TOPIC:

a_friend_in_mead has given us his analysis[/url:2s3xxiem] of Wednesday's stout tasting experiment.

As he says, [i:2s3xxiem]everyone[/i:2s3xxiem] should do this to test their prejudices, [i:2s3xxiem]especially[/i:2s3xxiem] those who might feel inclined to pass comment on the inadequate stout-identification abilities of others...

Thanks for the article and the idea, AFiM. This ain't over.

I know this event has been discussed at length in other threads, but I think this comment belongs here, because it is (somewhat) about the article.

[quote:lw69w693]On average we got 1.333 beers right out of 4. Picking entirely randomly you would get at least this right about one quarter of the time. So we cannot say that ICB members can tell stouts apart.[/quote:lw69w693]

The tasting did not test whether we can tell the stouts apart, it tested whether we could match the beer to the brand name, using only personal experience as a guide. Telling them apart is a very different thing.

Now that I have done the tasting, I would be very confident in naming O'Hara's and Murphy's in a repeat test. Beamish and Guinness were both decidedly mediocre, so they didn't make enough of an impression for me to name them from the flavour in future, but if it were a three way tasting of O'Hara's, Murphy's and one of either Guinness or Beamish, I think I would get 3 out of 3.

[quote:lw69w693]
I would recommend you try this just to see your prejudices tested.[/quote:lw69w693]

I would agree with this whole heartedly. I had my prejudices exposed and the experience will change my preferences in Irish Stout in the future.

We all have bits of nonsense that have somehow worked their way into what we believe to be true. What this test did was make us judge the four beers in question on their own merits, without interference from our preconceived notions about any particular brand.

Over all this was a great idea and a good article about it, by the way. I would love to do this again, maybe with bottled weissbier, or English ale, in the Bull and Castle or Porterhouse and see what we find. I do think we need to gather more information from the tasting though. Having people try to name the brand is one thing, but how about actually rating the beers at the same time? That way we would have data about which beers people actually liked.

Another notion would be to just do, for example, English bottled ales and not tell people the brands, just get them to rank them.

[quote:2wh2wtge] it tested whether we could match the beer to the brand name, using only personal experience as a guide. Telling them apart is a very different thing. [/quote

Good point. Ill fix the article now.

[quote:2wh2wtge]Another notion would be to just do, for example, English bottled ales and not tell people the brands, just get them to rank them.[/quote:2wh2wtge][/quote:2wh2wtge]
One thing I find interesting is how few people know a selection of beers of a given type. We managed to find people who knew four stouts but this involved them educating themselves (I drank draught O'Haras in the B&C to find out what it tasted like) or just using some vague recollection (Ed said he had not had Beamish or Murphy's in a long time).

If stout was the most popular choice of beer to test I wonder what other styles would even have 10 people who felt they new 4 brands well enough to take the challenge? What 4 English Ales might be popular enough to try this?

BTW I think if we did rerun the test now with the same people a higher correct assignment would result. But I could be wrong.

"a_friend_in_mead":fuyqk7wh wrote: What 4 English Ales might be popular enough to try this?[/quote:fuyqk7wh]That would be fun. Bishop's Finger, London Pride, Hobgoblin and Black Sheep.

Dead easy, right?

[quote:38g6gryl]That would be fun. Bishop's Finger, London Pride, Hobgoblin and Black Sheep.

Dead easy, right?[/quote:38g6gryl]

Good idea. B&C serves them right? Ill post on the original thread in case we get any more takers.

"TheBeerNut":tx77oxol wrote: Bishop's Finger, London Pride, Hobgoblin and Black Sheep.[/quote:tx77oxol]

I would love to do that tasting. I have definite opinions and preferences to be tested in that selection. Not to mention that I'll enjoy the beer a lot more this time.