Blended Beer. Cheating or not?

[Synovia]

Damn! What I do, going from grain to glass, is a small subset of what brewing entails. Thank-you giving me a better understanding of my place in brewing world. I have nothing to contribute here. I'll leave this thread to you and your superior knowledge of zymurgy.

You're a troll. You are clearly, deliberately, twisting what I'm saying in order to start a fight.


Yes, what you do is a small subset of all possible ways to brew, unless you're trying to insinuate that the way you brew is the only right way.

 

[ChrisKennedy]

I will tell you of one circumstance where I can foresee an absolute moratorium on blending. If you had a contest where all of the brewers brewed on a certain day or place, perhaps the same style or using the same ingredients and the beers were judged in an effort to see who brewed the best beer that day, in effect a Brewing Contest.

Like a Bake-off, only cooler.

Then I can see a prohibition on blending and perhaps strict guidelines on what can be done after that day.

Is there such a contest?

Look into Iron Brewer contests. They are a takeoff of Iron Chef. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, at Golden City Brewery in Golden, CO every year at the barleywine brew the head brewer gives out second runnings and holds a contest to see who can make the best beer with it. You can add 1# of fermentables and use whatever yeast you want.

 

[weremichael]

Not that anyone should give a crap about my editorial comment on the matter but I think the thread has been interesting and I've gained an appreciation for both sides of the debate. For a 200 post count, it's been generally civil and that's pretty rare when an actual debate ensues. Anyway, I think the two sides have run their course and I personally have nothing more to add. No hard feelings with anyone.

Screw you Brains!!


Or maybe just I agree this thread could have gone south really quick if people weren't respectful.

 

[gunhaver]

fascinating thread.

it never occurred to me before this thread that people actually blend two two average beers to create something good. all my experience with blending and beer is from breweries like Lost Abbey, Firestone Walker, Jolly Pumpkin, etc., who brew several different beers, put them in several different barrels, and then very craftily blend these all together to reach something they really like.

but regardless, i have no problem with blending at all, whether you're trying to "fix" something or just mix two amazing beers to create another amazing one. the ultimate goal for a competition is to see who made the best beer, so i don't care how ya got there. if you enter a fruit beer into the fruit beer category, and you won, but you used some sort of extract and everyone else used actual fruit, who cares? yours tasted better than everyone else's.

hell, i don't even care if you add commercial beer to yours and win. it's just like any other ingredient, and doesn't make it any easier to make something good.

 

[remilard]

Update, this thread got me more interested in blending for comps.

2/3 70/- and 1/3 RIS + cherry extract scored first for fruit beer (both base beers have scored well, the 70/- has placed and the RIS with chocolate extract placed in SHV). Entered as "Porter with Cherry"

25% american lager and 75% IIPA placed first for IPA in an apparently very competitive flight (I don't have scoresheets yet) where the unaltered IIPA did not place (though I know there were 4 40+ beers, so possibly it scored 40+). The american lager placed second.

So anyway, I made some good beers by blending (which I have done for a while, but these are the first ones I entered) but the base beers weren't bad, generally they were award winning in the styles intended, and I was making entirely different substyles.

 

[d3EP]

Beer + Beer = Beer

1. If you can't brew it to style in one attempt, blending is handicap (like in golf)
2. Making a good base beer and blending it can create a new better beer (creative)
3. Judging is somewhat subjective and the rules are objective, if blending is said to be against the rules it is unfair, since AFAIK its not, perhaps the person who is most consistent will eventually find a judge who prefers his or her brew. Blending to be consistent is just another technique and step. More steps can mean more possibility for a mistake.

Nice forum just wish people wouldn't get so upset over beer competitions, I always thought it was for fun. Being hoity-toity is one thing but being a sore loser can be just as bad. I guess I don't see the glory in awards, just making beer that doesn't suck is accomplishment enough for me.

 

[wonderbread23]

I've blended beers to create something that is better than the sum of the parts. I take different components, taste each individually, and then put them together in a manner that will achieve my goal. This is an art, possibly even more-so than making the base beer. These beers are components to the final piece. They are great on their own, but amazing when combined in the right portion. Crap in equals crap out. You're an idiot if you think that you'll somehow make a bad beer good by blending it out.