All About Ales

[GuingesRock]

I got mine today also. Sending certificates is a nice touch.

[mcgster]

Mark - if you don't mind me asking what score did you get for the winning beer?

Mine was 38, 38, 32 (odd the difference here)

I had submitted a northern english brown and scored 36, 32, 30 which is more variance than i'm used to seeing in scoring. I was pretty happy with the result for the recipe as it was my first time.

[GuingesRock]

Sure Mark,

That was my Working Man advent beer ...41 (certified judge), 38 (recognized judge) and 35 (rank pending judge). I also submitted it as a speciality beer (because of the jasmine) and in that class it got 38, 35, 42 and 35.

These competitions are more confused about my wheat beer than I am. In New York State they thought it was crap, Big spruce didn’t place (granted it was a new “improved batch”). This competition loved it and gave it one of the two silver medals this beer has. To quote a certified judge who gave it 43 points “One of the nicest examples of this style I have ever judged. Well Done! Easy drinking yet aromatic and flavourful” One of the judges emailed me even and asked me how to make it LOL. That judge BTW is in the top three of the brewer of the year this year and in his email he said it narrowly missed gold. Is it crap or is it OK? …depends who’s judging I suppose.

[GasMD30]

If I didn't say it before.... Congrats!

[mcgster]

Sure Mark,

That was my Working Man advent beer ...41 (certified judge), 38 (recognized judge) and 35 (rank pending judge). I also submitted it as a speciality beer (because of the jasmine) and in that class it got 38, 35, 42 and 35.

These competitions are more confused about my wheat beer than I am. In New York State they thought it was crap, Big spruce didn’t place (granted it was a new “improved batch”). This competition loved it and gave it one of the two silver medals this beer has. To quote a certified judge who gave it 43 points “One of the nicest examples of this style I have ever judged. Well Done! Easy drinking yet aromatic and flavourful” One of the judges emailed me even and asked me how to make it LOL. That judge BTW is in the top three of the brewer of the year this year and in his email he said it narrowly missed gold. Is it crap or is it OK? …depends who’s judging I suppose.

Awesome scores for sure! It really makes you scratch your head when you have conflicting comments from the judges like that. At the end of the day what really matters is your opinion i suppose. I find comments from the judges on ester acceptability sometimes miss the mark and at the same competition (this one included) one judge will note esters as being off and another judge will put esters are appropriate for the style.

[akr71]

...These competitions are more confused about my wheat beer than I am... That judge BTW is in the top three of the brewer of the year this year and in his email he said it narrowly missed gold. Is it crap or is it OK? …depends who’s judging I suppose.

I'm not a judge, nor do I think I would make a good one, but it does seem to me that judging can be very subjective. One thing to keep in mind is that you have absolutely no control over shipping and storage once it gets there. The very first competition I entered was one in New England - I sent a Scottish Ale that I was pretty proud of and the score sheets were shite. Of of the judges did say that he thought there may have been an issue with the shipping as he noticed yeast residue on the cap. I don't see that happening unless the package was on its side or upside down.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Yup, all that a judge can do is judge that beer on that day. Any number of things can change it, and regardless it will always be compared to whatever other beer have been entered in that style.