Every party needs two things; a good theme, and good food.

Over Thanksgiving, my friends combined both elements into one event dubbed the “The Revolution Taste Test Challenge.” Each person brought three different varieties, brands, or flavors of a certain food or drink, and we spent the party taste testing each food and trying to determine which one was which. Here are the winners, along with few takeaways that may help you out on your next shopping trip.

Winners:

1^st Place: Jacob

• Jacob led the pack with 20 correct picks. And he gets major props for winning the tiebreaker (which we later found out wasn’t necessary due to an incorrect tally). We gave both Jacob and Andrew two cups and had them guess which one was Smirnoff Ice and which one was Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Only Jacob was wise enough to know that both were Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

2^nd Place: Andrew.

• Andrew came in second with 19 correct picks, but the crazy thing is that he left three categories (representing 10 potential points) completely blank because he was too busy entertaining others. Of the 25 guesses that he actually made, he got 76% of them right, which is insane compared to the group average of 42% (and Jacob’s first place score of 57%). Note Jacob and Andrew both got five categories perfect.

3^rd Place: George

• George got 16 of 32 picks right (50%), and got four perfect categories.

Hot Takes and Lessons Learned:

• 100% of people know that Poppi is different from Coke and Pepsi, but only 9 out of 13 people (69%) could differentiate between Coke and Pepsi.
• Only 3 out of 11 people recognized Halo Top (the healthy ice cream) compared to its full sugar counterparts. So you might as well get the healthier Halo Top ice cream.
• 100% of people confused Barbecue Wings with Honey Barbecue wings. I’m thinking George and Maggie mixed up the labels…
• Six of 12 participants (50%) thought the instant mashed potatoes were homemade. My recommendation– don’t waste your time making homemade mashed potatoes.
• Seven out of 10 people (70%) can correctly identify a bottom shelf glass of wine. However, the difference between a mid and upper-mid shelf bottle of wine is harder to distinguish. So next time you’re at the store, go with your gut and buy the second cheapest bottle of wine.
• 11 out of 12 people correctly identified homemade guacamole. It’s just different, and in my opinion, probably worth the extra time.
• Zach’s mom makes a really awesome Moravian Sugar Cake.
• For cookies and mac and cheese, buying the store brand is probably just fine. Only 3 out of 11 people (27%) could correctly identify Harris Teeter cookie dough, and only 3 out of 13 people (23%) could correctly identify store brand Mac and Cheese. Those odds are even worse than a true guess (33%).
  • That being said, it may be worth buying brand name mozzarella sticks. Five out of 13 participants (38%) correctly identified the store brand mozzarella sticks, which is just better than guessing. This doesn’t mean that the store brand mozzarella sticks necessarily are worse (or better) than the brand names, but the data suggests they may be just slightly different enough to notice.
• Are you a water snob? Most people can’t tell the difference. Only our top two testers (Andrew and Jacob) got all three water picks correct. And while Dasani gets a lot of hate, only 4 out of 13 participants could pick it out of a crowd of premium brands. For the most part, water is water.
• 75% of participants could correctly identify Gouda, but 42% confused Cheddar with Monterrey Jack. It’s important to know how to lay out a cheese board, but it’s also okay to use a little creativity/flexibility.

Want to really dive into the data?

Here’s the summary table below, or click here for the source data and more analysis.