I wanted to get some ideas and/or examples from the forums on how your clubs handle structured homebrew feedback.
The current setup at our club meeting is, all of the beers get opened, put on a table in the middle of the room and you help yourself throughout the evening. If the brewer is nearby and sees you have their beer in your glass they may approach you for some verbal feedback, that’s about the extent of it.
I’ve had interest from numerous club members who are seeking for more formal, critical feedback for their homebrew rather than just a bottle share, which is essentially is what we have now and not the most conducive format for quality feedback.
In terms of our setup, we have 2-hour club meeting once a month and I think the more formal feedback will need to be weaved into the program of our monthly meeting (as opposed setting up a separate evaluation/feedback meeting).
Our clubs meetings generally have a mix of casual and enthusiast/veteran competition brewers, so my goal is to create an optional segment within our regular meeting which allows those who want to give and receive critical feedback the opportunity to do so whilst the casual crowd can continue with the current bottle share format.
Any ideas or examples on how other clubs are handling more formal feedback would be greatly appreciated.
The Maltose Falcons do a Troubleshooter’s Corner as I understand it. 3 people at a table and ybring your beers up and talk to them about them. Or something like that…maybe Drew or another Falcon will chime in.
We do quarterly competitions featuring a specific style. Though we compete, the feedback is usually pretty constructive. Also, you can count on certain members to give you feedback anytime just by pouring them some of your beer and asking for it. The placing of the bottle on the table doesn’t sound like the best way to go. We always go around pouring ours. It also makes introductions easier/better.
We have a sign in sheet that’s numbered. We make a drawing at each meeting for a small prize by the numbers on the sign in sheet. There’s a place to check if you’re a club member or guest and also a place to check if you’ve brought a beer you want critiqued. We have a time during the meeting that we open and sample a commercial beer and discuss. After that, anyone who checked the sheet for a critique beer has a moment to present their beer, pour it and receive feed back and discussion. You can also have it presented anonymously if you prefer.
We’ve gone through various iterations on how to do this and are still revising. It is after all an important part of a club for many home brewers.
People who want to share beer, but don’t want feedback just pass their beers or pour freely.
We generally have 9-16 people attend our monthly meeting. We sit in a circle and critique beers in the following order:
Host’s beers go first
New persons’ beer go next
Veteran or other who wants comments on their beers.
Each person attending is free to give their opinion. We are nice about it, of course. But if there is a flaw, we let them know and discuss ways to correct it. We generally do about 2oz pours. We also have water, snacks and other food items, and rinse water available. The goal of our meeting is to be better brewers, to know more after the meeting than before so we can make beer we would be proud to serve to our family and friends.
Hope this helps.
This is a great idea. As many people come to homebrew meetings simply to discuss beer, they may not want theirs critiqued and would rather just share their creations instead.
Having a “set” spot/time for interested brewers to get valuable critiquing at a meeting is wise and helpful. It can allow new brewers to not feel pressured or scrutinized and experienced brewers to share their knowledge and improve their brews if they are interested.
I have experienced many different ways for critique. Generally, my favorite way is informal; I share the beer and talk about the beer in a social setting. Sometimes, I seek out advice from veteran brewers who are particularly knowledgeable about the beer style.
The smallest club I’m in has the entire group taste one beer at a time with discussion by the entire group. More pointed criticism may be given privately. The group tasting works fairly well if the number of beers is limited. The beers (or meads or ciders) are tasted immediately after club business concludes. The more delicate beers are tasted first.
The biggest club I’m in does a guided tasting of a style of the month with home brew and commercial examples.