Blind Tasting Experiments: 1. Victory Hop Devil and Dirt Wolf

Well, it's been nearly seven years. That's not too bad, right? So recently, I've been testing and working on my tasting skills, perhaps someday aiming for some sort of actual certification (http://cicerone.org/ anyone?).

The best way I know to do this is through straight blind tasting. Luckily, in exchange for copious baked goods, my girlfriend will get me random bottles of beer and pour them for me. I then analyze them as best as I can, make a guess for the IBU, SRM, ABV, and style. I've done about two dozen now, and I should reflect on them and see how well I do compared to other people. So here I go.

It's no good to keep the beers 'blind' here. Last night, I had two Victory beers: Hop Devil and Dirt Wolf. Here are my notes.

Victory Hop Devil (actually the beer that first got me into hoppy beers)
Appearance: deep red amber, almost glowing, clingy white foam, SRM guess: 6-7
Aroma: alcohol, hop bitterness, resin and a nose full of hops
Taste:
Alcohol: moderate to high (guess 6 - 7% (actual: 6.7%))
Bitterness: high! strong and crisp (guess 70+ IBU)
Malt: calm, slatey, dry
Hops: spicy, strong and bitter
Other: peppery?
Guesses: 1. Double Pale Ale; 2. IPA. Perhaps Long Trail Double Bag?
Overall Rating: 8/10. "I could get use to this!"

Other Hop Devil Descriptions:
"bold and spicy" "German malts" "grapefruit aromas, spicy with background sweet malts and a faint bready malt aroma"

Victory Dirt Wolf IPA
Appearance: yellow-gold, SRM 4-6, clean thin white head
Aroma: grapefriut, lemon, floral hop notes, wet towel?
Taste:
Alcohol: moderate, 6% ABV? (actual: 8.7%), alcohol mixes well with malts and hops
Bitterness: low bitterness, 30 IBU?
Malt: rolling and sustaining, the heart of this beer, candy
Hops: the coloration (I don't know what I meant!), grapefruit and malt sugar
Other: a grainy, not entirely pleasant taste
Guesses: another IPA, perhaps just a Pale Ale
Overall Rating: 5/10

Other Dirt Wolf Descriptions:
"heavy citrus, fruity aroma...grapefruit, resinous pine, notes of sweet citrus and spice"

All told, a good beer night. Hop Devil is the winner here, hands down.