[redbeerman]

When entering this beer in a comp, what would it be categorized?  Category 23 or Category 21?  I beleive it would be 23, because of the bourbon and imperial porter base.  Would like the judges out there to give an opinion.  Thanks.

[bfogt]

23, I'd say.  But how "Imperial" is the porter?  If all the bigness (or the vanilla for that matter) could be attributed to bourbon, I'd leave it off the description.

[redbeerman]

It's Denny's recipe.  The "imperialness" comes from the amount of malt used.  The bourbon is just a flavoring.

[alikocho]

I'd say 23, but possibly think about how you put across the base style.

[saintpierre]

Enter it in both.

[bluesman]

Jim...now that I think about it I'd enter in either of 21A - Spiced Beer, or 23A - Specialty but you need to specify the ingredients to justify it's classification.

Denny or Mike Dixon can chime in on this as well.

[bfogt]

From the judge perspective, I've had a number of "Imperial Porters" which didn't rate very Imperial.  Just because the numbers say it's Imperial, it needs to be way over the top to be judged well.  Being a little over the top won't hurt it in 23 if it's not stated to be imperial.  So if the vanilla is balanced enough to seem like an oak or bourbon contribution, I'd leave it off the form, too.  A typical strategy on judging 23 is to tick through all the words on ingredient list and description and ask if it's there.  If it's borderline enough to be attributed to something else, it's better to make it seem like that "something else" is just that much cooler.

Last weekend, the BoS judges were confused at the announcement of the top prize.  It was a 13B Sweet Stout, but the beer name was Hazelnut Stout.  Turns out they used so little extract that it only contributed a nuttiness to complement the malt bill.  Had it been in 23, it would have flunked out.

[denny]

Enter it in both.

My BIL just took 2nd in 21 and 3rd in 23 with it in the Kona Brewfest.

[denny]

23, I'd say.  But how "Imperial" is the porter?  If all the bigness (or the vanilla for that matter) could be attributed to bourbon, I'd leave it off the description.

The bourbon adds less that .5% ABV.