Homebrew Judging

[Steve Gyldenvand]

Okay, so it seems I got talked into being a judge for the homebrew competition at our local county fair this weekend (well, they asked if I'd do it and I was on my third beer and I said "hell yeah!" and so there was talking involved and I'm doing it so we'll go with "talked into.")

Now, I've openly admitted here that my personal beer appraisal abilities are not astounding. I can certainly tell a good beer from a bad one, one style from another, and can generally do a fair job of describing what I'm tasting, but realistically, the finer points are not something I am terribly good at putting into words. I've been assured that it is, after all, a small county fair competition, and the other judges (who asked me in the first place) will be helping me with all the protocols and procedures. Still, I most certainly want to give all the brewers the best I can manage.

So, any profound advice for a newbie beer judge would be greatly appreciated. The simpler the better.

[Rob Courtney]

11 hours ago, Steve Gyldenvand said:

Okay, so it seems I got talked into being a judge for the homebrew competition at our local county fair this weekend (well, they asked if I'd do it and I was on my third beer and I said "hell yeah!" and so there was talking involved and I'm doing it so we'll go with "talked into.")

Now, I've openly admitted here that my personal beer appraisal abilities are not astounding. I can certainly tell a good beer from a bad one, one style from another, and can generally do a fair job of describing what I'm tasting, but realistically, the finer points are not something I am terribly good at putting into words. I've been assured that it is, after all, a small county fair competition, and the other judges (who asked me in the first place) will be helping me with all the protocols and procedures. Still, I most certainly want to give all the brewers the best I can manage.

So, any profound advice for a newbie beer judge would be greatly appreciated. The simpler the better.

If you don't know how to describe it, spit it out...words don't need to be said after you do that

 

Honestly though, a touch of research could be on the cards, check out the main characteristics that are expected of that style, keep notes. Smell the beer, what can you smell, put your nose deep into the glass ( don't glass yourself, the Missus will not be happy), it makes you look like you know what you are doing. Before smelling, if you can, ask the brewer what he has hopped the beer with and then say " good choice or brave choice or that is what I like, boundary pushing"...be a pompous git. Plus read up a bit on hops so you know what flavour they have

If you are dying to take a slash don't think you can try the last ten and then present the prize before going to the toilet, a judge with wet pants is considered a no no in both high society and a small country fair.

Oh and have fun

 

 

[Steve Gyldenvand]

Well, the judging went just fine. I sat on a panel with 3 other judges, including my close friend Gunnar who works at the nearby Rio Lobo taproom, and a certified beer judge who really taught me a lot. It took a few hours to judge 13 or 14 beers, most of which were fairly drinkable. There were a couple bad beers. In the "light" category there were only 2 entrants. The better of the 2 automatically got a blue ribbon, and we allowed a courtesy 4th place ribbon to the other, even though it was awful, with an aroma somewhat reminiscent of the paddock where our horses do horse things.

On the other hand, there were 3 strong ales, 1 American Strong and 2 Belgian Strong, in my favorite style category. We unanimously awarded 1 of the Belgians the Best of Show award. The other Belgian Strong had the second highest score of the show, but we selected another brew for the Reserve Best of Show. This one was an IPA brewed with spruce tips, and it was a delightful surprise for all of us. My bride was among the 20ish people gathered to observe the competition, and she said it was fun watching our reactions to this one; all wide eyes and smiles. Another observer was Gunnar's brother-in-law Zac, who has been getting involved in the brewing at Rio Lobo. As soon as Gunnar tasted the spruce, he called Zac over to try it, saying "you need to talk with the brewer of this and get started." I would love to have regular access to this beer! The spruce aroma and taste were amazingly well balanced. At first sip, you knew you had something pleasantly unusual, and further tasting just reinforced that impression. Imagine sipping a good IPA while walking through a stand of pines on a cool autumn day. I suspect it would be very easy to produce some unpleasant notes in this brew, but there were none evident. I'd like to say that I got to learn more details about the brewing process on this one, but with everything going on, I never had a chance. If I manage to get more info on it, I'll definitely post them here.

