And the winner was... Pete Gafner!! This was Uncle Pete's first beer taste-off, and he won with 8 of 10 correct, edging past my 7. The rest of the pack was far behind. Craig, Amy, and Bill, all former winners, were nowhere close. Bill claimed his cold affected his palate. Several people got one or zero right. This clearly means we all need to practice a lot before the next contest. Dad, Eric, Joe, and Emily, I expect better scores from you next time around!
For those of you who haven't participated, the beer contest works like this: A list of 10 beers is posted for everyone to see. You get a mini-pour (2-3 oz) of each beer, one at a time. You have to finish that beer before the next one is served, so you don't have the chance to compare them against each other. (This is not about drunkenness, by the way - it takes a long time to go through all 10 rounds.) For each beer, you write down which of the 10 you think it is, rate it on a 1-to-10 scale, comment about why you liked/disliked it, and then compare it to the theme. This year's theme was weddings, in honor of Steve and Patty's, of course. Example comment: "This beer is slightly bitter, like a 5th time bridesmaid who spent $250 on a dress she hates to stand up for a woman she doesn't even like that much." (Previous themes have included celebrities and olympic events.)
After all 10 beers are served, we go around the table and everyone reads their guess and comments about each beer, and then we find out what the beer actually was. One point for each correct beer. Steve got to the house in perfect time to judge the comments. We judged them differently (and better) than normal - Steve announced his favorite 3 for each round, then awarded one point to the best comment. Separate winners are announced for comments and for beer identification, though the beer is really the critical one for bragging rights.
The group's highest ratings went to the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, though only a handful of us correctly identified it. The other 9 were:
Good times, fam. See you all for the next go-round. Thanksgiving??
For those of you who haven't participated, the beer contest works like this: A list of 10 beers is posted for everyone to see. You get a mini-pour (2-3 oz) of each beer, one at a time. You have to finish that beer before the next one is served, so you don't have the chance to compare them against each other. (This is not about drunkenness, by the way - it takes a long time to go through all 10 rounds.) For each beer, you write down which of the 10 you think it is, rate it on a 1-to-10 scale, comment about why you liked/disliked it, and then compare it to the theme. This year's theme was weddings, in honor of Steve and Patty's, of course. Example comment: "This beer is slightly bitter, like a 5th time bridesmaid who spent $250 on a dress she hates to stand up for a woman she doesn't even like that much." (Previous themes have included celebrities and olympic events.)
After all 10 beers are served, we go around the table and everyone reads their guess and comments about each beer, and then we find out what the beer actually was. One point for each correct beer. Steve got to the house in perfect time to judge the comments. We judged them differently (and better) than normal - Steve announced his favorite 3 for each round, then awarded one point to the best comment. Separate winners are announced for comments and for beer identification, though the beer is really the critical one for bragging rights.
The group's highest ratings went to the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, though only a handful of us correctly identified it. The other 9 were:
- Star Hill Amber Ale
- Founders Rye PA
- Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
- Lost Coast Stout
- Holy Mackerel Imperial Black Ale w/Pomegranate
- Magic Hat Circus Boy Hefeweizen
- Victory Prima Pilsner
- Yuengling Lager
- Victory Golden Monkey Tripel Ale
Good times, fam. See you all for the next go-round. Thanksgiving??