The Great 2007 Semi-Scientific Local Beer Tasting
As promised, I spent a recent $100 windfall on local beer.
How much beer is that? I could have stretched it further, but I ended up with eleven different varieties, essentially chosen on random impulse. Most were six-packs of bottles, but there was a 12-pack of cans, a 12-pack of bottles, a 4-pack of tall boys and a growler in the mix.
The breweries we sampled included James Page, Surly, Summit, Barley John’s, Grain Belt and more.
Keep reading if you’re curious as to how they stacked up.
METHODOLOGY
The tasting team consisted of myself, Erica (of this very blog), Rachel (of Minnesota Monthly), Noah (of Chino Latino), and Miranda (one of my former Al Franken Show co-workers).
Our would-be sixth participant, Taylor, was detained by a fantasy baseball draft gone horribly wrong, and missed nine out of the eleven beers. I think he still walked off with a six-pack sampler, though, so there is mercy and justice in the world.
We blind-tasted four “flights” of beers, grouped roughly according to taste so we could compare apples to apples whenever possible. All participants gave their beers a 1-100 score, and then threw in some adjectives whenever possible.
We also ate homemade pretzels and a “Crave Case” of White Castle sliders provided by the Noah/Miranda contingent.
RESULTS
From least to most popular among our little group:
Summit Extra Pale Ale [average score: 35]
I’d had my chips down on Grain Belt or Schell taking the “Worst Local Brew” prize, but Summit pulled it off quite decisively. Tasters noted a “bitter finish,” “astringent” taste, a “lingering bitter” and “strong aftertaste.”
One might argue that that’s what you get with an EPA or IPA, but I’ve had and enjoyed other incarnations of this style. Summit hits the hops a bit too hard without giving the taster much of anything else to hold onto.
Schell Deer Brand [46]
“Sour,” “insubstantial,” “metallic,” and “Coors Lite” capture the reaction to this waifish lager, which tasters agreed was basically a palette cleanser unto itself.
Noah, a die-hard fan of Premium, noted this: “PremiumMMMMMMM.” And then he scored it an 87.62. The rest of the tasters, less accustomed to the brew, noted an apple taste, called it “wine-like,” and referenced a precious old beer joke.
The dark amber brew, with its heavy notes of “caramel” and “chocolate,” and its “bitter finish,” drew some kudos for being the “most complex so far.” One taster noted its “bright, lingering aftertaste.”
Noah drew a picture of my cat, Briscoe, and noted “Please Give Brisco a Beer!”
This is one of my favorite beers to order when I’m out splitting a pie at Pizza Nea, so I was surprised this didn’t finish at or near the top of the pack. But its “smokey,” “slightly bitter,” “better than durian,” “malty,” taste was both engaging and slightly perplexing to the tasters.
This totally cheap-ass served-from-a-can beer far exceeded my own personal expectations, garnering praise for its “rootbeerish,” “citrusy,” “flat but delicious” “very brown sweet flavor.” Hats off to Gluek.
James Page Iron Range Amber Lager [59]
The “uniform flavor” of this beer was “easy like Sunday morning,” and “clean” with “no aftertaste — yay!”
“Like Summit but cleaner, not as bitter,” “even,” with small bubbles “adding bite without being harsh.” A beer that could be happily thrown back in large quantities. Reminded me of Murphy’s, one of my favorite beers when I was living in Boston.
Summit Great Northern Porter [61]
After the shaming of its EPA, it’s nice to see Summit soar with its porter. Tasters universally identified and praised its bacon-like taste, calling it “smokey” and “hickory-licious,” and praising its “bacon-y mouthfeel and lingering aftertaste.”
This slightly polarizing beer wasn’t universally loved; it was a “little harsh” for Rachel.
Another sleeper beer, at least based on my label prejudices. Caramel bocks may be the secret weapon of underdog breweries. “Dark but not bitter,” “creamy,” with a “nice chocolate smell” and “clean finish” that Miranda described as “rapidly vanishing.”
I thought it was a little too retiring, but appreciated the caramel notes.
Noah drew a little picture of Brach’s Pick-A-Mix candies on his sheet to drive home the point.
Barley John’s Winter Ale [65]
I’m glad this particular brew came out on top of our tasting, because I got incredibly lost trying to find Barley John’s. What should have been a 30-minute jaunt up and down 35W turned into a 90-minute nightmare of Google directions relayed by phone by my increasingly and rightfully Jim-weary fiance.
At any rate, this terrific and substantial brew drew praise for its “spicy bite,” “citrus + caramel” notes, and for being “hickory-smoked beer.” One dissenter called it “good for having a bitter aftertaste, but still a bitter aftertaste.”
Speaking personally, I’m glad that I’ve still got 2/3rds of a growler of it living in my fridge.
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You mixed white castle and good beer?
Good god, I hope you only drank really cold grain belt while eating those little things. Bad beer, bad food, go together.
And in what kind of world does Grain Belt beat Summit EPA? You have to be kidding. You like drinking banana-tasting piss lager?
Your argument sounds kind of like this to me: “You’d prefer a Kit-Kat bar over raw quail egg on sea urchin? What are you, an idiot?”
I think the EPA gets beaten by the lager when the lager is professionally inoffensive and the EPA is like sucking on a skunk. Trust me, I’m fully aware of why liking Grain Belt better than Summit EPA is a culinary faux pas. But the numbers speak to the experience we had. Which is to say we collectively didn’t like a beer that made us go “PLEGH” reflexively. Call us crazy.
i’ll be honest, i HATED Summit EPA for a long time when i first tried it, now it’s almost the only beer i drink. One of those things that you enjoy that much more because you hated so vehemently at first.
Also, as a palate cleanser, you couldn’t have done better than a sack of ten.
I have officially decided that, on the whole, our local beer is meh, based on the sort of thing you can find on a regular basis in the liquor store. The Pacific Northwest totally kicks our ass.
I’d like to think that all the limited edition stuff that comes out of Town Hall and the like is better, but I haven’t made time to test that.
Great post! I opined on the attributes of Surly Bender to Iowan friends in town this weekend!
summit is pretty good… but wisconsin stuff (capital, new glarus) is much much better. and what’s with summit only having at most two beers on tap at local bars? minnesota’s got to represent more, it’s embarrassing. you go to any madison bar and get like 4/5 local selections.
i’ve never had surly darkness, but apparently it’s pretty good…
As a native Wisconsinite, I tend to agree with your general point, Chris — but I’m definitely finding some local winners, too. Right now I’m pretty well disposed toward Surly and Barley John’s, and can sometimes find some good stuff at Herkimer, too. That can be pretty hit or miss, however.