2011 FatCat Oktoberfest Shootout Results!

October has come and gone but FatCat is hanging on to it with an Oktoberfest Shootout!  I gathered up as many Oktoberfests as my pocket book could handle.  Several of my choices were dictated by whether or not they were available in a build your own six pack.  We ended up with 10 brews.   I did manage to forget the Sam Adams and Ayinger in my fridge so we should have had 12.  OOOPS.  Going into this shootout my personal favorite was Paulaner followed very closely by the semi-local Free State.  Can America’s craft brewers keep pace with the age old brewing prowess of the Germans?  I gathered 4 familiar faces as well as a craft brew rookie to sort it out.  As with all other shootouts this is a blind tasting meaning we had no idea what beer we were tasting.  We ranked them with a score of 1-5 (5 being the best) based on whether we liked one beers taste better than the others.  None of us are, or claim to be beer judges of any kind but we do drink a lot of different beers.  With that being said this was a ton of fun and if you don’t agree with us you should have your own shootout.  It’s awesome!

The winners are:

1t.  Summit                                  24.0pts

1t.  Free State                               24.0pts

2t.  Paulaner                                 21.0pts

2t.  Magic Hat Ourtoberfest         21.0pts

5.  Schlafly                                   19.5pts 

6.  Leinenkugel                            19.0pts

7.  Bobs 47                                   18.0pts

8.  Spaten                                     17.5pts

9.  Weihenstephaner                    15.5pts

10.  FatCat                                    14.0pts

FatCat's Favorites:
Free State    5.0pts
Summit       4.5pts
Magic Hat   4.0pts

Super Spiker Andrew's Favorites:
Spaten         5.0pts
Paulaner      5.0pts
Freestate     4.0pts

Greg's Favorites:
Freestate       5.0pts
Summit         4.5pts
Leinenkugel  4.0 pts

Big Ed's Favorites:
Summit       4.5pts
Schlafly      3.5pts

Super Dave's Favorites:
Freestate     5.0pts
Bobs 47      4.5pts
Summit      4.0pts

Honey Lager Jimmy's Favorites: 

Magic Hat  5.0pts

Paulaner     4.0pts

Summit      4.0pts

Conclusion:

The Aftermath!

Well we were all over the board on this one.  The German varieties seemed to be much lighter in color with slightly more bitterness than the American versions.  The American versions tended to be sweeter with more hop character.  The Summit Oktoberfest proved to be exceptional as is the case with most of their offerings.  This was the 10^th beer we tasted and it was getting dark.  What does that mean?  We were outdoors and I had to forgo detailed notes in the name of ranking beers in a timely fashion.  Unfortunately, the only notes I took were “good malt”.  Sorry guys.  Summit has been a solid addition to our local beer market so embrace our blessing and grab a Summit next time your at the store. 

One of my favorites held up for me and that is the Free State Octoberfest.  The Free State is a superb brew that puts a slight variation in the typical Oktoberfest style with some grainy chewiness in the middle of the palate.  It makes most other Oktoberfests seem thin and watery by comparison.  It also has some hop character at the finish to help even it out. 

The Paulaner was my #1 pick coming into this shootout.  It actually didn’t make it in my top 3 which surprised me.  Of course that’s the magic of a blind tasting, all preferences are left at the door.  The Paulaner sports an absolute silky mouthfeel followed by a stellar malt profile.  It is not near as grainy as the Free State but has solid munich character with plenty of residual sweetness.  The Paulaner finishes with some muted bitterness but was not “skunky” like some of the other German versions.  Tied with the Paulaner was the Magic Hat Ourtoberfest. 

The Ourtoberfest was by far the sweetest brew in this group which made it delicious but also made it seem out of place.  It had a good caramel maltiness followed by what I thought was a hint of cinnamon.  Even though it was sweeter than the others, it did have very good complexity with different levels of sweetness throughout the palate.

