Monday, October 31, 2016

GToCG 2016 IPA Category Analysis

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2016 –             IPA Results

Gold Medal – Treehouse Alter Ego
Silver Medal – Tired Hands Alien Church
Bronze Medal – Heist CitraQuench’l
Other Participants: Trillium DDH Sleeper Street and Toppling Goliath Pompeii


Analysis
All hail Treehouse!  I honestly think this is their best beer and Alter Ego is absolutely phenomenal.  With the all the New England IPAs in this category, it was tough competition, but this beer masterfully balances all those huge flavors harnessing them into one amazing brew.  Second place went to Alien Church, which was slightly unremarkable, but very well balanced.  The two juice bombs came in third and fourth.  Heist placing slightly ahead of DDH Sleeper Street likely because Heist isn’t quite as over the top.  Pompeii wasn’t on the same field, they should head back to Double A ball.

My Ballot
1) Alter Ego 2) DDH Sleeper 3) CitraQuench’l 4) Alien Church 5) Pompeii

The Takeaway
I say it every single year, a well balance beer always performs the best in this type of setting.  First off, it is very tough to keep a beer that is bursting with flavors in check so it is quite the accomplishment.  But secondly, a well-balanced beer will play more favorable across a whole group.  The most well balanced beers came in first and second, only Alter Ego was playing teeter totter with 400lb sumo wrestlers.  The big juice bombs in CitraQuench’l and DDH Sleeper were either loved or hated.  Those two beers were both plagued with plenty of first place and plenty of last place votes.  And Pompeii, no comment.  Between this category and the Coffee Stouts, those were probably two of my favorite ever GToCG groupings.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

GToCG 2016 - German Pilsner Analysis


Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2016 – German Pilsner Results
Gold Medal – Sixpoint The Crisp
Silver Medal – Firestone Walker Pivo Pils
Bronze Medal – New Glarus Two Women
Other Participants: Metropolitan Flywheel and Victory Prima Pils

Analysis
For this category, there was a best, a worst, and 3 in the middle.  Sixpoint walked away pretty convincingly.  I would say this is the most hopped of all the entries and that proved to be the deciding factor.  The 3 in the middle all scored the same.  New Glarus and Metropolitan created much more traditional varieties, while Firestone Walker had a more hopped presence, but not to the level of Sixpoint.  Prima Pils just didn’t fare well outside a few people with the most consistently low scores

My Ballot
1) Pivo 2) Prima 3) The Crisp 4) Flywheel 5) New Glarus

The Takeaway
In an era of hops, it proved to be a winning formula once again even for a traditional style.  And the more, the better!  This category definitely had a bit more nuance from entry to entry and required tasters to really take a closer look.  This revival of traditional styles is great and super enjoyable.  If you like a good pilsner, get yourself The Crisp!


Wednesday, October 26, 2016

GToCG 2016 Coffee Stout Analysis

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2016 – Coffee Stout Results
Gold Medal – Terrapin Wake n Bake
Silver Medal – Perennial Sump
Bronze Medal – Beachwood System of a Stout
Other Participants: The Bruery Share This and Dieu Du Ciel Peche Mortel

 Analysis
This category had the largest disparity from first to last place.  Wake n Bake had over a third of the first place votes and was consistently in the top half of most ballots.  I have always raved about this beer’s ability to blast with coffee while keeping some level of balance.  The other thing Terrapin does so well is match up a coffee and roast that pairs perfectly with the base beer.  Second place went to Sump with a beer that was either loved or hated with as many first as last place votes.  This beer was a little cooler on the coffee and lives on the strongest base beer.  System of a Stout was my favorite beer of the day and probably should have not been included since it has other spices in the beer beyond coffee.  Definitely my mistake for including it, but I was a huge fan and people loved or hated the spice notes.  The Bruery Share This actually tied for third and I don’t have much to say other than I was really impressed with The Bruery’s offering.  Peche Mortel was very consistently in the bottom of people’s ballots.  This was even a fresh batch, but it just didn’t offer up much in either terms of base or coffee

My Ballot
1) System of a Stout 2) Wake n Bake 3) Share This 4) Peche Mortel 5) Sump

The Takeaway
This is a category build on personal preferences.  Most of these beers really highlight the coffee while some do it with a balanced base and others want to show off the coffee.  The base beers were consistently very good with some being more chocolate forward and others more roasty.  I really love this style and I think I have finally figured out what the key is: find a coffee that matches up with your base beer.  Congrats Terrapin, you knocked it out of the park!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2016 Lines

Here are the lines for Saturday's tasting:

IPA 
Treehouse Alter Ego                  5:2
Trillium DDH Sleeper Street      3:1
Heist CitraQuench'l                    4:1
Toppling Goliath Pompeii           5:1
Tired House Alien Church          6:1



German Pilsner 
Firestone Walker Pivo Pilz      7:2
Sixpoint The Crisp                   4:1
Victory Prima Pils                    4:1
New Glarus Two Women        9:2
Metropolitan Flywheel             6:1





Coffee Imperial Stout
Perennial Sump                            3:1
Dieu Du Ciel! Peche Mortel          7:2
Terrapin Wake n Bake                   4:1
Beachwood System of a Stout      4:1
The Bruery Share This                  7:1