Inaugural Sample Party Results

On May 21, I hosted a sample party featuring 5 beers of my own design. I ordered custom 5-ounce sample glasses, had hour d'oeuvres, set up our disc golf baskets, stopped the rain, and halted the Rapture. It was a great time. Check out Paul D. C. Jennings' video below for a synopsis of what happened.

As for the beers themselves, they were, in order of appearance:

Lemongrass Saison Lager

Citrus Ale

Toronto? Maple Brown

Big Spicy

999 IPA (first of my brews served on draft!)

I asked those in attendance to judge each beer with the following form.

Several weeks later when I had poison ivy weeping out of my leg and it was 103 degrees outside, I sat down in my air-conditioned office and tabulated the results of all those voting forms. There were about 40 people who reviewed each of the 5 beers. 40 x 5 = 200 individual forms. It was a fantastic Excel geek-session. Here's how it shook out.

Sample Party Averages

Out of 5 points possible…

The Maple Brown tied with Big Spicy at 4.5 for the best color.

The Citrus Ale edged out Big Spicy by a tenth of a point at 4.3 for best aroma.

The 999 IPA had the best body (perhaps because of the forced carbonation?) with 4.4.

The 999 IPA also had the best flavor at 4.4.

The 999 had the best aftertaste at 4.2, with both the Lemongrass Saison and Big Spicy at 4.0

Big Spicy was the most original with 4.5.

The winner of the party, the Lemongrass Saison Lager, was in 3^rd for Color, 5^th (last) for Aroma, 3^rd for Body, 2^nd for Flavor, tied for 2^nd for Aftertaste, and 2^nd for Originality. Nobody said they wouldn’t drink it if it were given to them, 85% of people said they would tell others about it, and 80% said they would buy it.

It was because of these results that I decided to make 8 more gallons of the Lemongrass Saison, as described in my first blog, Lemongrass Saison. 



I'm Proud Of My Beer And Humbled You're Here