Afterthoughts:

What happened to FatCat’s Oktoberfest?  Carbonation, or lack there of is what happened.  My Oktoberfest was not carbonated very well = FatCat fail.  I was very disappointed because I thought my Oktoberfest had a solid malt character that could stand up to the commercial brews.  However, my brew could not get past the initial flat character to get to the malt profile.  FAIL!  Oh well I’ll kick up the carbonation and knock out my Oktoberfest 1 liter mugfulls at a time. 

I drank the Ayinger after the shootout and I think it would have faired very well.  I would put it in my top 3 Oktoberfests easy.

Hope everyone enjoyed the shootout results.

Cheers!

2011 FatCatKC Barleywine Shootout Results

We’ve ventured to the outer reaches of beerdom and came back one step closer to becoming fully initiated Beer Yodas. This is one of the throwdowns I’ve been looking forward to the most, and it didn’t disappoint. This was a blind tasting meaning we did not know which beers we were tasting at the time of judging. I would like to welcome Big Ed to the FatCat team. The shootout was contested very closely and there was a photo finish at the end. We went back on instant replay and confirmed the winner of FatCat’s Barleywine Shootout!

So without further adieu the winner is…

Founders Old Curmudgeon                17.5pts
Bells Third Coast Old Ale                 16.5 pts
Great Divide Old Ruffian                 15.0 pts
Avery Hog Heaven                           14.5 pts
Schlafly Reserve Oak Aged            10.5 pts
Anchor Old Foghorn                          6.5 pts



Greg’s Favorites
Old Curmudgeon 5.0 pts
Third Coast Old Ale 4.5pts
Schlafly 4.0 pts


Super Dave’s Favorites
Avery Hog Heaven 5.0pts
Old Ruffian 4.5pts
Third Coast Old Ale 4.0pts


Big Ed’s Favorites
Old Curmudgeon 5.0pts
Old Ruffian 4.0pts
Hog Heaven 3.0pts

FatCat’s Favorites

Third Coast Old Ale 5.0pts

Old Curmudgeon 4.5pts

Hog Heaven 4.0pts

Conclusion:

As I said before, the results of this shootout were super close. The top 4 brews were outstanding and made it very difficult to choose the standings. Anchor Old Foghorn was clearly the least favorite with the group. It was way too sweet with an almost syrupy texture. On my scorecard, I marked off the Old Foghorn and then concluded all of the other beers should be #1. However, this is a shootout, so I carried on with the difficult process of narrowing down my choices. The Schlafly Reserve was the black sheep as it was clearly different from all the other contestants due to its oak aging. The preference for the oak character was hit and miss with the group, some liked the extra zing and others did not. I personally liked the Schlafly Reserve and thought the oak character balanced nicely with the malt complexity in the brew. After the bottom two brews, the competition in the top four was a dogfight of deliciousness. The Old Curmudgeon and the Third Coast Old Ale (both old ales) exhibited malt complexity that was simply stunning. It was a coin flip between the Old Curmudgeon and the Third Coast for first place as either one deserved it. The Hog Heaven and Old Ruffian are American barleywines so they had the most pronounced hop character. Of course, Super Dave being the IPA junky that he is automatically gravitated to these two brews. The American barleywines seem to rely more on the hop character for their appeal and less on complexity. My personal favorite before the shootout was the Old Ruffian, which turned out to be the more balanced of the two American barleywines. The bitterness was not overwhelming and blended nicely into a semi-complex malt character. The Hog Heaven was heavy on the hops and was close to being an imperial IPA in taste perception. Simply put, there were no losers in the top 4.

Afterthoughts:

Some of you may ask why are we comparing barleywines with old ales? I had that exact same question before setting up the shootout. I did some research to make sure I wasn’t making a horribly grave mistake. From what I gather, the difference between barleywine and old ale is in the terminology. Barelywine is a modern term and Old ale is a traditional term. So in theory an English barleywine is the same thing as an Old ale. The curve ball is in comparing American barleywines with English barleywines/Old ales. As with most “American” styles, the liberal use of American hops contribute to a much hoppier brew. So the question is how would the two semi-similar styles fair against each other in a shootout? If I’ve learned one thing from my past shootouts/throwdowns, your palate will be much more discerning when you taste beers back to back. When you taste a single brew, you like it or you don’t, but there is nothing to compare it to. When you sample similar beers back to back, you can pick out the small differences that would be invisible otherwise. Add the blind factor and you place further responsibility on your palate by taking away any brand preference/expectations you may have. I highly recommend this tactic to any beer drinker striving for a more discerning palate. I feel my ability to discern and explain the differences in beers have improved dramatically since I started back to back tasting of similar styles.

