Final Results
Gold Medal – Old Style
Silver Medal – Budweiser
Bronze Medal – Pabst Blue Ribbon
Board of Director Results
1st Place – Hamms
2nd Place – Old Style
3rd Place – Pabst Blue Ribbon
Analysis
This was probably the most difficult tasting of all, but probably the easiest to analyze. I went through and tried all the beers a first time. By the time I went through a second time, my palette was playing games with me. I ended up sticking to my initial analysis and did a couple final distinctions. After the first tastes, I determined 3 actually had a discernible flavor. One of them had an awful discernible flavor and that beer was PBR so it ended up last for me. The two remaining actually had a decent discernible flavor and those were Hamms and High Life and Hamms rated number 1. The other two had absolutely no flavor whatsoever. I have no idea what distinguished the two, but I had Old Style ahead of Budweiser.
My Ballot
1. Hamms
2. High Life
3. Old Style
4. Budweiser
5. PBR
The Takeaway
Seems pretty obvious to me, most people enjoyed the easy drinkers in this category. The Board of Directors recognized Hamms as actually having some good flavor, while also being easy to drink. I can guarantee most people reading this have not had a Hamms ever or in a really long time. Next time you need an easy drinking can, pick yourself up a 12 or 30 pack of Hamms because that is probably the only packaging options you will have.
For full results, check out: Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2012 Results
I am so glad that that there is a catergory like this. Call the beer what it is, an adjunct beer. Using high fructose corn syrup in place of malt is appalling for starters. Calling a beer 'the same beer as it used to be', a la PBR or the King of Beers, based on gravity calculations and IBUs is the same as Subway saying 'eat fresh'. Mass produced beer from the largest breweries in this country are nothing but processed food. Support your local breweries you will live longer.