Author: Ken Carman

The Topic: Aroma Points in Judging

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

 Isn’t 12 points for aroma in judging beer a bit too much?
  The scene: pre-judging at Rebel Brewing for The Music City Brew Off. I have noticed this many times before: the beer I am judging has almost no aroma, but on first sip the mouthfeel, the flavor… wow! Or, yack! Or “in style.” Or: not. Almost always between all the aforementioned.
  I understand that aroma has a lot to do with the experience of drinking beer, affects everything when it comes to beer, even flavor profile. Absolutely. But it doesn’t have to. And I must ask: if aroma is pretty much absent but everything else is spot on, should aroma really be worth 12 points? Really? Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

There were 312 entries and 155 registered participants, judges, and stewards.

1st Karl Weiss Kolsch 6C: Kolsch Morris Area Society of Homebrewers (MASH)
2nd Julie Belles Sugar Shack Brown 23A: Specialty Beer none
3rd Julie Belles Green Pond Pale Ale 10A: American Pale Ale none

Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews
Saratoga Thoroughbrews
Held at: The Pump House, Albany, NY

  “Clear!”
 ”Clear!”
  Restarting a heart may not have as many problems as restarting a competition. Once restarted a heart usually finds its rhythm. Done all the time in operations. Yet restarting a competition can be problematic. Luckily, unlike starting a heart that hasn’t been beating for almost two years, restarting a competition isn’t impossible. It just will have some problems, that’s all. I found this out when I submitted to a competition in Michigan earlier in 2013: web site not operating properly, instructions unclear…little of that at Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews, because the competition master was back in charge.
  We judged Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews about 4 or 5 years ago. Then, according to Greg Mobley: organizer extraordinaire, he bowed out and unfortunately the ball was dropped in 2012.
  No organizer should have to organize forever,so I understand.
  But this year it was.. on! And, as expected, there were a few bleeps and bloops, but due to an experienced organizer the show did go on.

  The day: Saturday, November the 9th. We were supposed to start at about 9 but there was a bad computer glitch according to our steward: Data had been corrupted. I think it was Riker who had started feeding him barleywine and the electronics went hickity Betty Boop-ity-bop…

  Yes, I’m joking, but Greg and staff should have been “in a panic.” Interesting: I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen Greg panic. He seems to keep a cool head. Having helped run a few competitions that can be a big problem when glitches keep beating at your door. “Glitches” tend to be a frequent “bugaboo” of competitions, or also could be described as… well let’s just say it rhymes with both “glitches” and “Mitch is.”
Sign in, check out, prizes and main pull out hair out station due to computer glitches[/caption]
 And, uh, Mitch Miller says ah one, ah two: back to the competition…
Continue reading “A Beer Judge’s Diary: KBOTB”

Against the Grain
401 East Main St. Louisville, KY
Lousville, KY
(502)515-0174

 

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

  I have wanted to try Against the Grain for quite a while, when I first read that the owner and brewer wanted to start a brewery that pushes styles into new territory.
 For some reason I thought they were on the south side of Louisville, maybe off of Newburg Road. Wrong! Against seems right at home in downtown Louisville, part of a rather “bat-ty” ball park called Louisville Slugger Field. Being from the home of Adirondack bats: where the wood used to pass through the gate my grandparents watched over, I was immediately offended.
 Yeah, I’m kidding, but why skip a chance to give a plug for my old hometown, right?
  I knew I had been here before. Something looked familiar. This was Browning’s Brewery’s old location… sort of. Been a while and something has changed, but don’t remember quite what, other than the obvious: a different brewery.
  Be aware that, as of right now, the GPS lady will try to take you down a street that’s under construction, but you can pull through the parking lot on the street just south of Main, and it does feed onto Main. It’s a little convoluted, but should get you there. Make sure you feed the meter. A guy pulled up after I came and the tow truck was there almost immediately. The not so obvious entrance is on the east side. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

The Topics: Consensus Judging and Online Exams vs. Legacy

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Salt City and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

 In a previous edition of Brew Biz I discussed a different way to score as judges. This edition I would like to discuss two possible changes in judging and how to rank judges…
  I have been considering a comment I made about how the brewer who enters his or her beer often doesn’t understand how a consensus score was arrived at. Maybe one judge’s score sheet has comments that totally conflict with the other score sheet. As we all know judges have different palates, different talents and perceptions. But in the end we not only have to be at least 7 points from each other, but through that process and score adjustment, come up with a consensus score. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

 Sitting in a back room, near the back porch: I could hear birds outside the closed glass door… and even hear them on the recording device I used when I reviewed our conversation days later. This is truly Tennessee countryside.
 The Liz and Phil Snyder estate in White House, Tennessee, gently slopes down to a small creek, then back up to the hill where the hop garden is. I find it odd how you look at grass, a stream, a hop garden, grapes vines: and they seem as if they’re just natural; been there for a long, long time. That’s how I feel about Phil Snyder as a member of Music City Brewers. Phil and the club just seemed to fit together.
 But Phil’s story is more interesting than that. Born in Defiance, Ohio, Phil’s family quickly moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, “when I was just a little tyke,” where his father had taken a job.
 He started with wine and made his first batch in 1969. At a wine convention in DC; about 1980, Phil was staying at a friend’s house who had a fridge full of beer and a six pack of Anchor Steam.
 “I tasted that and I knew I had to start brewing.”
 His first batch was about 1979 or 1980, just after home brewing was made legal.
 “We had a big wine club up in Fort Wayne and I was president of that several

times. Just on the side some of them were making beer. It wasn’t as popular back then: you couldn’t get any supplies; you had to get Blue Ribbon extract from the grocery store and Red Star Baker’s Yeast. I don’t remember what we used for hops. There were no homebrew shops or places to order supplies.” Continue reading “Brewer’s Profile: Phil Snyder”

The Topic: Styles of scoring and judging beer

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Salt City and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 10 years.

 There are various versions of judging beer, like bottom up or top down: one where the judge decides what score the beer probably should be then adjusts as he or she scores, or scores the beer and then adjusts the score to what they think is closer to what it should be. Then you always have adjusting because two, or more, judges differ and their score is too far apart.
  Then you have one of the oddest I’ve ever encountered. I understand judging in silence and then discussing after we’ve each come to a score, but one judge claimed the correct way to do it is to judge all the beers in a flight and then go back and adjust.
  I simply can’t support that. If the head of the table insisted, well of course I would do it.
  There is another method I have used that most judges probably frown upon, but I think can work quite well. The BJCP doesn’t seem all that fond of it either. But in certain circumstances: with certain judges, I think it works amazingly well. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with… The Bottle Collection.

  I know a tad about this one. Suwanee River Ale was probably brewed for Spirit of Suwanee Campground in Live Oak, Florida. There was a small contract brewer in the south who brewed the beer. To be honest I think they had two different venders over the years, so I’m not sure which one. The whole thing was put together by Micro Masters, a company out of Pensacola.
 The bottle itself was pulled from the collection to take a picture of it, but now it’s… well, somewhere in this vast collection. When I find it I’ll return and post the picture.
  I got the bottle at Micro Masters when my friend Steve Fried, who was the founding brewer at McGuires, and brewmaster there for many years, gave me the bottle.
  To be honest a very bland ale: not much to talk about. Kind of a little darker than Bud: but not by much. They basically brewed one beer and slapped different labels on the bottles.
  Micro Masters had many clients but, according to my information, went out of business due to mismanagement. And I seriously doubt many missed the beer.