Chances are you have your go-to beer, which you grab a six-pack of on your way to a braai (or a 12-pack, no judgement), and you reckon you could pick said beer out of a line-up.

Having watched a blind taste testing recently, I can confirm that for the average beer drinker, that’s pretty unlikely.

Moustached craft beer brewers aside, you and I don’t have as refined a palate as we would like to think, but blind taste tests are important for another reason.

Not only are they great for making pompous friends look a little silly, but they break down preconceived notions of which beers are superior to others.

Let’s take the example of The Takeout’s Kate Bernot, who decided to run a blind taste test to determine the best Mexican beer on the US market.

If this taste test taught me anything, it’s the importance of tasting beers “blind”—tasting beers without knowing which sample represents which brand. We can’t help our preconceived notions of quality and our personal histories and preferences, so methodology is necessary to eliminate these biases. I had someone else pour the beers for me so I could remain impartial. When I’d finally finished taking notes and finally matched the numbers to the beers, I was surprised to find many of my assumptions upended.

Kate tried six different Mexican beers. Around South Africa, you will usually see two Mexican beers.

Here’s what she said when she blind-tested Sol Beer:

The aroma is super subtle…Yet the flavor is entirely pleasant: Light corn sweetness, a proper carbonic bite to close the sip, no stale flavors even after I let it warm to room temperature.

It’s effervescent and properly refreshing…and I estimate I could drink a dozen of these.

By all means, have a dozen, but try and enjoy them responsibly.

We won’t mention the other five beers (you can see those here), but Kate finishes by picking a clear winner:

I can’t believe I’m declaring Sol the winner, as I’ve long pledged allegiance to ***. But that’s why these blind tastings are important, right? To shake up expectations.

Sol was the most clean and refreshing, with no oxidation (despite its clear bottle!) as it warmed…

I’ve seen the light. Er, Sol.

She may be surprised, but we sure aren’t. Just another reason why blind taste tests, which often make us look like fools, are worth a go in order to break down those perceptions.

Also, I know it sounds smug, but we’ve been knocking back the good stuff for a while now, because each sip of an ice-cold Sol beer is a celebration of true freedom under the sun.

Sol’s very authenticity evokes these refreshing freedoms – a taste to be true to life, true to yourself, and to truly taste the sun.

Kate’s blind taste test results agree, and so do we.

[source:thetakeout]