So I entered a Belgian blonde in a local comp and it scored a 33 which I was pretty pleased with but I’m confused…
Both judges said it was lacking the pilsner quality of the beer
The recipe was 85% pilsner !
Single infusion mash at 151 steady for 60 minutes and a 90 minute boil
Any thoughts as to what this comment means or how I would provide more emphasis? Could it be the water being too hard for the style?
Personally, unless they explained what they meant by a vague comment like that, I’d ignore it.
I was curious because both judges stated the same thing which kind of struck me-starting to truly wonder about the actual merit of some of these comps…outside of bling if you place:) several comps and vague, crappy uninformed comments are not a help!
Maybe they meant it was lacking a grainy character usually associated with pilsner? Is there contact info for the judge? If so maybe they can explain what they meant.
This was my thought as well…
or maybe they were expecting some sulphur or diacetyl? :-\
Too funny!
I’ll probably drop him an email and ask, I’ve got a few questions…
They’re probably quoting from the style guidelines. Things like “lightly sweet Pils malt character”, “Smooth, light to moderate Pils malt sweetness initially”, “Often has an almost lager-like character, which gives it a cleaner profile in comparison to the other styles”, “Relatively recent development to further appeal to European Pils drinkers”.
Whether your beer is actually lacking an important characteristic of a Belgian Blond or they’re just misguided is another question.
+1 on narvin.
I just retook the BJCP test and unfortunately “outjudged” the proctors for my test. They gave a Heineken light that was skunked a 42 (I gave it a 32) judged as a German Pilsner and gave a fresh Hoogarden Wit a 35 (I gave it a 45) judged as a Wit. >:(
The test proctor agreed with me and put it on his exam notes but I will see if this gets me the 90 I am looking to score.
at least they both agreed ;D
i take a lot of comments with a big lump of salt now. when i was a young naval officer going through engineer quals on my final watch board we did a back emergency drill. two of the instructors said it was the best back emergency drill they had seen. the third said i had no control of the throttleman and failed me. go figure.