BJCP Exam in Halifax - Jan 31, 2015

[LeafMan66_67]

I can make a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday evening tasting session, just can't host. Do we have enough interest?

[amartin]

I don't like the idea of not doing anything, but I don't see any one night where we can get more than three or four people together. I think using the off flavor kit should probably be put off until after Christmas when we have more people.

Maybe for some practice we can print off score sheets and fill them out for the advent calendar beers, and start threads in the BJCP discussion where we can post them, and discuss what we tasted and why we scored the way we did. I don't know if it would be worth it trying to figure some of the specialty beers, but for anything straightforward it could be useful. Coming up, we have tonight's IPA (I'm assuming American), and Sandy's ESB on the 12th.

[LeafMan66_67]

Off flavour kit after Xmas sounds like a good plan as well as some online discussion of scoring sheets. Not all of us have the advent beers, but we can try others as well. I started filling in a sheet for each of the new beer I've had for practice.

[AngeSponge]

I'd be game for waiting until the New Year to meet for the off-flavour kit, too. I'll be travelling from Antigonish, so as long as there's enough notice (I'm sure there will be), I should be able to make childcare arrangements and be there. I don't have the advent beers but would be able to do some BJCP scoresheet a on other beers available to me.

-Angeline

[Jimmy]

I think I'm going to have to back out on this. I don't see myself having enough time in the new year to get this done

The good news is it frees up a spot for someone else!

[LeafMan66_67]

Unfortunately, based on work schedule, study for work related courses and home schedule, there's no realistic way I can make this happen. I have to back out, freeing up a spot for someone who has the time to do 'er right.

[chalmers]

Please be sure to tell Pinhey, guys.

[LeafMan66_67]

Please be sure to tell Pinhey, guys.

Will do.

[amartin]

Hey All,

I picked up the off flavour kit from Pinhey yesterday. I know most of us can't meet during the holidays, so I'm proposing January 7 or 8 evening for a meet up. Will this work for everyone? I'm willing to host if people don't mind the trek to Cole Harbour.

[mikeorr]

The 8th works for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CartoonCod]

I'll try to make it. I don't mind helping serving the beers so you can have blind tastings.

[AngeSponge]

I can try to make it. It's my little guy's 1st birthday that day, but we have no set plans yet.

[anewton]

Is there extra room at the off flavour tasting? I'm not writing the exam, but it will help for my cicerone studies.

[amartin]

Is there extra room at the off flavour tasting? I'm not writing the exam, but it will help for my cicerone studies.

I don't see why not, and it'd be good to have another experienced judge around. It's not a lot of us anyway, just us, Mike, Adam, Ange, and Rubbertoe said he might like to come along, just to learn some.

[amartin]

Ok, let's nail this down for Thursday the eighth. PM me for the address.

[CartoonCod]

Cool, I'll be there. I'm pretty sure I've got your address.

[amartin]

Does 8:00 work for everyone? I'd like to invite anyone who wants to come by earlier for a beer, but that seems like it might screw with our palettes. Maybe after if there's time.

[AngeSponge]

Works for me!

[amartin]

Oh yeah, allergy warning, I have cats. I'll try to clean up first.

[AngeSponge]

So how does it work for us tasters? Are we splitting the cost of the kit and beer used? Is it BYOB? Just wondering how much cash and/or beer to bring.

[mikeorr]

Yup, 8pm on the 8th works for me.

[CartoonCod]

It can be done however, but last year everybody brought in one or two beers representing typical examples outlined in the BJCP if possible. We also had a shared google document with a list of beers people were bringing so there were no repeats, since this is a smaller group it may not be necessary.

Here are some of the things we will need.
- small plastic cups (enough for one per beer per person so we can have more than one sample at a time for comparison)
- bread or soda crackers for pallet cleansers
- mechanical pencils and score sheets
- beer, probably one per style will be enough based on the number of attendees

We should make a decision on what categories you want to tackle, and what styles of beer would benefit most from spiking. Last year I'm pretty sure Coors light was used for spiking the samples so we would need a few cans of that if it is used again this year.

Is Jeff Pinhey able to make it?

[amartin]

I have some blonde ale at home already that we could use for spiking if necessary, and probably some plastic cups and crackers. I'm not sure on the pencils.

Adam - how much do you think we can cover in one night? I was only planning on doing the spiked beers, but if you think we can cover more than that, I'm up for it. As for the styles, if we're trying to cram a bunch in, maybe we're better off avoiding stronger beers.

[mikeorr]

I have 10 cans of Bud Light leftover that were intended for the in-laws over the holidays - I wasn't planning on drinking them, so I can provide them for spiking samples.

[amartin]

Thanks Mike, but I'm not sure if we can or should be using Bud Light. It already has acetaldehyde, one of the defects we'll be covering, but I don't know how strong it is, probably less than the exaggerated defects we'll be tasting.

Thoughts from the current judges?