30th July Homebrew Tasting (W.J. Kavanaghs)

[Ciderhead]

"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Northside underground.
Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune.
If you have brewed some shit beer, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The NHC Homebrew Taste-Team."

[Dunkel]

Must have been at the bar/in the loo when the picture was taken. Or maybe I'm behind the camera - it's a bit of a haze.

And where's DEMPSEY?

[Dr Jacoby]

I'm glad we have photographic evidence that at the heart of the Capital Brewer experience is a large mayonnaise bucket 

[Samael]

Must have been at the bar/in the loo when the picture was taken. Or maybe I'm behind the camera - it's a bit of a haze.

And where's DEMPSEY?

There You are missing lads


and here is DEMPSEY 

[Dunkel]

Thank you Samael - just to prove to the missus that I wasn't out with some young one. 

[Shane Phelan]

I'm doing the write up at the moment and I'm going though the notes I took for everyone's beers. I tried to get the opinions of everyone sitting around me rather than my own but I still worry that perhaps that sometimes the process is a bit harsh, especially if people around me are giving negative feed back. Personally I want the cold harsh truth but maybe a few years ago when I was starting I would have been more sensitive to this type of criticism.

Its a bit uncomfortable taking the notes too as I can see some of the newer attendees looking at me taking the notes as if I'm some sort of authority on the quality of their beer (I'm not!). I regard myself as being a bit like a secretary, taking "the minutes" and don't see my opinion as being more/less important than anyone else at the table.

Just wondering what people think about with and whether you would like to see it continue or just leave it out as I don't want it to cause the meets (or myself) to appear pretentious/intimidating to attendees.

[Dr Jacoby]

It's a difficult balance. I saw your notes from the night and they did contain some pretty harsh feedback on some of the beers. As you say, that's not because you or any individual thought the beers were terrible. It's because 3 or 4 people said 3 or 4 different things about each beer and some of these things were negative. If you record all the comments it can seem like a beer was badly received. But I bet no one agrees with each and every negative comment. I don't think it's constructive to merely list all the comments because that might give the impression that they form some sort of coherent opinion when really they're pretty random assessments.

I think it's the job of the writer (that's you  ) to put a fair shape on all that stuff. I felt one half of the table was being very negative about each beer, concentrating mainly on the flaws and not celebrating the strengths. The other half of the table was being much more constructive, I'm not sure their comments were recorded as much. None of this is your fault Shane. There were so many of us that we really should have had an extra note taker.

I'd recommend using the notes as a basis for spinning your own story of the night. There is no perfect way to do this. I think we all appreciate the effort that goes into these write ups. You won't get lynched 

[Padraic]

You won't get lynched 

I don't know, it depends on what he writes about my beer.....

As peter says, it's really not something to worry too much about, I think maybe your own opinions and not to focus too much on the individual feedback given, as that's more important to the individual brewer on the night!

[Shane Phelan]

Yeah I was looking at all the negative feedback this morning and I have a good bit of it written already so I hope that I have got the balance right with mainly positive comments followed by usually one suggested improvement that can be made.

Perhaps as the note taker I should have kept moving around the table during the night and that would have got me talking to different brewers to get a broader range of opinions? (I probably should have been doing that anyway!)

[DEMPSEY]

This was when I was telling Dunkel of how Cara was scared of a little Moray Eel.

[Shane Phelan]

Would someone be able to have a proof-read of my draft in wordpress for the tasting.

Apologies in advance, you will see what I mean. 

[Dr Jacoby]

I tried but for some reason I can't select the draft to open it

[Shane Phelan]

Hmm, I don't know what would be causing that.

[Padraic]

Hmm, I don't know what would be causing that.

He might not have the rights to open other people's posts, I think only admin can?

[vonHolt]

One of the reasons I'm bringing my beer to a tasting session is to get the critical feedback.

I've made a few brews, and the only people to taste it so far are family members. My wife hates most of it, there's two she liked. Most of the feedback is positive though, but I'm suspicious that it may be slightly biased 

If I'm going to ever make "good" beers and do so consistently, then I'm depending on the honest & critical feedback from impartial and experienced people. If my beer is sh%^e then I really need to know, so that I don't make the same mistakes again.