FOOLCiRCLE

So last Friday 07.10.09 was the 7th Annual Fool Circle Beer Tasting.

This year was the biggest yet most tame tasting yet, odd combination. For 2009 we had a total of 25 different Fool Circle beers ranging in age from 2004 to 2009, one literally weeks old. We had the most vintage beers ever (7) with the rest ranging since the 2008 tasting. A couple had variations on a theme, for example the Robust Brown Porter and the Chocolate Porter emerged from the same original batch, same as the Scottish 70/-, Hop Scottish, and Scotch Scottish. We also had our first soda make an appearance, the Gnome Root Beer, being the overwhelming easiest to pick out.

We tried to do things on a Friday after work, which for some reason I think is how we originally did the tastings, but it may also be a first. Most everyone showed up between 5:30 and 6:00 with Todd showing up last at almost 7:00. It was, of course, the Fool Circle Inner Circle once again, Dave, Todd, Richard, Robert, Karen, and myself. This is now one of the few times all of us get to get together, sweet. Anyway, we pretty much got started with the tasting right away with both Robert and I pouring beers at the same time, this made things go much faster and we were drinking much sooner. Having 25 little 2oz samples in front of you is a bit overwhelming. Everyone has there own technique on how they like to proceed; some in numerical order, some from lightest to darkest, but me I like to smell them all before I even taste them. I was pretty sure I had 15 correct just by smell. After smell I taste in numerical order. Anything I know what it is I mark it, anything I question what it is I wait for the next beer that’s similar and will taste them side by side trying to pull out there differences. It’s the differences that will distinguish some of the beers versus their similarities. Many of the beers (mostly the pale ales and lighter) did not hold up very well, but really aren’t brewed to be aged more than 3 months or so. Some of the vintage beers had developed and some had deteriorated, time to keep an eye on some of those.

The results are as follows: Todd & Richard both with 5 right, Robert with 9 right, Karen with 10 right, Dave with 11 right, and Brian with 20 right. I know people say that it’s no surprise that I got 20 right because I am the brewer and a Certified BJCP Judge, but it is difficult. I wasn’t sure if I was going to win, I left it up to the others, but they said that  if I scored double the next closest person OR scored over 18 and was at least 5 beers ahead of the next closest person I could win, so … I (Brian) am the new Grand Pooh-Bah for 2009 to 2010 – AND I am drinking out of my Grand Pooh-Bah glass now as we speak. 🙂

I’m pretty sure we determined that 25 beers was too many, though personally I would keep pushing it and just have separate flight, but hey, I’m a little twisted. Next year (maybe) it’ll be less. And, per usual, here are some off-color quotes from the evening:

– Fuck it, I’m just drinking.

– Richard, you just might win.

– Dude, I cannot wait to tear into your guacamole.

– Blah-blah-blah

– Let me guess #22 …

– T-Minus four hours until Robert’s bottle-conditioned ass kicks in.

– They’re all Porter-Red-Amber-Pale Ales

– #13 & #14 – I’m getting a little Band-Aid

– #17 could be a cup of coffee.

– Like assy-shoe-leather.

– It was a relief to know that it was NOT my girlfriends cooter!

– Cooters are AWESOME!!!

– We have too many with cooters …

Not sure who’s all interested, but I will try and post more pictures later. Also, here’s a link to last years (2008) tastings if anyone is interested, which will then link up to previous years.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.