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Homebrew Competitions: Decoding Your Judging Scoresheet

Homebrew Competitions: Decoding Your Judging Scoresheet Primary

In “Facing (Beer) Judgment” last week, we looked at three things to remember when you consider entering your beer in a homebrew competition. Let’s say that you have entered a beer in the competition and you have the results. Whether your beer brought home a medal or not, you’ve received valuable feedback that can have a major impact on the quality of your future batches. You should have a cover sheet and at least two score sheets for each beer you entered. You already know whether your beer won, but looking at your paperwork will indicate why it did—or didn’t—do well.

Start by looking at the cover sheet. There’s a lot of explanatory text here, but the interesting bit is in the box in the middle. Your final assigned score stands out, but more importantly, you can see where in the flight your beer was judged (Ordinal Position in Flight: ____ of ____). This information can be useful when you’re reading the score sheets because it can affect how your beer was perceived. For example, bigger beers tend to do better late in the flight because of palate fatigue. Crowd skewing can also be a factor; a set of milder or stronger beers before yours can impact a judge’s sensitivity.

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Epicurean Unbound: Five Ways to Expand Your Tasting Horizons

Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard

If you’re a fan of the late, great Tom Magliozzi and his brother Ray, better known as “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers” on NPR’s Car Talk, you know about “Stump the Chumps.” One way to introduce an extra element of intrigue into your tastings is to play the craft beer version of “Stump the Chump.”IMG_4694 All you need to do is ask each of your friends to find a beer that’s easily confused with another beer style –– or a style that you and your friends might not drink much of. We’ve already touched on the influence that labels can have, but without any initial cues beyond the colour of the beer, you’ll be surprised how hard it is to guess a style “blind.” Is it a porter or a stout? A Tripel or a Belgian golden strong ale? A British ESB or a strong ale? A Scotch ale? A Doppelbock? Bonus points if you can guess the brewery.

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IF YOU ARE A FAN OF IPA, SCIENCE SAYS YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO BE PSYCHOTIC

psycho-inside

The professor has his doubts, for sure-PGA

If you’re a big fan of bitter drinks, such as IPAs, Negronis, Boulevardiers and the like, scientists at the University of Innsbruck in Austria have uncovered that you’re also more likely to exhibit malevolent personality traits. The same is true if you crave black coffee or tonic water. Basically, you’re a psycho.

To come to their conclusion, scientists surveyed 1,000 participants and asked them to rank a variety of foods on a six-point preference scale. Once the foods were ranked, respondents were also asked to complete a personality questionnaire. The results were then scrubbed against each other to determine the results.

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The ugliest feud in the beer industry just reached a new boiling point

The_ugliest_feud_in_the-fabd3e0336784d63a6322317f75fdf2dCraft beer’s beef with big beer is no secret.
The rivalry between a major craft brewer and the largest spirits maker in the world show just how deep the animosity goes.

In one corner is Guinness, an iconic 257-year-old brand, backed by its parent company Diageo, the spirits market leader that also owns Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, and Baileys.

In the other corner we have BrewDog, an independent Scottish brewer founded in 2007 that has revenue of more than $48 million.

The craft brewer has called Diageo everything from “dumbass corporate freaks” to manufacturers of “mass-produced rubbish” like Guinness.

“We started BrewDog because we were bored of the industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominated the UK beer market,” Sarah Warman, BrewDog’s head of marketing, told Business Insider. “We won’t conform, we won’t apologise, we are punk and we will stand up for the beer in the face of anything.”

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Brew Biz: Werts and All

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Written by Ken Carman

Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been writing on beer-related topics, and interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast, for over 15 years.

  Once again we ventured forth to explore what was once a wasteland…
  Nashville, in my opinion, was once a city which used to be way behind the times as small brewpubs and breweries started popping up all over the east coast. I would come home from tour and find none, to one or two at best. Now, after a few failed attempts early on, Nashville’s becoming a true brewery/brewpub Mecca. Two of the newest entries to our beer scene: Bearded Iris and Southern Grist, were our destinations.
  Bearded Iris sits in an odd location. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

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Beer Profile: Middle Ages Beast Bitter

beast

Profiled by Maria Devan

I have happened upon a regional brewer that I am really starting to like a lot. Middle Ages in Syracuse. I bought a sixer from them called beast bitter and I almost had nothing to show for it because they disappeared that fast. Lucikly I put one away.

You have to love a brewer who has for their photo a half naked man inside of big mash tun wielding a paddle. Beast is a beast indeed. Pours beautifully. Nice and clear with a coppery and orange hues on a beautiful golden body. Off white head that did not last too long. Appearance is outstanding.

Nose is vivacious with malt. Biscuity and caramel. Firm dry caramel , none of that soft sweet stuff. The hops twinkle like fuggles do and show you soft earthy, woody spice. There is good citric backnote to them that makes them smell fresh and tangy and even a bit like zest. They also use cascade I think. Toasty malt is so crisp it’s almost crunchy in there. I love it! As you drink the beer it simply takes over your mouth and your will to fight. It’s abundant with malt. The hops are forward and keep forward until the very last moment in the swallow when you smile because it’s the malt that finishes this beer medium dry.

Taste is like toast! Lightly buttered and bitter. So delicious. The finish and the balance is what kept this beer in my glass until literally there was no more beer. Hops give an expert bitterness that never gains speed or strength. Steadfast, although it’s not really too gentle either. As all the flavor from malt fades, even the hop fruitiness fades off to tangerine pith but the bitter remains.

Outrageously good. I’ll take a few big mugs of that! I also hear that this brewer is using the ever elusive strain of yeast in this beer called Ringwood. I would love to know if that yeast is in any way responsible for the flavor that this beer has. You just can’t stop drinking it.

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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____________________________________Beer HERE

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mdMaria Devan. Not all three. Just the one in the middle.

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Stone Stochasticity Project Your Father’s Smelt of Elderberries

Profiled by Ken Carman

stoneSome dark malt, mostly pale. Very fresh smelling, but mostly elderberries stand out in aroma. The malt sense in background. Very.

Foggy, brown. Almost no head.

Elderberry deluxe with firm malt mouthfeel. More than a tad tart and a hint of sour. Not all that pleasant to be honest.

High side medium mouthfeel. A little harsh and bitter from the fruit. Too long of a boil with fruit, perhaps?

This is kind of like a gruit, tho from what I’ve read they did use hops. You’d never know. Elderberry sub’d for hops, essentially.

Yes, it is palatable, but not as pleasant as one would hope. 3.8. Way too elderberry focused, which makes it hard to continue drinking after a while. I really like the concept, but more focus needed to be had for drinkability.

81 BA, 55/22 RB.
3.8

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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_____________________________Beer HERE

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kKen, WHO???