Putting my money where my mouth is- Taste Off!

Hey Everyone,

I admit that I am sometimes guilty of prejudice. I just tend to favour certain brands over others and sometimes without good reason. This case occurred most recently with the fabricated competition between St. Andrews' two breweries.

I decided today to take account for what I've been saying, and have a blind taste of comparable beers side by side. I will qualify this by saying that neither of these beers was bad, but two of them did not find their way to my palate. I undertook this tasting with several friends of mine and we came to a surprisingly uniformed consensus. Here are our findings

Blind Taste Comparison... St. Andrews v Eden.

Gold 1- Very clean nose, with a hint of copper oxide. Neutral ish with a gentle spice character. Finish is short, and a touch metallic. Not bad; over all refreshing. I prefer this.

Gold 2- much richer, a bit of vanilla and a strange sharpness of aroma; vom? Palate is yeasty? strangely sweet but also bitter, a bit confused, with a short finish but awkwardly lingering aftertaste. Not as refreshing, but bigger in flavour. Not terrible but not as good. Why no bubbles?

Dark 1- Head is a bit darker, creamy in colour: Coffee and bitter chocolate aromas a hint of brine and a touch of smoked fish. A bit of a richer palate, touch of smoke. I prefer this one.

Dark 2- White-grey head. Cleaner, not as rich in aroma, lightly toasty. Palate is as light as the nose. Pleasant but not quite big enough for me.

The beers, in order were as follows: St. Andrews Brewing Co. Fife Gold, Eden Brewery St. Andrews Gold, Eden Brewery Porter, and finally St. Andrews Brewing Co. Oatmeal Stout. So, basically, the score was 1-1. I chose Fife Gold and Seggie Porter as the better of the four. Each brewery had it's strengths and I liked all the beers well enough. We even put the tasting to a few customers who were similarly split on these beers.

What this tells me is that this town is big enough for the both of them, so I think that this bodes well for the future of St. Andrews' beer culture!

Much Love,

G.

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