The Mrs. was predisposed on the day of the shootout so we had to improvise. Yes, that is duct tape disguising the bottles. This provides further truth to the phrase, “If you can’t duct it…don’t bring it to the shootout!”

Cheers!

2011 FatCatKC Barelywine Shootout!

It's time to separate the men from the boys with this one.  Barleywines are quickly becoming one of my favorite beer styles, so it seemed natural to gather six of them together and drink them back to back.  What could go wrong?  I've left good bye notes with my loved ones and picked the epitaph for my gravestone, "He was just here a minute ago."  Stay tuned for the aftermath to follow.

Anchor Old Foghorn

Founder's Old Curmudgeon

Bells Third Coast Old Ale

Schlafly Reserve Oaked-Aged Barleywine

Great Divide Old Ruffian

Avery Hog Heaven

FatCat's 2011 Imperial IPA shootout results!

The shootout is complete and everyone survived. Our palates were subjected to untold brutality, but we sent a message to our Imperial IPA’s. That message is, “This aggression will not stand, man”. So we fought back, tallied our scores, and we have a winner!


As with the other shootout, this was a blind tasting. We had no idea which beers we were drinking. The Mrs was again gracious enough to pour our brews into tasting cups and serve them to us on the back porch. We tasted each of our 7 samples and then rated them 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. We are by no means beer judges and rated them simply on taste and smell. This shootout was performed in the pursuit of fun and the results should be interpreted as such. I will be detailing the reviews of some of the top performers in later posts.

And the winner is:

1. Firestone Walker Double Jack    18.5pts

2. Founder’s Double Trouble          17.5pts

3. Odell Myrcenary                         15.0pts

4. Stone Ruination                           14.0pts

5. Avery Maharaja                          10.5pts

6. Boulevard Double Wide                9.5pts

7. Moylan’s Hopsickle                      7.0pts


FatCat’s Favorites:

Firestone Walker Double Jack 5.0pts
Founder’s Double Trouble 4.5pts
Stone Ruination 4.0pts


Super Dave’s Favorites:

Stone Ruination 5.0pts
Firestone Walker Double Jack 4.5pts
Founder’s Double Trouble 4.0pts


Greg’s Favorites:

Firestone Walker Double Jack 5.0pts
Founder’s Double Trouble 4.5pts
Stone Ruination 4.0pts


Alex’s Favorites:

Odell Myrcenary 5.0pts
Founder’s Double Trouble 4.5pts
Firestone Walker Double Jack 4.0pts


Conclusion:

Prior to the shootout, I had tried the Myrcenary and Super Dave had tried the Double Wide. Other than that, we were in virgin territory (giggity). I did some research and the Double Jack was rated rather highly along with the Hopsickle rating of A+ by the bros on BeerAdvocate. In many of the forums the Maharajah was touted highly as well. So we basically had no clue who the winner was going to be.

At the conclusion of this test, I really wished we had the Stone IPA in the previous IPA shootout. The Ruination was a kick in the face. It’s like a 9v battery, you know not to put your tongue on it but eventually you know you will do it again. Awesome. Was surprised the Hopsickle took last after the bros A+ rating. This brings up the point JJSKCK mentioned in the previous shootout’s epilogue comments. IPAs and Imperial IPAs are susceptible to aging and losing their hop presence. I assume this is what happened to the Hopsickle.

I’ll give a special shoutout to Bridgeport’s The Czarr. Super Dave had a torrid love affair with the Czarr in the past and still pledges his undying love for it. It was tentatively scheduled for the shootout but was not cold enough in time. I have serious doubts it would have fared well , but Super Dave said it would have won (it wouldn’t). This is another kick in the teeth type imperial, so if you’re a hop head the Czarr could be your next mistress as well.

