A question for judges

[SoCal-Doug]

I'm looking at an upcoming competition. I've entered some before but this time I downloaded the forms and my brain went on a tangent for no reason at all, but i'm curious...

Do most competitions require you to document the entire recipe and process for a brew being judged? And WHY? If you enter a given category, isn't the sample being judged to that category, on flavor, aromas, true-to-style, color, off flavors and things like that? I could care less about sharing my recipes, but wouldn't the details being visible before judging have some risk of tainting the opinion good or bad?

Here is my comparison. I am a national theatrical judge. I watch Broadway musicals constantly and adnauseum. I always pick up a program because I must list the names for nominations and critiques. However, I NEVER open the program ahead of time as I don't want to see the names or their performance history before a show. In my notes, I list character names and look them up afterwards. Sometimes I will intentionally sit in the back as to not recognize anyone I may know from prior shows, thus tainting my opinion or comparing their prior performances to the current one. An example would be me thinking to myself "OMG, why is she in the roll that needs a soprano, her voice is lower than Darth Vaders". Or, "He's been in 50 shows according to the program, why did he suck so bad this time". Of course this doesn't always work, but I try to be unbiased and fair always.

Just curious.. Really no big thing but I was wondering.

 

[dmtaylor]

Do all competitions require you to document the entire recipe and process for a brew being judged?

No. About 95% of homebrew competitions do NOT require recipe to be submitted. The quality of the beer has far more to do with the skill of the brewer than it does the recipe.

 

[Yooper]

No, most competitions do NOT require a recipe or anything other than the style being entered, and if there are comments needed for the style (like in herb/spice/veg where you have to list the special ingredients).

 

[aprichman]

A recipe might be used by the organizers to evaluate if the beer meets style guidelines but as a judge I've never had access to the recipes.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Exactly what Yooper stated. Recipe is generally never required.

 

[C-Rider]

There is one competition here where you are asked to post recipe but not required to do so. I never list mine.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Update: I think I might understand now. Apparently the winner will have his or her recipe brewed to some number of barrels and on tap at some area pub.

I wonder if I go into that same brewery and ask for one of their recipes, they would give it to me. I'm guessing not. I wonder if the home brewer gets a cut of the profits on that batch. I'm guessing not. If it's a raging hit with the customer base, I wonder if they would stop brewing it. I'm guessing not.

Maybe I have the wrong attitude but I'll pass. It just doesn't sit right with me. I don't brew for notoriety. I brew to enjoy good beer and compare notes, learn more, teach when able, and exchange information and critiques with my peers in the hobby.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Update: I think I might understand now. Apparently the winner will have his or her recipe brewed to some number of barrels and on tap at some area pub.

I wonder if I go into that same brewery and ask for one of their recipes, they would give it to me. I'm guessing not. I wonder if the home brewer gets a cut of the profits on that batch. I'm guessing not. If it's a raging hit with the customer base, I wonder if they would stop brewing it. I'm guessing not.

Maybe I have the wrong attitude but I'll pass. It just doesn't sit right with me. I don't brew for notoriety. I brew to enjoy good beer and compare notes, learn more, teach when able, and exchange information and critiques with my peers in the hobby.

I would agree with wrong attitude, but it's not a big deal. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion. Most look at it much less pessimistically and more of it being an honor that your beer would be brewed professionally and on sale for people to actually buy. How cool is that. I would love to win something like this. But to each their own.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

That's totally cool and I understand and respect your opinion. I'm probably just an old fart that no longer gives a poop

 

[aprichman]

I've never been a big fan of "help brew your recipe with the local brewery" prizes either.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Well, guess i should give an update... The best of show winner brews (if he or she wants) his recipe at a sponsoring commercial brewery/pub (7 bbl batch), and that batch is entered into the upcoming GABF competition, as well as being on tap.

Conundrum... I won Best of Show with my Kolsch, out of 95 entries in 15 categories.

 

[eric19312]

Grats on the win. I’ve heard of similar comps where the brewery picks the winner of the pro-am prize from among the beers on the BOS table. The brewer has access to the recipes in order to weed out beers that won’t work on his system/brewery. Triple decoction, barrel aging, wild yeast etc.

 

[cmac62]

Well, guess i should give an update... The best of show winner brews (if he or she wants) his recipe at a sponsoring commercial brewery/pub (7 bbl batch), and that batch is entered into the upcoming GABF competition, as well as being on tap.

Conundrum... I won Best of Show with my Kolsch, out of 95 entries in 15 categories.

Congrats on the BOS. I hope you brew your beer and enter the GABF. I think that would be awesome. Kolsch is such an interesting beer to win BOS. It must be an outstanding example.

 

[JimRausch]

Congratulations Doug! I say go ahead and brew with the big boys. I've won two local competitions where the grand prize was brewing my beer with a local brewery. The experience in both cases was great! And you are looking at entering the GABF competition. That's HUGE. We may be reading about you in Zymurgy.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

I'm warming up to the idea. I'll probably do it. I'm still mostly interested in getting the score sheets. The two other entries i had (that i thought would do better) placed like 5th. One was a [very] classic Saison, which generally wont score well unless the judges in that category are extremely familiar with Belgians and specifically Saison's.

 

[Jtk78]

Congratulations on the best of show beer. I don't understand the needing to warm up to the idea of brewing it at a brewery, but I'm not in your shoes either. I hope you decide to do it though, as well as get entered in the GABF.