IPA Blind Tasting

India Pale Ales are undoubted the most popular genre of craft beer in the Pacific Northwest. Being so close to the hopyards in these parts makes for a wide range of IPA. In recent months, many brewers and big beer geeks have steered away from the hop-driven beers and have been opting for sours, saisons, and slow beers.  Still, the IPA will likely not lose its luster with beer lovers here, so we decided to comprise a panel to blind sample some random and relatively recent styles.

A label can make or break a beer for some. And while we often try to overlook a dapper or gaudy label, we’ve fallen victim to brand recognition and snappy bells and whistles.   In our panel, we featured three guys with different backgrounds in the brewing community. These included Vasilios Gletsos, Ben Edmunds, and Sean White.Vasilios is the head brewer at Portland’s Pyramid Brewing. Vasili is a young yet fairly seasoned brewer with a resume that includes brewing gigs at Rock Bottom, Astoria Brewing, and BJ’s. His involvement with the Oregon Brew Crew and Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) has proven an invaluable asset to the Oregon craft beer community. Ben is the man behind the Oregon Beer Odyssey, a workshop of beer appreciation and education courses. With both a scientific and artistic understanding he acquired in part through a Siebels degree and lots of hands on brewing, Ben has also been called upon in the operations of brewing at soon to open Breakside Brewing. Sean, like Ben, will be brewing at Breakside. An accomplished homebrewer, Sean has a passion for saisons and has gotten his feet wet in the Oregon beer scene by helping out at Upright and Cascade Brewing.

Here is a summary of the seven brews sampled in a group consensus. The beers were rated on a letter scale (A-F). No one knew what he was trying as this was not revealed until after all seven were drunk. Note: Margaret and I selected the beers for our panel and she poured each beer in another room to keep the reviewers as unbiased as possible.

Beer #1

Poured a deep amber-orange body, light haze, with slick bright white head. Fruity, flowery resinous hop notes, dissolves to a soapy impression. Alcohol presence rather bold; lacking balance. Sweet, unattenuated with a light body and thin mouthfeel. Overall hop impression of this beer was on the light side.   Overall impression: C

Beer #2

Deep tawny, burnished bronze color with low carbonation level. Honeyed, saccharine notes indicative of oxidation. Bitter pininess and rather stale tasting. Could be an old bottle. Well rounded mouthfeel. Oxygen inclusion problems robs beer of malt and hop qualities likely once present. A fresh bottle might make this beer quite enjoyable. Overall impression: C+

Beer #3

Light straw colored with a thick white fluffy head. Big fruity aromas bordering on chive and onion characteristics. Bold with slight resinous tongue-coating flavors and prevalent astringency.  Firmly in the Northwest camp of IPAs. One downside could be perceived as a lack of malt underpinning to bolster the runaway hops. Well designed and artfully made. Overall impression: B

Beer #4

Poured a bright yellow-golden body with a lasting fluffy white head. Catty, piny, onion spice, peppery flavors. Yeasty. Balanced carbonic mouthfeel. Prickly, bitter, dry, and lingering mouthfeel with a spicy dry finish. Classic Northwest IPA with a nice malt balance. Overall impression: B+

Beer #5

Shiny bronze-copper body with a creamy white head. Candy sticky nose with some sharp acetic, solventy esters. Lacks the aroma of prominent hops. Some nice biscuit and juicy flavors with some firm bitterness in the mouthfeel.  Big for style and lacking aromatic component. Might otherwise pass for an imperial. Overall impression: C-

Beer #6

Bright hazy golden hue with a pillowy white head. Chivey, onion, catty, high-alpha hopped, funky hippie’s armpit/body odor dankness; a bit rubber; very Northwest. Intense bitterness with a bit of a thin body. Lacking some bolstering hops but well built. Spicy finish similar to that of #4. Impression of astringency and bitter greens. A bit overwhelming with catty hoppiness, but very nice IPA otherwise.  Overall impression: B+

Beer #7

Medium tawny bronze-golden colored with fluffy white head. Butter bomb right off the bat. Big diacetyl presence overwhelms what might be an otherwise solid brew. Big hop rush up front—mainly pine and citrus—accomplished by fairly harsh bitterness. Nice, long-lasting dryness and bitter finish. Medium bodied. Other than diacytel, would be a clean passable IPA, a little rough around the edges perhaps due to some minor fermentation flaws. Overall impression C

The above scores are a collective average of the panel. We realize that some lower scores may be relative to bottling or minor fermentation issues. We hope that again we can experience some of these beers again to get a comparative analysis. Below we reveal the seven beers according to number.

Beers: 1) Fire Mountain Bad Henry IPA 2) Golden Valley Chehalem IPA 3) New Belgium Ranger IPA   4) Hopworks IPA  5) 10-Barrel Apocalypse IPA 6) Hopworks Gigabit IPA 7) Ninkasi Total Domination

Thanks to our fine panel for their input and participation.