Blind Beer Tasting – Surprising Results

Last night our family and friends got together at my aunt and uncle’s house for a beer tasting. Each person / couple brought 2-3 kinds of beer and all and total we ended up with 19 different varieties.

After brats & chips we got started. My mom and aunt were the bar tenders and poured 3 samples each for all of us in rounds while we were waiting in another room. Once we grabbed our first 3 samples we started filling in our charts with our guesses as to what beer it was, whether it was a light, medium, or dark beer and also our personal rating and comments.

It was a blast.

There were 2 particular beers whose ratings surprised everyone, especially myself.

#1 Corona Extra

I’ve always loved Corona Extra. Especially with a lime. I’ve always thought of it as a quality, crisp, refreshing beer – perfect for summer. Last night I learned that those thoughts were a media fabrication and far from the truth.

I was the one who brought the Corona and I “knew” I’d be able to pick it out with no problems. The problems was, the bar tenders had us taste it twice in two different rounds, and not only did I get wrong both times, but I rated it first ‘POOR’ and then ‘GOOD’ (at least in my comments area I said it had a ‘limeish after taste’).

Here’s the reality of the beer – We all tasted a dozen beers of the same color and make, and none of us picked it out. Most of us rated it poorly and could not distinguish it from other beers that were much cheaper, including Bud Select.

Corona Extra does not live up to the media hype, or the price.

#2 Stroh’s Beer

Stroh’s beer took all by surprise and was rated ‘Outstanding’ by more than a few people, including myself. Actually, it was the only beer that I gave an ‘Outstanding’ rating. Personally I’d never had Stroh’s and my thoughts about it were that it was a cheap, probably nasty beer. My first words after tasting my sample were, “this is not a cheap beer”. It had a distinctive taste, like some of the more expensive craft beers I’ve had. Some of the beers we sampled had distinctive flavours, but they tasted like they were all added in to enhance a nasty brew. Not Stroh’s, its distinctive taste came from something in the beer itself – crispy, but not too crispy, full bodied, but not too heavy.

 
Here’s a full list of all of the beers we sampled:

BlueMoon
Natural Light
Coors Light
Bud Select
Tsingtao
Corona
Stella Artois
Old English
Tecate
Stroh’s
Molson XXX
St. Peters Organic
Yingling Black & Tan
Red Stripe
Labatt Blue
Fosters
Mich. Amber Bock
Yingling Lager
Dos Equis Lager