Scoresheets

I entered a beer in a competition last weekend, and I got my scoresheets back yesterday. Overall about what I expected. Overwhelming comments from all 3 judges said it was over-hopped. Over-hopped for style, which was an English IPA. I know the specs of the recipe were within the guidelines for the style.

I'm not an advocate of the judging program--I think it is too subjective, but I definitely learned from the experience. I'll probably enter more beers that I am proud of just for the sake of learning how to improve them.

I'm no medal whore but I'd like to start narrowing down the amount of "dogs" that I seem to brew.

BTW, this was the first competition I've ever entered a beer in.

Dude said:

I know the specs of the recipe were within the guidelines for the style.

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Even being within spec, if your beer was a little hoppier than most that they were judging, their perception would be that yours was overhopped, even tho it wasn't.

Other than that, were you satisfied with the results? I keep thinking of submitting some stuff, but I'm afraid it would end up just hacking me off more than anything.

By the way...I need to send you a couple of Fat Tires done with the Belgian Ale yeast so you can tell me how they compare.

El Pistolero said:

Even being within spec, if your beer was a little hoppier than most that they were judging, their perception would be that yours was overhopped, even tho it wasn't.

Other than that, were you satisfied with the results? I keep thinking of submitting some stuff, but I'm afraid it would end up just hacking me off more than anything.

By the way...I need to send you a couple of Fat Tires done with the Belgian Ale yeast so you can tell me how they compare.

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Oh yeah--it was definitley what I expected. I was actually expecting lower marks than it got. I was very reluctant to enter the beer but I got peer pressured into it. Our HBS shop owner wanted our brew club represented a bit more.

Anyway, the beer was 6 months old. I knew going in it was going to be oxidized a little bit, and I also had a carbonation problem with some of them.
But before I entered it I tasted a few and deemed it "okay". Seriously the only negative remarks (from all 3 judges) were the over-hoppiness and 1 also mentioned the oxidation.

It definitely made me want to enter more. I got the first out of the way so I have the confidence now to enter somethign again down the road. I'm not going to enter every single thing I brew though.

I'll bet it's because your IBU's were in spec, but your aroma hops were more than what is expected in the English style.

Just guessing, because I know the recipe, and it should have had way more hop aroma than any English IPA I've had.

Sam75 said:

I'll bet it's because your IBU's were in spec, but your aroma hops were more than what is expected in the English style.

Just guessing, because I know the recipe, and it should have had way more hop aroma than any English IPA I've had.

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What bugs me about the whole thing is that an English IPA is heavily hopped, especially dry hops, to survive the long voyage to India and all that. So in my mind, it should have a strong hop aroma. You know?

Oh well, even with its flaws it finished 4th out of 12 English IPA entries, so the recipe is still on the right track.

Sure, but 3oz of Cascage goes a lot further for aroma than an equal amount of Goldings.

Enter it in the American IPA, and I bet (oxidation notwithstanding), your score will come up.

This is why I don't care about style labels. I understand why they exist but I don't attempt to brew to any of them. I make Mutt beers that I like. I don't believe a beer can be, from an objective standpoint, overhopped, but subjectively, compared to some judging norms, it can obviously happen.