The Judges: Myself, Ryan Turner, Chad Meindl (@chadmeindl), Dan Weiser (@badger_alum1) and Ashley OrbanThe Competitors: Half Acre Daisy Cutter, Three Floyds Zombie Dust, New Glarus Moon Man, Ale Asylum Hopalicious, and Pearl Street Pale Ale
Odds:
Pearl Street Pale Ale 20:1
Three Floyds Zombie Dust 2:1
New Glarus Moon Man 9:1
Half Acre Daisy Cutter 4:1
Ale Asylum Hopalicious 6:1
Ale Asylum Hopalicious 6:1
The Rules:
Each of the judges will be asked to pick their favorite brew based solely on personal preference. Each judge will rank the beers in order 1-5 and then points will be assigned in reverse order based on the rating (e.g. 5 points for favorite beer and 1 point for least favorite). The blinded line-up:
The Results:
1. Three Floyds Zombie Dust – 25 points
2. Half Acre Daisy Cutter – 19 points
3. New Glarus Moon Man – 16 points
4. Ale Asylum Hopalicious – 12 points
5. Pearl Street Pale Ale – 5 points
Personal Reaction:
I have to say the most shocking thing of all is the consistency of the judges. Four out of five judges listed the brews in the exact same order and the last judge had numbers 2-4 switched around. This basically tells me that there were pretty large gaps between each beer. The best and the worst were very obvious to me: Pearl Street scored the perfect worst score possible while Zombie Dust scored a perfect 25 and won the gold. My biggest complaint about Moon Man has always been the non-existent mouth. I thought that was the only thing separating Moon Man from Daisy Cutter and I might even give the edge to Moon Man on the nose. The one surprise I took away was how poorly Ale Asylum’s offering scored. I have had this beer a number of times and only a few weeks before the event I remember being underwhelmed. Nothing about Hopalicious stands out and that is why it scored so poorly.
All Hail the Zombie Dust!
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