Woodmoor Beer Appreciation Society
Lager Tasting 7 April 2007
The Society held its second lager tasting on Saturday 7 April (see also American Lagers Dec 2000). This time I selected a range of styles within the category to point out that all lagers are not just fizzy yellow beers. The evening started out with a short presentation on the history of lager brewing and the various recognized styles of lagers. We conducted a blind tasting of 10 examples ranging from European Pale Lager to Dopplebock. The favorite of the group was Brooklyn Lager, followed closely by Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager. Brooklyn Lager also recently won a "Beer Madness Tournament" patterned after the NCAA tournament and sponsored by the Washington Post. Five of ten participants rated Brooklyn Lager as their favorite, Portsmouth Lager, Paulaner, Big Easy, and Troegenator alll received one top score. On the lower end, Scrimshaw Pilsner received the lowest average score (22.78), barely losing to Otter Creek Vermont Lager (22.89) which was rated least favorite by 4/10 tasters. Also receiving lowest scores were Big Easy (3/10) and Scrimshaw Pilsner, Paulaner, and Troegenator with one each. The table below presents the scores from each participant with high score highlighted in blue and low core in red.
Beer | Style |
Doug |
Bill |
Bob |
Shannon |
Lindsey |
Caitlin |
Russ |
Brad |
Nick |
AVG |
Samuel Smith Pure Lager | European Pale Lager | 18 |
27 |
26 |
24 |
16 |
15 |
33 |
40 |
34 |
25.89 |
Lagerhead Lager | Helles Lager |
22 |
28 |
28 |
23 |
25 |
20 |
26 |
42 |
25 |
26.56 |
Paulaner Original Munich | Helles Lager | 18 |
32 |
29 |
28 |
30 |
15 |
24 |
43 |
31 |
27.67 |
Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager | Vienna Lager | 34 |
37 |
26 |
27 |
29 |
25 |
33 |
40 |
40 |
32.33 |
Brookyln Lager | American All Malt Lager | 34 |
38 |
32 |
31 |
31 |
30 |
34 |
39 |
36 |
33.89 |
Schrimshaw Pilsner | German Style Pils | 16 |
26 |
16 |
28 |
15 |
11 |
28 |
39 |
26 |
22.78 |
Otter Creek Vermont Lager | Czech Style Pils | 16 |
25 |
22 |
21 |
27 |
11 |
24 |
37 |
23 |
22.89 |
Lakefront Big Easy | Maibock | 26 |
33 |
23 |
35 |
13 |
8 |
33 |
35 |
23 |
25.44 |
Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager | Schwarzbier | 21 |
30 |
23 |
22 |
20 |
20 |
32 |
39 |
29 |
26.22 |
Troegs Troegenator | Dopplebock |
22 |
27 |
23 |
32 |
29 |
24 |
37 |
41 |
18 |
27.18 |
................Ann delivers the next round..................................Lindsey
sampling Portsmouth Lager...................................Marlo
and Mia
..................Bob and Bill rate Paulaner Munich
Lager...................................................Shannon
evaluates appearance
............................Caitlin's first WBAS event......................................Brad thinks this one is good, but was it better than the last one?
.............Russell and Doug making some notes....................................Nick is ready for the next round
The Final Rankings
Brookyln Lager | 33.89 |
Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager | 32.33 |
Paulaner Original Munich | 27.67 |
Troegs Troegenator | 27.18 |
Lagerhead Lager | 26.56 |
Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager | 26.22 |
Samuel Smith Pure Lager | 25.89 |
Lakefront Big Easy | 25.44 |
Otter Creek Vermont Lager | 22.89 |
Schrimshaw Pilsner | 22.78 |
The Line-up
...............All agree, another successful WBAS event!