First Competition Results: Discouraged

[passedpawn]

I've just sent my brew off to my first competition.

BFBC? best florida beer championships?

 

[MrInternet]

ETA: I just got sheets back from the Upper Mississippi Mashout, which is a very big and very good comp. 14 score sheets, 3 are BJCP Grand Master or higher. Almost all of the flights had a National or higher judge on them. All of the score sheets, even the non-BJCP judge score sheets, were good or very good (in terms of helpful feedback and descriptions) which likely reflects the value of pairing the less experienced judges with more experienced judges.

I, too, just got my sheets back from the UMMO, and they were fantastic! Even the novice scoresheet you could tell had comments that were thoughtful and possibly even helped by his asking a more experienced judge how he should describe what he's trying to get across. VERY well done sheets, and really helpful. I entered a couple of bottles of EdWort's Apfelwein I had laying around on a lark, and it took the gold medal in Category 28 ... with only a combined score of 35 and in a pool of 14 total entries! Either people are making some crummy Specialty Ciders or the style archetypes are just spectacular...

 

[Jaymo]

Ha! I've also medaled with a 35 for EdWort's Apfelwein in decent sized competitions!

 

[Budzu]

I took the test with some clubbies, we studied (drunk) hard for a long time and ALL 4 passed, and I have judged a couple so far, entered many.

Honestly, anyone can judge. Without taking the BJCP test a judge should enter as "novice". If you take the test and fail it, you get an "apprentice" status which OFFICIALLY means you can judge.. but the fact is that sometimes people judge anyway. Its pretty much up to the organizer, who can make a judgement on the person's qualifications.

Most organizers will try to have non-BJCP judges paired with at least one experienced judge.

If you get alot of sheets without any judge info on them, you should write to the organizer or club and complain. Competitions should be run tighter than that. I mean you put alot of work into those beers.. seems lame.

 

[Lodovico]

I took the test with some clubbies, we studied (drunk) hard for a long time and ALL 4 passed, and I have judged a couple so far, entered many.

Honestly, anyone can judge. Without taking the BJCP test a judge should enter as "novice". If you take the test and fail it, you get an "apprentice" status which OFFICIALLY means you can judge.. but the fact is that sometimes people judge anyway. Its pretty much up to the organizer, who can make a judgement on the person's qualifications.

Most organizers will try to have non-BJCP judges paired with at least one experienced judge.

If you get alot of sheets without any judge info on them, you should write to the organizer or club and complain. Competitions should be run tighter than that. I mean you put alot of work into those beers.. seems lame.

Right. That is still the one point I'm sticking to here. Out of 5 judges, only 1 had any BJCP credentials. The rest had no boxes checked and no information.

But again, I do agree with some of the feedback the "novice" judges gave, so it was still useful but I expected a few more official judges.

 

[BlueSunshine]

I have to agree with some of the other posters, as long as you and your friends are enjoying your beer that's all that matters.

I mean, essentially these judges are the ultimate beer snobs and the majority of their opinions are based on how close your beer is to style.

 

[remilard]

I mean, essentially these judges are the ultimate beer snobs

I am assuming you:

A: Have not heard of beer advocate and
B: Have not met many beer judges

if you would make that claim.

There is something decidedly not snobby about giving a great light american lager a higher score than a pretty good RIS.

Also something decidedly not snobby about giving up a Saturday to fill out 20+ score sheets to help other brewers.

 

[passedpawn]

I am assuming you:

A: Have not heard of beer advocate and
B: Have not met many beer judges

if you would make that claim.

There is something decidedly not snobby about giving a great light american lager a higher score than a pretty good RIS.

Also something decidedly not snobby about giving up a Saturday to fill out 20+ score sheets to help other brewers.

Agree. I judge a lot (not BJCP... someday!) and do my very best. It is true that every beer is judged to the style guidelines, but that is the idea of course. Every single judge I know is a good person with good intentions, as well as a decent homebrewer.

 

[passedpawn]

Thought this was a good time to drop a quote from you, remilard. (from a homebrew vs. commercial debate).

Thinking your own beer is great is like not minding the smell of your own farts. Getting other people to purchase your beer is like having the general public not mind the smell of your farts.

I would contend that it is fairly challenging to get others to enjoy your farts.

Everyone on the internet benches 300, makes better beer than any commercial brewery, has well behaved children, etc. Making a salable product is a whole different ball game than convincing yourself that you make a product that would be salable.

 

[Lodovico]

Thinking your own beer is great is like not minding the smell of your own farts. Getting other people to purchase your beer is like having the general public not mind the smell of your farts.

I would contend that it is fairly challenging to get others to enjoy your farts.

Everyone on the internet benches 300, makes better beer than any commercial brewery, has well behaved children, etc. Making a salable product is a whole different ball game than convincing yourself that you make a product that would be salable.

Lol. This is hilarious.

 

[KYB]

My Extra Stout got an awesome score (43) from a BJCP certified judge, the other had a label but was not certified and gave me a 40, and the last guy just wrote in his name and checked nothing, he gave me a 35 and his comments were way off from the others. Sucks there's not more good certified judges. I feel like a lot of comps you may only get one certified.