Hmm, good or bad sign?

[admin]

Either the beer isn't much cop or the judge wasn't much cop, but a 2 year old beer "Would benefit from more time aging"!

I know this beer and I think the judge is wrong... the beer just won't improve, it's as good as it's going to ever be, which isn't great.

[johnrm]

I had some conflicting notes on some of mine.
It could be down to the stage in the day they were judged...

[JD]

"Would benefit from more time aging"!

I reckon the judge was right. Another couple of years should sort it out. 

On a serious note, young beer is higher in acetaldehyde than conditioned beer. Most yeasts produce this to one degree or other. If the yeast has a high acetaldehyde character, conditioning will have a hard time removing all of it. I bet the judge just got a whiff of some green apple and thought it an off flavour, when in all likelihood it was just a character of the yeast. Hey, they're human.

/J