I'm not a total fan of the check list but in big events they really are necessary for time reasons. Though that probably depends on the judge. Given that the check list is pretty abriviated, I think I could write out a few one or two word descriptors just as quickly as I can read through the check list to pick the right ones.
I'd like to see judges get back to describing the bottle. When you enter a big dark malty beer and the judge dings it for being too pale, too hoppy, and too sour... it would help if they described the bottle. If yours were brown long necks with black caps, but they wrote green caps, it might explain the issue.