I am entering a homebrew competition in August and need help placing my stout. I made a Russian imperial stout last year and put in oak chips thatched been soaked in whiskey to simulate a barrel aged beer. It was only in there for a few weeks. It’s been bottled for about 15 months. Quite tasty I must say!
The competition is going by 2015 BJCP guidelines. So which category would be best? 20c is RIS. 33A isxwood aged. I don’t want to mess it up and put it in the wrong category.
Welcome to the forum. Glad you asked. There is only one correct answer. Copied/pasted from BJCP:
33B. Specialty Wood-Aged Beer
This style is intended for beer aged in wood with added
alcohol character from previous use of the barrel. Bourbon barrel
or other similar beers should be entered here.
Definitely have the wood flavor. The dilemma is this: I have to have three bottles for the competition. I only have three left. I haven’t drank any of it in about 4 months. It had bourbon on the nose but who knows after 15 months. But I know for fact you can taste the wood flavor because my brother-in-law just had it about a month ago and said it was still amazing.
My opinion is that it would still have plenty of wood to be entered under 33B. In reality though you want to see where your entry places and one hopes they hit gold but, I think the honest feed back that you will get from the judges is worth more than a ribbon.
