wish beer in Canada was as cheap as it is in the states.

Off to the packy I go.

Great work as always. I was so busy last month that I missed going to an Oktoberfest. At least I can live somewhat vicariously through this thread.

South Asian-American, please.

Very nice, I like! Unfortunately, except for Spaten, I've never heard of any of these beers--looks like a highly regional sampling.

I wonder how Sam Adams Oktoberfest would have fared. Other than SA, I can't think of any nationally (or even semi-nationally) available Oktoberfest style brews.

Spaten is great, and this is a great idea. I wish I had know you were doing this, I would have suggested you throw Paulaner Oktoberfest into the mix.

Bluepoint is made close to where I live , my friends had a wedding and actually had kegs of there toasted logger pretty tasty stuff. On weekends we been known to hit the brewery for sunday football

Great idea I'd love to do this with my friends. Gonna bring it up next time.

Nerd question: how'd you double-blind the experiment? Blindfold the taster, have one guy preorder all the beers and tear off the labels, and then have a gun randomly pick a bottle of unmarked beer to give the taster?

Flying Dog, Boulevard, Becks, Point all have Octoberfests I think there are a couple others too. (Flying Dog's and Boulevard's are pretty good, I like them better than SA. Becks' and Point's suck.)

I was also curious about the logistics. My thoughts would be to use those small paper cups, and write numbers 1-5 on the bottom of them and have someone pour the beers into each. Then that person leaves the room, and the next person sets the beers up at each persons seat in some random order, simply making sure each person has 5 cups in front of them, and each are unique, this can be done with or without looking at the numbers. Then everyone can come in and drink, as long as they aren't commenting on which numbers they like, since at least one person knows what number is what beer. They line their cups up in order of preference, then when everyone is done, they can reveal the numbers and tally results.

Typically, I will either put the bottles in a brown paper bag, or in the case of liquor, I'll pour the liquor in question into an ordinary glass. Then, I label the bags/glasses with a letter. I write down which letter is what. I do this in the kitchen while the tasting happens in my living room. Then, my friend goes and picks a letter, writing it down. He pours the contents into our group's official decanter and brings it out for everyone to pass around, but he doesn't tell anyone which letter it is. We then take notes on what we like and what we don't based on the order they come out. When we've gone through them all, we rank them, score them, and then reveal them. My friend says "Beer #1 is C," and I then look at my notes and say, "Beer C is Spaten," etc. Now, it'd be maximally objective to have everyone isolated and not discussing things as they go, but that's not as fun. I'd rather give up some objectivity and have a fun social evening where we can discuss what we like as we go.

Yeah, it is very regional. Spaten, German import, is the only one I can get in my area. I also wish somebody had brought another German brew - I'd also second Paulaner - but I guess that's the roll of the dice when you just tell people to buy one and bring it.

Sam's Ofest is... ok. Well-made, but I didn't like it as much as German imports or some domestics. For instance, I liked Victory's more than Sam's. When the Oktoberfests started rolling out this season, I bought a bunch to try all head-to-head. Unlike Wookie, it wasn't blind and I was drinking alone. But from memory the Paulaner was my favorite, followed by Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr and Victory were pretty close, Sam Adams, and then one other which I can't remember but definitely liked least. The Paulaner was really stand out better to me. I was surprised that I liked Victory as much as I did because their German Pils, although good, was a little over-the-top-American for me, and I expected the same from the Ofest, but it was right in balance.

Excited to see which stouts came up for the next installment, but I don't think Oskar Blues' Ten-Fidy is out yet, which is a real shame.

Yeah, this was interesting, but I love stouts, and I'm much more interested in the second installment.

Yeah, sometimes you wish you could control what everyone brings to ensure the relevance of the results, but I find that just turning everyone loose to buy whatever they want keeps everyone interested, it requires less work, and it lets everyone choose how much money they want to spend on the evening (most of us are decidedly poor).

Have you had Ayinger? That was the other beer I considered bringing. It's probably my favorite Oktoberfest, but I opted for the Saratoga to have it contend for the value winner.

Imperial Stouts!

Contestant #1:



North Coast's Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
CA, USA
9% ABV
$9 for a four pack

A classic. I was confident in running an imperial stout tasting with a group of people who aren't necessarily big on beer because my gf really enjoyed this (for beer, anyway). Naturally, this was her contribution.

Contestant #2:



Southern Tier Imperial Creme Brulee Stout
NY, USA
10% ABV
$?? for a 22 oz bottle

I've tried this one before. It's a little...non-traditional. The girl who brought it didn't recall the price.

Contestant #3:



Middle Ages Dragonslayer imperial stout
NY, USA
9.5% ABV
$8 for a 22 oz bottle

I think I'd tried this one a long ways back, but I don't recall it.

Contestant #4:



Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
CO, USA
9.5% ABV
$?? for a 22 oz bottle (probably at least $12)

This was my selection. I remember it being one of my favorites, but I certainly could have been biased by price, label and marketing. Even if this didn't win, we could see that fancy-pants brews may not be worth it.

