Ghost in the Machine

I did a taste test with GitM, Pliny the Elder, and Boneyard's Hop Venom, yesterday at Belmont Station (a local taproom/bottleshop here in Portland). The participants were random bar customers that claimed to be hop heads, and I'm certain that at least two of them had some experience brewing IPAs. There names were Brent, Joseph, and unpronouncable.

The beer was poured blind, but everybody could probably figure out which was which as the beers all looked dramatically different. I would be surprised if anybody didn't know what they were, but everyone seemed to give it an honest effort.

Technically, all three beers tied based on relative position in taste and smell.

Pour - we didn't rate this, but the Ghost in the Machine was cloudier than the other two beers. Hop Venom was the darkest of the three, but was clear, which threw off one of the voters. Pliny was clear, also, but was lighter than HV.

Smell - Ghost in the Machine was the clear winner. Hop Venom had an "off" smell that one voter apparently liked. Pliny was much more neutral and the nose was less pronounced than the other two. I didn't think Hop Venom smelled bad, but didn't smell like it usually do. More on that, later.

Ghost in the Machine - 1,1,1,2
Pliny the Elder - 2,2,2,3
Hop Venom - 1,3,3,3


Taste - Nothing wrong with the way Hop Venom tasted. Intense hop flavor, very little residual bitterness. I think the taste came down to the dankness. Pliny had a very clean profile, and I didn't like it as much as either HV or GitM. I like the dankness of HV and GitM. I voted GitM 2nd.

HV - 1,1,1,1
PtE - 2,2,2,3
GitM - 2,3,3,3


Overall,

PTE - 1,2,2,3
HV - 1,1,2,3
GITM - 1,2,3,3

I rated GitM 1st. I was trying to be as objective as I can. I was a little surprised at the nose on Hop Venom. It seemed off, and a couple of the other testers noted the same thing.
Boneyard is currently brewing from a new, expanded facility and they have been tweaking things to try to get the taste/flavor back to where it was before. Hop Venom used to have an incredible nose and had the same kind of cloudiness that you see in GitM. They have lost that, at least temporarily. That hurt the beers score. I think if they get HV back to where it was before Boneyard expanded (which they are trying to do), then my results would have been different.

At any rate, all of the testers and the bartenders (who did not participate, but did sample GitM) were very impressed with GitM.

This was not a true blind taste test, but it was a fun experiment.