My 1st Judged Beer scores 41(!), 42(!), & 27(?)

[ghpeel]

So the first beer I've made that didn't suck enough for me to be proud of just got its scores back from the Tampa Suncoast Animal League Homebrew Comp. with scores of 41, 42 & 27 (for an English IPA 14-A). I'm a proud papa for sure!

This site has been nothing but awesome and I've gotten a ton of advice and such here. I prob wouldn't even have beer good enough to give to my friends without this place.

The one judge that gave me a 27 said my beer had some "abstringency" (sp), which annoys me because the other two judges said nothing about that and said the beer was "well balanced and well crafted".

This is my first competition, and I was wondering if this kind of variation in scores for the same beer is normal?

My biggest gripe about this is that the 2 judges that gave me the 41 & 42 had listed their Judge BJCP ID numbers on my score sheet, while the guy that gave me the 27 was just listed as a "professional brewer" without a Judge BJCP ID. OK maybe that's just sour grapes from me, but I certainly would be happier if all 3 scores were similar.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

You'll get a lot of this kind of thing when entering contests. You have to remember, everyone has different taste buds and some people can pick up slight off-notes. Even if he was wrong, you should still look at this as a success. 41 and 42 are pretty good scores. I'd go with the majority and concider it a great beer.

 

[ChshreCat]

It's because one of the three judges is required to be sobor.

I kid! I kid!

 

[Edcculus]

You'll get a lot of this kind of thing when entering contests. You have to remember, everyone has different taste buds and some people can pick up slight off-notes. Even if he was wrong, you should still look at this as a success. 41 and 42 are pretty good scores. I'd go with the majority and concider it a great beer.

I'm just starting to study for the BJCP exam, so I might not be correct about this. I thought that all of the judges scores had to agree within something like 5 points. Or is that just for a beer in a single flight? If I were you, I'd trust the BJCP judges and not the pro brewer. People have to go through a lot of studying, and tasting to become a BJCP judge. If you have a panel of good judges, you SHOULD get consistent scores.

Also, the scoresheet is set up so that you are supposed to judge according to style, not how much you like it. There are only 10 points designated for "overall impression". If you are judging cagetory 14, and don't like IPAs, you can't just ding everyone for having beer that is too hoppy.

 

[chefchris]

It's weird that they only listed the 1st place for every category on their. Those are awesome scores. Did you place 2nd or 3rd in anything or get a ribbon?

 

[ghpeel]

Nope. Not a thing. I don't really have a frame of reference for the scores, and I didn't see anybody else's scores on the site. I'm pretty sure I'll frame the 41/42 scoresheets (and trash the 27 one )

The guy that won the IPA category had won another category and even had the Best of Show too.

Chris, this beer was the English IPA that I brought to your house like 3 weeks ago. Unless another bottle is hiding in my closet, I'm pretty sure the last one was drank last Thursday (had 1 there too) Correction: Found a few more bottles tonight.

Perhaps it was something wrong with that particular bottle. The 27 score was just with the official "astringency" flaw, but I'm pretty sure the other judges would've found that if it were in the other 2 bottles.