Contestant #5:



Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
NY, USA
10.6% ABV
$9 for a six pack

This is one of the beers I buy in the greatest quantity. I try to stock up in the winter so I can still enjoy some through the spring. It's a good version of an excellent style, and the price can't be beat. It's not my very favorite, but, oh, that price.

There's not really a contestant #6. See, one girl brought an imperial pilsner instead of an imperial stout. Oops. We all drank it anyway, but it doesn't fit the test. Additionally, another friend brought a home brew milk stout. It also doesn't really fit in the tasting, as it is <5% ABV, but we decided to toss it in anyway to see what people thought and if they could tell the difference. Unlike the pilsner, it'd at least be the right color!

Results:

First place!



This beer truly blew the others out of the water. We tried it fourth overall, and it made all the other beers seem banal and watery by comparison. It had all the classic flavors you expect from any good imperial stout: coffee, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, hops, malt, and such. It had a great texture, too. The only people who didn't rank this first overall were the ones who preferred the sweet, non-traditional Creme Brulee stout. The preference of the more traditional beer lovers was immediately apparent on their first sip of this.

In second place we had a tie:

and

The former had a nice coffee flavor, but it wasn't as chocolaty or as sweet as the Yeti, nor were the hops as aromatic. It wasn't as thick, either. Still, it was good beer. Somewhat unexpectedly, this beer was the preference of the bloc that favored the creme brulee.

The latter was sweeter and tasted a little more of alcohol, which might have been the reason some found to prefer the former. It wasn't especially hoppy, either, but it was a little thicker in feel than the former. It still had a nice coffee flavor to it, though. No one ranked it below fourth, but the beer lovers who were well acquainted with imperial stouts before this tasting had this as their #2, preferring it in this tie. It didn't sound like either bloc would reject either beer if given to them, though.

Fourth place:



This beer stood out like a sore thumb, or like the most awesome nectar of excellence, depending on your preferences. It is really, really, really, reeeeaaallly sweet. It definitely delivers on the creme brulee flavor one you get past the sensation of sweetness.

My gf and I had actually tried this beer for the first time earlier in the week when we were out at our favorite beer bar. She took to it in the tasting as she did at the bar, but when we were at the bar, the bar tender there got a crazy idea in his head that he wanted to try on us. He mixed the creme brulee stout with some of Stoudt's double IPA and gave us a taste. Both of us were instantly blown away. The hops from the IPA cut the sweetness just enough so that we could both taste the creme brulee flavor more than with the creme brulee stout alone. It was really good that way. We tried to recreate this for everyone after the tasting, but we were all somewhat drunk, and we couldn't get the proportions just right, plus we were working out of bottles instead of the tap. Still, even our drunken attempt tasted better to me than the creme brulee stout alone.

Fifth place:



No, this one doesn't round out the bottom. I could pick it out pretty easily based on the thinner texture, lower alcohol, and milky flavor. Unlike the last place finisher, this was a pretty good beer, even if the style couldn't really compete with the above beers.

Last place:



No one really cared for this. One person had it as high as fourth, but everyone else had it in the bottom two, with some variability depending on how people liked the creme brulee or the home brew. It was odd: it smelled strongly of vanilla and caramel, but those weren't really in the flavor at all. Instead, it tasted smoky, and even a little salty. It didn't have much else going for it. I'd certainly avoid this one.

Well, there you have it. There should be some more nationally-available beers with name-recognition on this list than with the Oktoberfests. I was really surprised with how well the Brooklyn fared, tying (or beating depending on your perspective) the Old Rasputin, which is #93 on the Beer Advocate top 100 list. The Oak Aged Yeti is #79 on the same, and by our results, it deserves to be higher, at least relative to the Old Rasputin. It's extremely good.

I swear wook I am coming over to crash this sometime soon

Well, next on the agenda is gin later this month, and then sparkling wine in December.

So is it a given that these lesser known beers are almost always better than mainstream ones, say Sam Adams Oktoberfest?

No, but there are so many microbrews out there that it's a given that there will be a lot of them that are better than Sam Adams.

Heh. I dug up an old review of the Dragon Slayer from the beer club thread. I knew it had been reviewed there, but I wasn't sure if it was me or someone else:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/63...es#post1479554

MaxxDaddy didn't like it either. I think that at the time, I took his advice and avoided it. I'm glad I did.

nice stout review. I love Old Rasputin but I think Yeti is too chocolaty and sweet for me. I haven't had Brooklyn Stout I will pick some up

If that's the case, you'll probably still prefer the Old Rasputin

Good job Wookie.

I have a hard time choosing between the Yeti and the Old Rasputin. Never had the Brooklyn Stout myself. Might have to try it someday.

Stone Brewery's Russian Imperial Stout is also a must try, imo.