FatCat's Epic brews page has been updated with these results.  Check it out.

Thanks for reading and as always...

Cheers!

Where we got’em:

Founder’s Double Trouble – Gomer’s Midtown    Firestone Walker – Gomer’s Midtown
Stone Ruination – Gomer’s Midtown                     Moylan’s Hopsickle – Constentinos downtown
Odell Myrcenary – Gomer’s Midtown                   Avery Maharaja – Missy’s Discount Liquor
Boulevard Double Wide – Gomer’s North

IPA round-up No. 1 – Founders Centennial IPA review

All hail the king of FatCat's IPA shootout.  The Founders came, it saw, and it dominated!

STATS:

ABV:  7.2%
IBU:   65

Founders has a tremendous reputation when it comes to the stellar stouts they offer.  But the question was, could the IPA measure up to the likes of Two Hearted or Odell?  The answer was a definitive YES!  In 2010, Ratebeer.com ranked Founders the 4th best brewery in the world.  Founders also has several beers listed in the top one hundred beers on Beeradvocate.com. They were winners of four medals at the 2010 World Beer Cup, and the winner of two medals at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.  Founders is one serious craft brewery.

The Centennial IPA poured with a small white head that dissipated quickly.  The nose yields gentle hop aroma with slight hints of caramel in the background.  The taste of this brew is balanced perfectly with hop flavor and caramel.  Yes this brew has malt character with caramel notes, but it was not overpowering as was the case for some other beers in the shootout.  The caramel notes create perfect harmony with the beautiful hop flavor in this brew.  The brew finishes clean and leaves you hunting for more.  Luckily there's five more where that came from.  This brew is a pure joy to drink.

While doing research I found this brew has something in common with the Bell's Two Hearted Ale.  What's that you might ask?  It is also brewed exclusively with the Centennial hop.  This is the reason I love craft brew.  Here are two beers brewed with the same type of hop and are completely different.  The Two Hearted is a refreshing citrus brew and the Founders is a more complex caramel brew of pure deliciousness.

Conclusion:
Man that is one super freakin' sweet ass delicious hop!

Cheers

IPA round-up No. 2 – Odell IPA review

Odell Myrcenary = awesome so Odell IPA = awesome, right?

Stats:

ABV:  7.0%

IBU:  60 

I never had this brew prior to the shootout.  However, based on my previous experience with Odell Myrcenary, it was my intuition that this brew was going to be awesome.  The beauty of human nature is some how intuition, also known as gut instinct, is frequently correct.  This particular magic of the human psyche has proved correct and the Odell IPA placed second in our shootout.  The Odell IPA poured with a big fluffy head.    The nose of the brew expressed citrus and floral notes.  This IPA was very balanced with consideration of malt sweetness to hop bitterness.  Along with the balance, this IPA had a very clean finish.  The hops on finish are not astringent but instead very pleasing.  The balance along with the clean finish leads to a very pleasant and enjoyable IPA.  As this brew warms, it expresses hints of grapefruit which enhances the overall experience.  This IPA is top notch and I would recommend this to anyone.

Conclusion:
Intuition is a delicious trait.

Cheers!

IPA round-up No. 3 – Boulevard Single Wide review

The sleeper, at least from our past experience, was the Boulevard Single Wide.  It turned out to be one of our favorites.

Stats:

ABV:  5.7%
IBU:   57

The Single Wide poured with a huge white fluffy head.  The carbonation in this particular bottle was very high causing about a three finger head when poured.  The smell out of the bottle was very hoppy with hints of grapefruit.  Once poured in my glass the head seemed to block most of the smell of the brew.  What could be detected in the glass was delicate citrus and faint grapefruit.  What surprised me about the Single Wide was how the taste and mouthfeel didn't indicate the lower ABV.  At 5.7% it was one of the lower ABVs in our shootout, but it tasted just as big as the others.  The initial reaction to the Single Wide is that it is well balanced and is not overly bitter.  The signature of the Single Wide is the deep and complex grapefruit flavors. 

