Just thought I would vent on my favorite forum. Entered my first competition and just got the results. Pretty bummed. I thought I was making some pretty good beer but perhaps not. I entered:
English IPA: Scored a 27
Got crushed on aroma scores but I still feel like it is to style. It's not supposed to be as crazy hopped as an American style but, oh well. I guess I need to go crazy with aroma for future competition brews.
Sweet Stout: Scored a 24
This one I just don't get. Kept getting nailed for "not sweet enough". Two judges commented said I should have used lactose. I used 1.25 pounds of lactose. It is obvious when you taste the beer that there is lactose in the brew.
I'm not trying to be sour about it, but it seems that it should be obvious that there is a good amount of lactose in this one.
This brings up a question as well for those that have competition experience:
I was under the impression that entering a BJCP sanctioned competition meant getting my beer evaluated by BJCP certified judges?
Is this not the case?
Only 1 of the 5 feedback forms I received have a BJCP judge number and the rest didn't check any of the boxes or judging info. They just skipped it.
So I don't even know the qualifications of who is giving this feedback.
Is this normal?
I'm sure I'll get fired up and just strive to improve my beers, I'm just a little bummed and discouraged because I put a lot of time, effort, and research into my beers and I feel like I pay a lot of attention to detail on brew day.
Thoughts?
English IPA: Scored a 27
Got crushed on aroma scores but I still feel like it is to style. It's not supposed to be as crazy hopped as an American style but, oh well. I guess I need to go crazy with aroma for future competition brews.
Sweet Stout: Scored a 24
This one I just don't get. Kept getting nailed for "not sweet enough". Two judges commented said I should have used lactose. I used 1.25 pounds of lactose. It is obvious when you taste the beer that there is lactose in the brew.
I'm not trying to be sour about it, but it seems that it should be obvious that there is a good amount of lactose in this one.
This brings up a question as well for those that have competition experience:
I was under the impression that entering a BJCP sanctioned competition meant getting my beer evaluated by BJCP certified judges?
Is this not the case?
Only 1 of the 5 feedback forms I received have a BJCP judge number and the rest didn't check any of the boxes or judging info. They just skipped it.
So I don't even know the qualifications of who is giving this feedback.
Is this normal?
I'm sure I'll get fired up and just strive to improve my beers, I'm just a little bummed and discouraged because I put a lot of time, effort, and research into my beers and I feel like I pay a lot of attention to detail on brew day.
Thoughts?