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Saturday, June 26, 2010

Possible Project - Draft Reports

So, I'm thinking of starting a project and wanted to see what everyone thought. I'd like to start keeping a log of where I go to have a beer relative to the cleanliness of their draft lines. This way, I could provide a service to beer geeks and restaurants alike (theoretically) I'll lay out the methodology of the project will all the possible problems I can think of.

First, I would need to choose a craft beer that's widely, if not almost universally available, that I'm very familiar with the taste - This is trickier than it sounds. I have to be careful not to eat anything extremely bold for lunch at work or on the weekends that could possibly alter the tasting experience in any way. Because I don't have access to any sort of technology to test for pediococcus or lactobacillus beyond my tongue, it's essential that I plan ahead. Also, I need to choose a beer that doesn't exhibit many of these flavors (a kind of funky almost cheesy taste or a butterscotch-y taste akin to diacetyl tainting.) The first couple beers that come to mind are Sam Adams Boston Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I'm going to try to avoid sweet or belgian style beers, as I think their flavor profile makes it difficult to detect problems with draft lines.

Second, I need to devise a point based rating system. My initial thought was to have a three or four point system, as these flavors can be difficult to detect. I'm guessing a three point scale would be the best, where a bar/restaurant would be awarded three points if their beer had no detectable tainted flavors.

Finally, I think this would need to be based, unless egregiously bad, on at least two visits and post the average. I think this might assist in taking the error out of this project.

Why do this? I very intensely dislike bars and restaurants that take wine seriously when it comes to storage, serving, etc. but not beer despite the fact that more and more of these places are offering craft beer. If you're going to serve a product, at least have the courtesy to serve it as the producer intended (if that's not yourself.) I encourage people to drink better beer at better establishments.

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