Conclusion:

Kudos to Boulevard Brewing Company for the delicious local brew and keep up the good work.

Cheers

IPA round-up No. 4 – Bell’s Two Hearted Ale review

I will be wrapping up FatCat’s 2011 IPA shootout by reviewing the top four. And without further adieu, the number four beer in our shootout is Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.

Stats:

ABV: 7.0%

IBU: Not disclosed

Bell’s Two Hearted Ale was my initial favorite to win the shootout. It is one of the best IPAs available in this area. The Two Hearted poured with a huge persistent head, white in color. The smell is bright and citrusy. This brew is super smooth and refreshing. It is so delightfully refreshing you can put a couple of these down without realizing you are drinking a high abv IPA. That is of course, until you stand up from your lawn chair. The real signature of this brew is the slight lemony flavor mixed in with the hoppy goodness. The other IPAs in the shootout did not have this lemon taste and is part of the reason the Two Hearted is so refreshing. Yes I know I’ve used “refreshing” several times here but that is immediately what I think when I think of Two Hearted. It’s like peanut butter and Jelly, Two Hearted and refreshing, see it works! One of the most intriguing aspects of the Two Hearted Ale is that it uses one type of hop and one hop only. The Centennial hop is the only hop used and is added several times throughout the brewing process.

Conclusion:

Man that is one delicious hop!



Cheers

FatCat's 2011 IPA shootout results epilogue

I felt it necessary to clarify the purpose and some details regarding the IPA shootout.  First and foremost the shootout was organized and conducted in the name of fun and fun only.  The IPA shootout results should be interpreted as such.  I nor anybody involved claim to be experts of any kind regarding beer judging.  We leave that to the BJCP certified beer judges. 

  

If anyone wishes to now what beer judges think, check out the Great American Beer Festival winners or the World Beer Cup winners.  These official beer competitions are great sources of information, but I have a complaint.  A great majority of the beers ranked are not available to us and some I've never even heard of.  Therefore if some beer from California is a gift straight from the beer gods, it means nothing to me in Kansas City. 

Another great source of beer information and reviews is Beer Advocate or Rate Beer.  I encourage anyone who is interested in beer rankings or trying craft brews to check out those sites for information.  I frequent these sites and picked many of my entries for the shootout from the top 50 on Beer Advocate.  These sites provide rankings based on reviewers but I always wondered what would happen if these brews were reviewed back to back.  Would the rankings hold up?  So based on my curiosity I organized the IPA shootout.

One of my objectives is to provide useful information to the craft beer un-initiated or rookies through this site.  As I stated before, if we can save one person from the grips of lifeless lager and convert them to the magic of craft brew I have succeeded.  With that note I have sent many rookies to the Beer Advocate website and I get the same reaction.  What is floral?  How do you taste pine? What does a wet blanket on a summers night next to a fire taste like?  Then they look at me like I've tried to introduce a Calculus equation to them and that I'm the biggest nerd within a 20 yard radius.  So with this in mind I wanted to introduce a simple way to rate the beers. We thought some beers tasted better than others so that is how we rated them. Overly simple in some people's mind, probably.  But someone who knows nothing about IPA's can now have a general idea of what's pretty good and where to find it.

I did not want to use plastic cups.  I drink all of my beer out of glass in my everyday life.  I checked the BJCP Judge Procedure Manual and it states that hard plastic cups are a legitimate vessel to sample beer in.  This goes along with pictures I've seen in magazines showing beer samples in plastic cups submitted for judging.  I still did not want to use plastic cups.  My dilemma was I wanted to taste 11 beers back to back.  This would mean we would have 44 glasses piled on the table.  I couldn't figure out a reliable way to label the glasses without ruining the glass.  I contemplated just setting the glasses on labeled cards but wanted no possibility of mixing them up. We used (2) 12oz bottles per entry and (1) 22oz bottle for a total of 23 bottles of beer for this tasting.  This (for me anyway) was a significant investment monetarily, not to mention the time/gas we put into this.  So getting the drinks mixed up and completely ruining the tasting was not an option.  Plastic cups it is then.

