This weekend I’m judging for the first time at a competition in KC. I got my assignments, I’m judging porters, Belgian/French ales, and Scottish/Irish ales. They don’t tell you which particular styles within the category, in advance. Needless to say I’m excited! And just a little worried about doing a decent job of it. I also entered four beers and this is my first time entering beer in a comp as well. Talk about your rookies.
What do you typically do to prepare for judging a competition?
Don’t drink too much the night before. Stay away from spicy foods that morning. Eat breakfast. Drink lots of water between samples. Let your senses be your guide and try not to be intimidated or influenced too much by the other judges.
Have fun!
and review the style guidelines
And bring a knife to make the other judges back off when they challenge your opinions. It’s not really a score sheet until it has beer or blood spilled on it!
What?
STOP THE VOICES!!!
+1 to all of what Jeff said. Also, don’t wear any cologne. Put together a small judging kit with comfortable (padded grip) mechanical pencils, flashlight, corkscrew (stewards will have bottle openers, but watch 'em scramble if you come across a capped & corked bottle), etc.
Biggest thing for a new judge (or all of us) is to give solid, complete feedback. Use the score sheet as your guide & touch on ALL the elements mentioned. You don’t need ‘technical’ descriptors, simple everyday language is great. Just describe your perceptions as completely as possible. If you feel confident in offering constructive criticism, please do so (regular posting to this forum is great experience for that). Don’t make assumptions about what the brewer did, but offer possible actions to take in improving recipe or dealing with perceived problems.
Don’t stress about preparation. Judging is fun, ask the organizer to pair you with experienced judges (especially if you already know them) though they usually try to do that anyway.
Good luck & have fun.
All good advice except that one about not drinking too much on Friday night, but that might be the most critical one for judging Saturday morning. We have a session Friday evening, then Saturday morning and early afternoon.
Hadn’t thought of a flashlight. Will bring a corkscrew, that should be good for popping corks and fending off pushy judges. They know I’m new and supposedly put me with more experienced people. Then again, almost anyone would qualify as being more experienced.
Question, is it common for newer judges to keep a hard copy of the BJCP guidelines handy? I’ll have thoroughly reviewed my categories but I would feel more secure having it available.
every competition I’ve ever judged at provides the style guidelines to the judges at the tables. you have to judge the beer against the guidelines, and most of us haven’t memorized the whole damn thing.
+1
I use the BJCP App on my iphone…just make sure your battery is charged before you go. 
I print up labels (Avery 5150) with my name, judge rank, and email on them. Saves having to fill it in on every sheet.
I’m in the same boat as you this Saturday.
A suggestion I received was to take a marker with you so you can write the entry number on the sample cup in case you want to go back to it again.
I can see why you’d do this, but the aroma of the marker might interfere with your perception of the beer. Anyway, it’s better practice to finish judging a beer and move on.
As to having the style guidelines to hand - absolutely. In fact, the BJCP guide tells judges to review the style guidelines at the table.
Yeah, I like getting those kinds of scoresheets. I can actually read the judges name and such unlike a lot of the handwritten ones. Do beer judges take handwriting lessons from doctors? 
I should clarify. The marker should be a grease pencil.
This is also a good idea. Some competitions will print them for you, but if not, there’s a template somewhere on the BJCP.org website. It’s called “judge scoresheet label template”
More good stuff. I might just look like I know what I’m doing.
How many beers are typically judged in a session and how long do you expect we’ll have per beer? They said they have more entries than last year, but they’ve enlisted more judges.
Be as descriptive as you can…it’s far better than just saying things like “nice head” or “good aroma” or “I like the flavor.”
What is it about the head that looks nice? is it Frothy? Dense? Mousse-like? What about the aroma? Is the aroma hoppy? Malty? Caramel-like?
What flavors do you perceive…malt? hops? roast? wheat?
Having said that, I feel that the hardest part of judging is finding the right descriptive language to describe what you perceive, so don’t feel awful if you have a case of writer’s block.
Developing a good “judges vocabulary” will take time and experience…and will always be a work in progress.
Oh, and don’t be too serious about it, it should be a fun thing to do…not something like a trip to the dentist! (no offense to any dentist’s on the forum!) ;D
EDIT:
Never more than 12 beers to a flight…typical might be 10. A good pace is to do one entry in ten minutes. Or at least in my experience…
John I understand the concept of descriptive vocabulary completely and I want to do justice to the brewer who paid to enter their beer. I found out during the BJCP test that its easier said than done. I may make myself a list of precise descriptors for each category, just as a crutch.
The 2nd round beer “checklist” scoresheet has a lot of descriptors you can use.
Well then you’re way ahead of most first timers! So that means no worries, you’ll do far better than average.
I made a list of descriptors for appearance…to help describe color, clarity, head appearance, and carbonation…it helped just to go through the process of thinking up the terms, let alone writing them down.
And Tom, you’re just the sort of judge I’d want to have judging my beers.