2017 National Brewing Championships

[Leann ull]

I'll be opening my last bottles of my competition beers this Friday at a tasting .


Curious to see what happened , as the beers described in my scoresheets don't seem to match at all with the beers I made .

Further to this , I opened the last beers , and we had a tasting around , 10 people with experience didn't find the off flavours that judges said were in the beers .


I'm confident that I won't be following any of the "advice " marked by the judges on my competition entries

That's your perogative, the competition is run to the BJCP standard and it's those guidelines that your beer is judged against.
Probably a bit unfair to ask friends to pick out flaws in your beer.
The NHC beer judges have been trained to judge every style and been exposed to flavour tasting to know every flaw.  I'm not a BJCP judge btw, but have done off flavour training and know the amount of work it takes to be BJCP accredited including a sod of an exam.
BJCP judges are far more experienced than some of the professional brewers in the industry as we know from the feedback on scoresheets by pros and also regrettably explains some of the mediocre beer coming from Irish craft breweries.
Also be conscious that if your beer was bottle conditioned something may have happened in the bottle. I know that happened to one of our local guys who had an amazing beer but off flavours presented themselves on the day.
What were the flaws highlighted?
If you beer scored more that 30 it needs tweaking, if it was 20-30 I'd be taking on the feedback.
Don't be disheartened there is also an element of luck in beer competitions but don't be dismissive these folks are only there to help us all brew better beer.

[mick02]

I was wondering how many entries there were in the pale lager category. Can't tell from the Comp home page (as there were no medals.) Would anyone know?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think there were 17. Don't quote me on it but I'm almost 100% sure that's what I heard on the day.

[LordEoin]

I scored a 27 in the lagers, so I'm gonna claim the title of greatest lager brewer 2017, medal or not.

[Leann ull]

I think you'll find title stays with previous winner until it's transferred to a beer of a sufficiently high standard
I love the style as there is nowhere to hide and it punishes the slightest little error a brewer makes and multiplies it after time. Hopefully the standard will be solid in the Kildare comp, no fun for judges if standard is not drinkable.

[wallacebiy]

I'll be opening my last bottles of my competition beers this Friday at a tasting .


Curious to see what happened , as the beers described in my scoresheets don't seem to match at all with the beers I made .

Further to this , I opened the last beers , and we had a tasting around , 10 people with experience didn't find the off flavours that judges said were in the beers .


I'm confident that I won't be following any of the "advice " marked by the judges on my competition entries

That's your perogative, the competition is run to the BJCP standard and it's those guidelines that your beer is judged against.
Probably a bit unfair to ask friends to pick out flaws in your beer.
The NHC beer judges have been trained to judge every style and been exposed to flavour tasting to know every flaw.  I'm not a BJCP judge btw, but have done off flavour training and know the amount of work it takes to be BJCP accredited including a sod of an exam.
BJCP judges are far more experienced than some of the professional brewers in the industry as we know from the feedback on scoresheets by pros and also regrettably explains some of the mediocre beer coming from Irish craft breweries.
Also be conscious that if your beer was bottle conditioned something may have happened in the bottle. I know that happened to one of our local guys who had an amazing beer but off flavours presented themselves on the day.
What were the flaws highlighted?
If you beer scored more that 30 it needs tweaking, if it was 20-30 I'd be taking on the feedback.
Don't be disheartened there is also an element of luck in beer competitions but don't be dismissive these folks are only there to help us all brew better beer.

Lots of things could have happened

There's only one truth though

[Pheeel]

Lots of things could have happened

There's only one truth though

There is only one truth and that's what they judged on the day!

Judging is subjective. There are things that you and your friends may not pick up. Butyric acid is one I almost never pick up but others get it strong. I honestly think it's easier for people to pick up that don't have kids!

Just out of interest what was the cat and what was the feedback?

[phoenix]

There were 14 entries judged at the Pilsner + Pale Lager table.

Lots of things could have happened

There's only one truth though

Taste is subjective. You should probably read up on the judging process if youve missed that central point, you clearly dont understand it.

[mick02]

I was wondering how many entries there were in the pale lager category. Can't tell from the Comp home page (as there were no medals.) Would anyone know?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just spoke to one of the pale lager judges on the day. There were 14 entries in total in that category

[phoenix]

Thanks Mick, that'll be a help to those afflicted by temporary blindness between when I posted it and you did

[mick02]

Thanks Mick, that'll be a help to those afflicted by temporary blindness between when I posted it and you did

Didn't see that part of your message Phoenix. Will leave mine there as some members do suffer from that affliction (me included)!

[SlugTrap]

Lots of things could have happened

There's only one truth though

If you have an issue with your scores, please PM me.

[Dr Brown Ale]

wallacebiy, there is no conspiracy, how could there be? The entries are totally anonymised, the only way a judge could go out of his way to mark a particular beer down would be to turn up at the sorting day and mark your bottle - really, why would someone do that? What would be the gain? Who would gain by judges purposely marking down beers? Do you think the whole category is flawed? Do you think if every beer is badly judged then still, the best beer comes out on top anyway? Do you think your beer in particular was targetted?

The judges are very straight and do judge each beer on it's merits, out of the bottle. They can't really do anything else.

And I'll also echo the above, the BJCP course is gruelling and the exam is poxy.

There's no way there are judges doing anything malicioius, and this year in partcular I think was the best yet.

[wallacebiy]

wallacebiy, there is no conspiracy, how could there be? The entries are totally anonymised, the only way a judge could go out of his way to mark a particular beer down would be to turn up at the sorting day and mark your bottle - really, why would someone do that? What would be the gain? Who would gain by judges purposely marking down beers? Do you think the whole category is flawed? Do you think if every beer is badly judged then still, the best beer comes out on top anyway? Do you think your beer in particular was targetted?

The judges are very straight and do judge each beer on it's merits, out of the bottle. They can't really do anything else.

And I'll also echo the above, the BJCP course is gruelling and the exam is poxy.

There's no way there are judges doing anything malicioius, and this year in partcular I think was the best yet.

?

Putting words in my mouth now too ..


As well as off flavours in my beer ...


What is Going on ...

[mick02]

Lots of things could have happened

There's only one truth though

I had a conversation today with a BJCP judge that I gave a bottle of my stout to. He commented on how tasty it was. I sent him my scoresheets and he didn't pick up some of what the judges commented on.

Now do I

• Cry fowl and insinuate my beer has been tampered with
• Come on the forum and complain that I didn't get a fair crack of the whip
• Holler about the judges LYING to me about my beer
• Brew that beer again, tweak it slightly and come back with a medal next year

It is very easy to sit at home and criticize but it's a lot harder to study for a BJCP certification, sit and pass the exam and volunteer your time and effort to judging a competition where you give your honest feedback on an anonymous beer.

You might consider keeping your fiver in your pocket if you can't handle a honest appraisal of your beer.

You aren't the only person out there that is disappointed about the result of their entry.

At the end of the day it was a beer competition. Put it behind you and move on.

[LASERBOY147]

Wot mick said!