How much detail in BJCP 16 E notes?

What level of detail would judges expect for 16E entry notes? Should it be short and sweet, or provide a lot of detail, or somewhere in between?

the more you say the more the judges will be looking for, but there needs to be at least enough detail to understand why its its in specialty. definitely don't write a story, i hate when ppl do that. whats the beer?

From the BJCP guidelines for 16E:

The judges must understand the brewer’s intent in order to properly judge an entry in this category. THE BREWER MUST SPECIFY EITHER THE BEER BEING CLONED, THE NEW STYLE BEING PRODUCED OR THE SPECIAL INGREDIENTS OR PROCESSES USED. Additional background information on the style and/or beer may be provided to judges to assist in the judging, including style parameters or detailed descriptions of the beer. Beers fitting other Belgian categories should not be entered in this category.

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So the judges need enough information to determine what you're trying to accomplish. It is that which your beer is judged against. You don't need to explain how you went about it, just what you're aiming for. Judging this category (well, any of the specialty categories) when it isn't clear what we're judging for is difficult and you won't score well. If the style is relatively well-defined like "Belgian IPA", then that is all the information you need to provide. If it is something more obscure, say something you invented yourself, then you'll need to explain what you think defines the style.

Basically, it boils down to telling them enough information about your goal for them to determine how well you accomplished it.

All good responses. The only thing I would add would be to list the ingredients in order of intensity. For example:

A sour Belgian-style brown ale that was aged on medium toast American oak for 1.75 years, with 30lbs per barrel of sweet and sour cherries from Michigan and Cab Sav from California wine country.

I'd say "Sour Belgian brown with cherries, oak and red wine." List the base beer first, then the specialty ingredients in order from most intense to least intense.


If you tell us a little about the beer, I'd be happy to help you write a description.

cadillacandy said:

All good responses. The only thing I would add would be to list the ingredients in order of intensity. For example:

A sour Belgian-style brown ale that was aged on medium toast American oak for 1.75 years, with 30lbs per barrel of sweet and sour cherries from Michigan and Cab Sav from California wine country.

I'd say "Sour Belgian brown with cherries, oak and red wine." List the base beer first, then the specialty ingredients in order from most intense to least intense.


If you tell us a little about the beer, I'd be happy to help you write a description.

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It's a dark strong Belgian type ale with 20% rye malt, homemade candy sugar with tangerine zest and juice used for bottle conditioning.

bethebrew said:

It's a dark strong Belgian type ale with 20% rye malt, homemade candy sugar with tangerine zest and juice used for bottle conditioning.

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Is the tangerine more dominant than the rye?

I'd say something like "Belgian dark strong with tangerine and malted rye." Or "Rye based Belgian dark strong with tangerines."

Candi sugar is already a pretty common ingredient, so I'd ignore that one. Unless something about it makes it significantly different than commercially available.

I'm thinking of entering my Belgian Dark Saison w/ Brett B into competition just to see how it stacks up.

statseeker said:

I'm thinking of entering my Belgian Dark Saison w/ Brett B into competition just to see how it stacks up.

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A lot of these specialty beers can be pretty subjective, so in order to really gauge "how it stacks up" you'll probably have to enter it several places and get multiple sets of score sheets back, then find the common factors.

Also, since these specialty categories usually have tons of entries and vary so widely with the beer styles, you might be up against beers that are much more intense, which could cause your beer to get pushed down.

It's unfortunate, but it's just kind of the way that it works. Don't let me turn you off from entering, I just wanted to prepare you in case you entered it in just 1 competition and it was up against 35 different beers and the judges really like sour beers or something...

Thing is, I want to enter them into local competitions like the state fair and beer festivals here. I mean, I'm in beervana and brewvana here, any attempt to enter anything, the competition will be stiff. Always. So it wont matter which competitions or how many, it will be varied. Just one will at least give me some notes.

cadillacandy said:

Is the tangerine more dominant than the rye?

I'd say something like "Belgian dark strong with tangerine and malted rye." Or "Rye based Belgian dark strong with tangerines."

Candi sugar is already a pretty common ingredient, so I'd ignore that one. Unless something about it makes it significantly different than commercially available.

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It's also more hoppy with some Cascade hops along with Mt. Hood and Willamette and Tettnanger from the garden than a typical Belgian dark strong. Probably not IPA strong however. But out of style per se.

The tangerine is just the zest and juice from one in a 4 gallon batch. So I wouldn't say it's dominant. But want to mention it in case there is a pulp floater...

I've never entered beers into competition before and am trying to glean what info I can off of old threads about 16E.
When judging is it general practice for judges to divide their rounds?
I.e. 2-3 judges (however many there may be overall divided) take lighter srm beers,another group takes copper/amber beers and another group take darker styles,or something close to this ?
I know in national or international competition (GABF,WBC) judges will split tables for different categories or sub styles,wondering if this is common in homebrew competition as well.

TWAL said:

I've never entered beers into competition before and am trying to glean what info I can off of old threads about 16E.
When judging is it general practice for judges to divide their rounds?
I.e. 2-3 judges (however many there may be overall divided) take lighter srm beers,another group takes copper/amber beers and another group take darker styles,or something close to this ?
I know in national or international competition (GABF,WBC) judges will split tables for different categories or sub styles,wondering if this is common in homebrew competition as well.

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no, it won't be split up by SRM, at least it shouldnt be. If there are multiple flights, all the sub-categories are typically split fairly evenly among the judging groups. Theres been an influx of queued judging, which means the whole group works from 16A to 16E, just taking the next beer in line as they go. Or did you mean just within 16E? if so, it kinda goes by the groups discretion, typically from mild to intense