Overall, it was a great time. After the judging, several brewers brought up additional beers for us to sample. It also came as a surprise when samples were poured for anyone in the audience who wanted  to try it. There was another panel next to us judging wines, ciders and meads, so the audience was invited to taste all of those as well. The audience samples were smaller, of course, but my bride told me she sampled over 20 entrants all told. Still, we managed to drive the 4 miles home safely, where we had a couple of Bohemian Lagers that had just hit 2 weeks. To top off a wonderful day, while we were sipping on the deck, I got a text message asking if I'd be interested in judging again next year!

I believe I will.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Steve Gyldenvand
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[Rob Courtney]

On 28/08/2023 at 12:56 AM, Steve Gyldenvand said:

Well, the judging went just fine. I sat on a panel with 3 other judges, including my close friend Gunnar who works at the nearby Rio Lobo taproom, and a certified beer judge who really taught me a lot. It took a few hours to judge 13 or 14 beers, most of which were fairly drinkable. There were a couple bad beers. In the "light" category there were only 2 entrants. The better of the 2 automatically got a blue ribbon, and we allowed a courtesy 4th place ribbon to the other, even though it was awful, with an aroma somewhat reminiscent of the paddock where our horses do horse things.

On the other hand, there were 3 strong ales, 1 American Strong and 2 Belgian Strong, in my favorite style category. We unanimously awarded 1 of the Belgians the Best of Show award. The other Belgian Strong had the second highest score of the show, but we selected another brew for the Reserve Best of Show. This one was an IPA brewed with spruce tips, and it was a delightful surprise for all of us. My bride was among the 20ish people gathered to observe the competition, and she said it was fun watching our reactions to this one; all wide eyes and smiles. Another observer was Gunnar's brother-in-law Zac, who has been getting involved in the brewing at Rio Lobo. As soon as Gunnar tasted the spruce, he called Zac over to try it, saying "you need to talk with the brewer of this and get started." I would love to have regular access to this beer! The spruce aroma and taste were amazingly well balanced. At first sip, you knew you had something pleasantly unusual, and further tasting just reinforced that impression. Imagine sipping a good IPA while walking through a stand of pines on a cool autumn day. I suspect it would be very easy to produce some unpleasant notes in this brew, but there were none evident. I'd like to say that I got to learn more details about the brewing process on this one, but with everything going on, I never had a chance. If I manage to get more info on it, I'll definitely post them here.

Overall, it was a great time. After the judging, several brewers brought up additional beers for us to sample. It also came as a surprise when samples were poured for anyone in the audience who wanted  to try it. There was another panel next to us judging wines, ciders and meads, so the audience was invited to taste all of those as well. The audience samples were smaller, of course, but my bride told me she sampled over 20 entrants all told. Still, we managed to drive the 4 miles home safely, where we had a couple of Bohemian Lagers that had just hit 2 weeks. To top off a wonderful day, while we were sipping on the deck, I got a text message asking if I'd be interested in judging again next year!

I believe I will.

 

 

Did you act cool about it and wait at least 15 seconds before replying YES?

 

Appears like it was a really good day ( bit jealous if I am being honest) and the spruce beer sounds like a winner for sure

[Rob Courtney]

Guess a question though is when you were trying other peoples efforts, how did you feel your own brewing stacked up against it?

[Steve Gyldenvand]

3 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

Guess a question though is when you were trying other peoples efforts, how did you feel your own brewing stacked up against it?

I felt pretty good about my own efforts, Rob. Thankful that Brewart makes it so easy to succeed and so difficult to screw up. Also, it made me want to do a bit more experimenting.

[Rob Courtney]

2 hours ago, Steve Gyldenvand said:

I felt pretty good about my own efforts, Rob. Thankful that Brewart makes it so easy to succeed and so difficult to screw up. Also, it made me want to do a bit more experimenting.

I think that is the joy of the system that is Brewart, it has those basics in place to alwayts brew a great beer but if you want to experiment, you can. I've kinda gone through a 2 year patch of changing up hops or yeast etc to see what happens and now have just brewed a whole bunch of lagers stock standard to get a bearing again before experimenting. Nothing better than trying a beer at a brewery and asking what hops they used and then think "I'll try that with..."