Beer Judging Rant

[FlyGuy]

...For this comp the score sheets I received were all pretty terrible - ineligible scribbling and two word sentences that tell me nothing about what I could do to improve. That's 18 bucks wasted.

I would contact the competition organizer and ask for your entry fee back. Even if they say no, you will send a strong message to them.

And if you don't get an acceptable response from the competition directory, you are always entitled to file a complaint with the BJCP ([email protected]). They do take such things seriously, especially if you provide them with a copy of the poorly completed scoresheets. At one point, they used to send comments to the judge in question, but I don't know if that is still the current practice.

 

[Glasfeena]

A) Most judges will score an out of style, hoppy beer better than an in-style malty beer.

This is good to know. Last week, I got the score sheets from my first ever competition. My entries scored decently at best. The one beer I was most proud of, a partial mash variant of Orfy's Hobgoblin clone didn't do so well, even though everyone who tried it said it was amazing. It was a bit higher alcohol content and I entered it into the "Old Ale" category. I lost a bunch of points in the "Aroma" section because a particular judge said "sweet and malty, but no hop aromas." According to the BJCP style guidelines, in Old Ales “Hop aromas not usually present.” Am I missing something? I scored 4/12 points in Aromas from that particular judge.

The experienced judges gave much more constructive feedback than the amateurs on my score sheets, but scores were generally within a few points of each other. The coolest part was that Randy Mosher judged one of my beers and gave very constructive criticism.

 

[smizak]

The coolest part was that Randy Mosher judged one of my beers and gave very constructive criticism.

That is awesome.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

A) Most judges will score an out of style, hoppy beer better than an in-style malty beer.

That was the biggest ding on my recent Oktoberfest that scored low (26) but the judges were raving about. Too hoppy. Then they said that my Oktoberfest should have been entered as a Dusseldorf or Northern German Alt. If I had known that that was what an Alt was 'supposed' to taste like I would have been making them a LOT more often (actually...at all). So I did learn something which was the whole idea.

 

[jkarp]

You gotta take competitions with a BIG grain of salt. I still get gasps and chuckles when I tell friends my raspberry cider only scored a 17 at the state fair this year. It's by far and away the thing my friends most ask me to brew for them.

Even though I clearly marked the entry as petillant and sweet and put in the description that there was only a hint of raspberry by design, they clobbered it. All judges were BJCP certified and I got comments like "under carbonated", "under attenuated" and "no fruit - entered in wrong category". I just laughed it off as BJCP or not, they clearly didn't know how to judge cider and most likely, mine was judged at the end of the flight when their taste buds were blown.

Competitions can be fun but don't expect too much from them - even usable feedback at times.

 

[McKBrew]

I wish I could judge all of your beers. Send them my way.