Well, it’s over. Guess I will know how it went in about 4 months.
Thanks to everyone for the advice.
How do you think it went? Were you able to ID plenty of aspects of the beers? Did you have enough adjectives to describe what you were sensing? Were you familiar with all the styles?
Good luck to ya.
I think it went OK to slightly better than OK. Not excellent, thats for sure. I was careful to comment on the different factors of the beer even if they weren’t really there (for example, “No esters present” in lagers if I didn’t taste any).
The biggest problem I found was identifying off-flavours. There was something wrong with the 2nd beer I tasted but I can’t decide what it was. I don’t think I have much of an ability to taste diacetyl and maybe that is what this was but I basically said somethings wrong, apologized for not being able to be more specific and recommended that they solicit more feedback to get a better understanding of what was wrong. The styles I had were Kolsch (supposedly this had some astringency but I love bitter and I didn’t really pick up on it and rated this highly), Bo-Pils (something wrong), German Weizen (no clove, little banana), APA (too bitter and thin), Robust Porter (pretty good) and Belgian Golden Strong (very good). I know most of these pretty well so I think I did OK.
Not sure there are enough adjectives in the world. Would be nice to be able to type this since my hand writing is so messy and I could have used a bit more room.
You gotta figure there’s going to be oxidation (cardboard), diacetyl and DMS (sweetcorn or cabbage). In a pils I’d guess DMS or diacetyl, both are possible since short boils on pils malt leave DMS and no diacetyl rest and racking off yeast quick give diacetyl.
Anyway you got one under your belt. Now sign up and judge a few contests, thats great experience.
Maybe the Bohemian Pils was Pilsner Urquell that was lightstuck/skunky? I’ve had that one on an exam before and I know a number of other people that have as well. Seems to be a common test beer
I’m pretty sure I know skunky, I get a lot of skunky from the beer I drink in the back yard cause of the clear glasses I use. I also used to drink a lot of Sleeman Cream Ale and it’s a clear bottle that’ll skunk like crazy in direct sunlight. This was something else that I just couldn’t put my finger on. Maybe oxidation but I can’t say for sure. Guess it doesn’t matter now.
I did think that the Kolsch had some slight DMS in it. It was already poured when I walked into the test and I immediately thought it was a cream ale just by the smell.
Now the problem for me is where to get some judging experience. There are practically no competitions around here (I did this more for my own learning). I could drive down to Michigan or maybe upstate NY if necessary but that’s 3-4 hours away at minimum. Anybody need a judge?
I’m two hours from St Louis and more like four to five from Chicago and Kansas City. I usually take the wife and make a weekend of it. She stewards just for something to do.
I’ve got 4 kids - 12, 10, 8 and 6 - and I don’t think she’d let me leave them alone for the whole weekend just to judge beer, although it would be quieter.
I’ll find a few comps, there are a few in Toronto that I’ll volunteer for. That’s 2 hours but my wife’s family is from there so the kids (and maybe her) can visit the grandparents.
You should organize a comp! I’m not sure if u need your BJCP to be the organizer of one, and u might be able to get in as a novice judge without your certification.
sounds like fairly commonly consumed styles and plenty of chances to show how much you know. I bet you did fairly well.
Did anything seem way out of style?
Just got back a tasting exam at 1 day short of 30 weeks. Hopefully the backlog will become less grim soon.
cheers–
–Michael
You can organize a BJCP sanctioned competition now that you are a member and either an apprentice judge since you took the exam or recognized judge if you passed the exam. If you organize a completion, it will help move you up in the BJCP ranks to become a certified judge…you will also need judging points to move up so you could kill two birds with one stone in that respect.
I’ll take a crack on the off flavor for the pils and say it was due to water. If you brew that style with moderate to high mineral content in your water, it will give a mildly astringent and heavily harsh feel due to the hops clashing with the minerals in the water. That may have been what you were tasting in the pils that you couldn’t put your finger on.
I may just do that. In fact, after seeing other posts about organizing a competition, I sent a note to a local “beer fest” that does not have a homebrew competition and offered to help if they wanted to start one. So we will see (nothing like jumping in with both feet).
I’ve given up on the pilsner. It’s time to move on with life.
Just to point out, you do not need to be a BJCP judge to organize a sanctioned competition.