My face when - Competition scoresheets.

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The_Bishop

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My face when...

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Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't place with 40+ point beers...
 
As someone new to organizing a comp, and seeing it first hand for the first time...

Judges score differently. Some are more lenient than others, some are very sensitive/offended by certain off flavors. Others don't have the depth of vocabulary or experience to pinpoint what exactly is going on that is detracting from the beer but they know something is unusual. Moreover, it also will depend on when the judge gets that beer. Was it after the acetic oxidized gusher that completely ruined their palate? If so they may have missed the prominent diacetyl that was present and mistaken it for caramel (this was a true story, it went to mini BOS)

For another example there was a beer that on paper was almost perfect. body, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel were all within guidelines although on the outside of the style in certain areas. But it was boring as hell, in a flavorful style, was muddled, and none of the flavors were where they should have been. It got a mid 30s score, and I'm absolutely positive this will be the exact reaction when they get the scoresheet.
 
Others don't have the depth of vocabulary or experience to pinpoint what exactly is going on that is detracting from the beer but they know something is unusual

This describes me to a T and is one of the main reasons I haven't judged much (got my BJCP beer/mead credentials over the last couple of years).


In fairness, judging isn't easy. It's easy to take the beer you made, knowing everything about it (ingredients, yeast, OG/FG, water manipulation, etc.) and tasting it (usually at it's peak freshness, without any unknown handling/storage variables) while reading the BJCP style guideline and assigning it a score. Ugly baby syndrome comes into play...

It's much different to do that "blind."

I have upmost respect for judges (BJCP and novices who want to learn/help), volunteers, comp organizers, stewards, etc....

But, I can still laugh about my braggot that scored 46 in the mazer cup and didn't make mini-bos. :)
 
But, I can still laugh about my braggot that scored 46 in the mazer cup and didn't make mini-bos. :)

Yeah that's a tough one. I was at a different comp last year where a 43 lost to a 36. The 36 was scored really low for what it was, and the 43 had some low technical flaws that should've kept it below 40s, but again different judges behave differently. Either way, to get >43 or so and not even make mini bos is disheartening. Probably just had some really great entries!
 
One of my beers scored a 44. All the comments were positive from all three judges (One grand master, one experienced and one pending) yet it didn't place. One was a 35, it went to mini BOS and got 3rd. I don't get it, lol. Only critique on my 35 pointer is that it needed more esters for an english beer; I get that. I tend to be conservative with ferment temperatures, figuring that I can always go higher on the next iteration.

As far as the ugly baby syndrome... Hey, nobody is harsher on my beers than I am. I figure that the best way to make better beer is to pick apart all it's flaws and go from there. Otherwise how can you learn anything?
 
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