I received several comments regarding my comment that we downgraded two IPA's due to there malty character.  In my personal opinion the maltiness in those two beers interfered with the hop aroma and flavor. Hop aroma and flavor are trademarks of the IPA style for me (again not BJCP certified).  I was attempting to give insight to people who might not have any experience with IPA's. If they wanted to try a "mellower" IPA with regards to hop intensity, the two malty IPA's may be a good starting point.

I would like to thank everyone who has read the IPA shootout and for your comments.  The shootout was so much fun and I encourage you to try one of your own.  I think it would be just as much fun with 3 or 4 beers, so don't think you need a bunch of beers to blind test.  FatCatKC has several other shootouts planned for various styles and will be announced as we go. 

Hope you enjoyed the IPA shootout and as always...

Cheers!

FatCat's 2011 IPA shootout results!

The shootout is complete and 11 IPA’s are down. The numbers have been tallied and we have a winner!

This was a blind tasting, meaning we had no idea which beers we were drinking. The Mrs was gracious enough to pour the beers into 44 different tasting cups and deliver them to us on the back porch. We tasted each of our 11 samples and then rated them 1-5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best. We are by no means beer judges and rated them purely on taste and smell. This was a ton of fun and we were surprised by the results to say the least. I will be detailing the reviews of some of the top performers in later posts.

And the winner is:

1.    Founder’s Centennial IPA                 16.5pts
2.    Odell IPA                                         16.0pts
3.    Boulevard Single Wide                     15.0pts
4.    Bell’s 2 hearted                                14.5pts
5.    Sam Adams Latitude 48                   13.5pts
6.    Goose Island IPA                            11.5pts
7.    Arcadia IPA                                      9.5pts
8.    Sierra Nevada Torpedo                     9.0pts
9.    Bear Republic Racer 5                       8.0pts
10. Great Divide Titan                               8.0pts
11. Schlafly Export IPA                            7.0pts

FatCat’s Favorites:

Latitude 48    4.5pts

Founder’s      4.5pts

Boulevard      4.0pts

Super Dave’s Favorites:

Odell IPA   5.0pts

Founder’s   4.0pts

Bell’s          4.0pts

Boulevard   4.0pts

Greg’s Favorites:

Founder’s   4.0pts

Bell’s          4.0pts

Boulevard   4.0pts

Alex’s Favorites:

Odell          4.5pts

Founder’s  4.0pts

Bell’s         3.5pts




Conclusion:

Our results were surprising. We were in agreement the Bell’s 2 Hearted would most likely be the best. None of us had tried the Odell IPA before the shootout, but I reasoned that if the Myrcenary was so good that the regular IPA should be good too. Prior to the test, Super Dave and I both liked the Latitude 48 because of the super clean taste and thought it would finish higher. A few beers were scored lower during the shootout because they had significant malt flavor compared to the others. These were the Racer 5 and the Titan. Neither were bad beers, just scored lower due to the maltiness.

I know there are people out there like WTF where’s the Stone? I swear I bought a 22oz of Stone IPA prior to the shootout, but when all the bottles were lined up, I couldn’t find the Stone. My hypothesis is the beer-drinking gnome that watches over my homebrew drank it. This is the price you have to pay to have a drunk gnome channel the beer gods and guard your house.

This will be the base line test for IPA’s. We will use the top 3 out of this test to compare to other IPA’s like Stone and even some FatCat’s homebrew. We will keep a rolling competition going. If you have any suggestions of what you want to see in the next IPA shootout, email me.

Where we got ‘em:

Founder’s Centennial IPA – Gomer’s Midtown          Sam Adams Latitude 48-Tipsy’s
Schlafly Export IPA-Gomer’s Midtown                     Goose Island IPATipsy’s
Bell’s 2 hearted-Gomer’s Midtown                           Arcadia IPA- Tipsy’s
Odell IPA-Tipsy’s                                                    Great Divide Titan-Hyvee State Line
Sierra Nevada Torpedo-Tipsy’s                               Boulevard Single Wide-Hyvee State Line
Bear Republic Racer 5-Tipsy’s