When a great beer doesn't place in a competition....

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Is it actually a great beer?

I have a batch of English Old Ale that I thought was by far my best beer to date. It was just phenomenal to my taste, and if I could have bought it in a bar I would have blown an entire paycheck on it. Roommates and friends thought the same.

Entered into a competition and didn't even place. Haven't seen scoresheets yet so I don't know what the specifics were, but it's making me second guess if this one is worth re-brewing for the NHC.

It was on the same table as barleywines, so part of me wonders if a 7.5% ABV Old Ale (no matter how delicious, or true to style it actually is) just seemed bland compared to 12% ABV barleywines.

I'm sure this, or something like this, has been said already, but here it goes anyways. IMO, beer competitions are a lot like dog shows. You may have a great dog; he/she is smart, obedient, and knows how to do a trick or two. However, when a judge eyes up your pooch, he /she may not think your dog stands out as an exceptional in its breed. It doesn't mean that your dog is a bad dog, it just means that Fido isn't what the judge thought of as the best example of a beagle, or spaniel, or whatever.

I'm sure your beer was damn tasty, just reading your post made me miss being in England. I hope you get good tasting notes though.
 
Its kind of idle speculation without the scoresheets to understand why the scores are whatever they are (and it sounds like we don't even know what the scores were!). This is part of why it must be hard to enter competition brewing if you're competitive and why I just can't do it.
 
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