Question on Judging Standards

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SteveM

SteveM

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I hope someone can help me - I am thinking about entering the Sam Adams home brew contest. I have never entered any brewing contests, so I know that realistically I have only the slimmest of chances for anything but a polite "thank you." However, I have acquired a small expertise in making fruit beers and I am thinking of entering a Raspberry Ale I made. This brings me to my question - it is about identifying my submission. The brewing guidelines say the following about fruit beers:

THE ENTRANT MUST SPECIFY THE UNDERLYING BEER STYLE AS WELL AS THE TYPE OF FRUIT(S) USED. IF THIS BEER IS BASED ON A CLASSIC STYLE (E.G., BLONDE ALE) THEN THE SPECIFIC STYLE MUST BE SPECIFIED. CLASSIC STYLES DO NOT HAVE TO BE CITED (E.G., "PORTER" OR "WHEAT ALE" IS ACCEPTABLE). THE TYPE OF FRUIT(S) MUST ALWAYS BE SPECIFIED.
Click to expand...
Among categories 1 - 23 (these are the ones that Sam Adams has specified), there is no specific guideline listed for a blond ale (the example given above). This leads me to believe that it would be sufficient to simply label my beer as "Steve's Raspberry Ale" and still be in compliance with this section. Does anyone know if this this correct? Or would I need to be more specific about identifying it as a blond ale or some such identifier? The guideline seems to be slightly ambiguous and I would be disappointed to be knocked out on a technicality.

Any thoughts, or better yet, actual knowledge based on experience, would be appreciated.
 
SteveM said:
I hope someone can help me - I am thinking about entering the Sam Adams home brew contest. I have never entered any brewing contests, so I know that realistically I have only the slimmest of chances for anything but a polite "thank you." However, I have acquired a small expertise in making fruit beers and I am thinking of entering a Raspberry Ale I made. This brings me to my question - it is about identifying my submission. The brewing guidelines say the following about fruit beers:


Among categories 1 - 23 (these are the ones that Sam Adams has specified), there is no specific guideline listed for a blond ale (the example given above). This leads me to believe that it would be sufficient to simply label my beer as "Steve's Raspberry Ale" and still be in compliance with this section. Does anyone know if this this correct? Or would I need to be more specific about identifying it as a blond ale or some such identifier? The guideline seems to be slightly ambiguous and I would be disappointed to be knocked out on a technicality.

Any thoughts, or better yet, actual knowledge based on experience, would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Is it me, or does that statement contradict itself?

Anyway, I think I'd just err on the side of caution and list the substyle. Seems like too much info than necessary would be better than too little.
 
Unless you direct the question to the people running the contest, it's just speculation.
 
Already sent the question to them as well, but I was hoping for some folks with experience here to have some ideas as well.
 
I'm not exactly sure what they are looking for but a blonde ale falls under category 6 - Light hybrid Beer. Specifically, its catgory 6 sub B. Or just 6B
 
It's been quite a few years since SA did this and who knows if the same people are doing the judging? I could tell you Widmer's Collaborator policy, but what value would that have? Beer judges tend to be very picky, I've had one rag on an IPA because it was too dark. No comment on hop profile, malt, etc. just wrong color!
 

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