[skyler]

So I went to a club meeting recently, and it was my first time with this club. There was a competition, and the way the comps for this club work is that everyone tastes the beers along with the judges (so competitors have to bring a whole lot of beer to the comp). The styles for this comp were APA, AAA, and EPA (all three styles). I remarked to my friend that, despite the beers not being very cold, every one was still VERY hazy and that the brewers needed to fix that. He said clarity cannot be a factor in judging comps, then told me that AHA-sanctioned competitions (this was not one such comp) required that clarity not be considered as a factor in judging homebrew. To me that just sounded whacky, so I figured I would come here and ask.

Is clarity a consideration in judging homebrew in AHA-sanctioned competitions?

And should English Pale Ales, American Pale Ales, and American Amber Ales be clear?

[dbeechum]

What an odd claim.

Clarity is definitely a factor in judging, but it is a relatively minor one since it falls under appearance and appearance is only worth 3 points total.

See the BJCP/AHA Scoresheet for additional details.

[susanr]

Is clarity a consideration in judging homebrew in AHA-sanctioned competitions?

And should English Pale Ales, American Pale Ales, and American Amber Ales be clear?

Hi - any competition can set their competition for whatever they want.  If it is a BJCP Sanctioned competition and states that it is following the BJCP guidelines then you would expect the beer to be judged on appearance (Appearance is worth 3 points on the BJCP judging sheet) - but appearance also comes into play in other areas - if the beer is extremely hazy - this haze will also affect mouthfeel to an extent (worth 5 points) and overall impression (worth 10 points) - probably at most tho - only a point in each of these areas - but this may make enough difference in the end to throw it out of contention for placing (depending on what the other beers are of course).

An English Pale Ale (Strong Bitter) should have "Good to Brilliant Clarity"
An American Pale ale should be"generally quite clear altho some haze is acceptable in dry-hopped versions"
An American Amber Ale should be "generally quite clear altho dry hopped versions can be slightly hazy"

So some haze is acceptable in the American versions but you should not have any in the English Style.  This sounds like more of a fun competition and not as serious as most. 

The AHA does not technically sanction competitions anymore but the National Competition does follow the BJCP guidelines and appearance is definitely taken into consideration.

Cheers,
Susan
(BJCP Grand Master Judge and former AHA Governing Committee member)

[marty]

I could see a comp doing that in special circumstances:
for instance if they had to move locations at the last minute and the entries didn't have time to settle out
or for a particular category, say a steward dropped a bottle accidentally during the competition and it got shook up

In those cases I think it would be appropriate for the competition to tell the judges of the comp/that particular style to please disregard clarity as it may have been negatively affected by circumstances outside the brewers control

but it's odd as a catch all rule