[goose]

One also hopes that you get judges that are better. I had a nice American Barleywine that scored a 38, but the sheets said it would have scored higher if I had not used British malts. They had no idea what I used, and should not have assumed. There was some MO in the grist, but the guidelines says nothing about British malts not being allowed. Gordon Strong's recipe for that style in his recipe book uses MO. I still shake my head at that one. Rant over.

That is a good one, Jeff.  One thing I learned when studying for the BJCP exam was to never assume what malts and hops the entrant used in a beer because 90% of the time you will be wrong.  Sometimes you have a good idea of the hops from the aroma but again don't assume.

[hopfenundmalz]

One also hopes that you get judges that are better. I had a nice American Barleywine that scored a 38, but the sheets said it would have scored higher if I had not used British malts. They had no idea what I used, and should not have assumed. There was some MO in the grist, but the guidelines says nothing about British malts not being allowed. Gordon Strong's recipe for that style in his recipe book uses MO. I still shake my head at that one. Rant over.

That is a good one, Jeff.  One thing I learned when studying for the BJCP exam was to never assume what malts and hops the entrant used in a beer because 90% of the time you will be wrong.  Sometimes you have a good idea of the hops from the aroma but again don't assume.

Exactly Goose!

[jeffy]

One also hopes that you get judges that are better. I had a nice American Barleywine that scored a 38, but the sheets said it would have scored higher if I had not used British malts. They had no idea what I used, and should not have assumed. There was some MO in the grist, but the guidelines says nothing about British malts not being allowed. Gordon Strong's recipe for that style in his recipe book uses MO. I still shake my head at that one. Rant over.

That is a good one, Jeff.  One thing I learned when studying for the BJCP exam was to never assume what malts and hops the entrant used in a beer because 90% of the time you will be wrong.  Sometimes you have a good idea of the hops from the aroma but again don't assume.

Exactly Goose!

A long time ago I had a comment on my Rauchbier that said, "obviously using liquid smoke" by one judge and "seriously misses style guidelines" by the other.  In the very next competition, it took best of show out of over 600 entries.  Ray Daniels and Greg Noonan were on the best of show panel.

I still try to enter all the statewide competitions, but it seems that everybody else's beers are getting better all the time.
When I judge a beer in competition I try to imagine that the entrant is Gordon Strong.  It keeps me from writing stupid stuff most of the time.

[hopfenundmalz]

One also hopes that you get judges that are better. I had a nice American Barleywine that scored a 38, but the sheets said it would have scored higher if I had not used British malts. They had no idea what I used, and should not have assumed. There was some MO in the grist, but the guidelines says nothing about British malts not being allowed. Gordon Strong's recipe for that style in his recipe book uses MO. I still shake my head at that one. Rant over.

That is a good one, Jeff.  One thing I learned when studying for the BJCP exam was to never assume what malts and hops the entrant used in a beer because 90% of the time you will be wrong.  Sometimes you have a good idea of the hops from the aroma but again don't assume.

Exactly Goose!

A long time ago I had a comment on my Rauchbier that said, "obviously using liquid smoke" by one judge and "seriously misses style guidelines" by the other.  In the very next competition, it took best of show out of over 600 entries.  Ray Daniels and Greg Noonan were on the best of show panel.

I still try to enter all the statewide competitions, but it seems that everybody else's beers are getting better all the time.
When I judge a beer in competition I try to imagine that the entrant is Gordon Strong.  It keeps me from writing stupid stuff most of the time.

Agree that the beers entered keep increasing in quality.

I like your Gordon reference. I realized that I might be judging beers from someone I might know.

[ynotbrusum]

Definitely keeps you in the right frame of mind if you assume it will be a friend’s beer that you are judging.  One fellow in my club is quite prolific in his entries and I have (unknowingly) judged his beers on several occasions - he has won the category and even best in show more than a few of those times!  It is gratifying when the judges in the BOS round confirm your evaluation.

[BrewBama]

I think beer competitions can be backwards. What I mean is the judges look for faults to eliminate beers until they have a ‘least worst’ winner. That’s a fairly negative based scenario in my mind.

Couple that with some judges expecting beers to be a clone of their favorite in the style (regardless of whether that beer meets the guidelines or not) vs following the guidelines and you may have some skewed results.

I do think guidelines are important to categorize beers to organize a competition. But limiting creativity outside a competition probably shouldn’t be the outcome.

Again, it’s kinda backwards where instead of letting brewers use imagination and to encourage creativity, the guidelines tend to box homebrewers into a left and right range fan. However, most of the best beers I’ve had probably don’t meet the guidelines in one respect or another.

Routinely at least one of the little dots in BeerSmith is a little too this or a little too that with my beers.  I used to adjust my recipe to align the dots but decided that’s BS.  As a result, I try to select a style that fits my design fairly close vs fit my design to a strict style guideline. ...but I don’t worry too much about competitions either.


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[Michael]

To all here I agree.
 I always brewed for my own preferences but decided to join competitions to get some feedback. After several entries received mixed comments I had a burning desire to focus on the style parameters.
 Deep thought and hard work, which included trial and error, led me down the path of creating beers with the numbers for SRM, IBU’s/ratios and gravities right down the middle. My following entries scored well enough to secure the top spot '17 Homebrewer in NJ.
 Now I’m back to brewing for my own preferences.

[denny]

It's a hobby....brew the way you want to.

[ynotbrusum]

It's a hobby....brew the way you want to.

Amen, brother.  I have had many beers (from others and maybe a time or two of my own) that don't fit a BJCP category well, but were extraordinarily well made and very enjoyable. 

The other thing not mentioned in the string is that packaging for competitions can be the source of the beer not doing well in the competition.  My lagers are often wonderful on tap, but don't travel well when bottled from the same tap.

[denny]

It's a hobby....brew the way you want to.

Amen, brother.  I have had many beers (from others and maybe a time or two of my own) that don't fit a BJCP category well, but were extraordinarily well made and very enjoyable. 

The other thing not mentioned in the string is that packaging for competitions can be the source of the beer not doing well in the competition.  My lagers are often wonderful on tap, but don't travel well when bottled from the same tap.

My comment includes brewing to style for comps, also.  Do whatever you like.

[jeffy]

It's a hobby....brew the way you want to.

Amen, brother.  I have had many beers (from others and maybe a time or two of my own) that don't fit a BJCP category well, but were extraordinarily well made and very enjoyable. 

The other thing not mentioned in the string is that packaging for competitions can be the source of the beer not doing well in the competition.  My lagers are often wonderful on tap, but don't travel well when bottled from the same tap.

Along the same lines, I entered four beers in a Florida competition a few months ago and all of them were infected.  Turns out my beer gun had an issue.  It was kind of embarrassing for me, but at least I was able to fix it.

[Robert]

Well, better to poison the judges than your friends!