Just curious if anyone had gotten their scoresheets yet. The post-competition e-mail said that all entrants would receive them by today. Just wondering if they had been going out gradually over the past week or if they are all going out today.
I am sending out the scoresheets today, as well as releasing the post-competition package that contains the results and letter for your entries. Thanks for being patient about it!
Got mine as well… Close but no cigar. Glad they were at least in the hunt though:
Helles Exportbier = 40/42 Mini BOS. I think this is the third time to make mini BOS in this category-no medals
Dark Mild = 38/39
This year the mini-BOS rounds were judges by a different set of judges from those who judged the flights. I believe all were National and higher and wasn’t sure how it would work out. IMO it worked very well. The judges were able to focus on finding the top three beers and were not skewed by what they may have advanced from the earlier round of judging. Know that if your beer made it to the mini-BOS it was probably one of the top 12-15 beers out of all the entries in the country. Congratulations!
I see they also put info up on the competition page too. They may not have marked “mini BOS” on all the paper forms, as it indicates on the competition page that my Mild made mini BOS too… so, worth looking at both for those getting their score sheets.
At most of the competitions in Florida we fill out a mini bos form to send back with the score sheets of entries that advanced. It includes notes from the judges on all the mini bos entries to give some reasoning as to why it did or did not place. I wish all the competitions did this.
I agree, this would be fantastic. I made the mini BOS in Chicago but didn’t advance. I’d have loved to get some extra feedback, but I feel like I have some things to play around with for next year. Fixed my astringency issue at least from last year.
Way to go braufessor, pretty tough to advance two beers. Did you submit just those two, or did you have a few more in the first round?
I submitted 4 to regionals and had 2 advance to finals… and then both made mini BOS… so, I am really pretty pleased that both were in the ballpark.
I agree about the mini BOS “notes”… I know at that point, the judges are only really concerned with finding the top 3 and it is not about filling out an entire score sheet. But it would be really great if there was a section for Mini BOS where the judges just wrote down one or two phrases that let you know what the key factor was that knocked your beer out (or set it apart enough to medal).
For instance… On a Helles Exportbier that I had in mini BOS… something as simple as “A bit too malty and needed more bitterness” or even something as simple as “Beer was among the last couple, but the others just stood out more and were a bit better.” That would only take less than a minute to do, and would be insightful for the brewer going forward.
You’re talking about comparing apples and oranges. There is little more that could be quickly conveyed other than your beer wasn’t presenting itself better than the other beer(s). The beers are often different styles and variants.
No, Martin, it is pretty easy to have the steward or one of the judges make a few notes as each beer is eliminated from a BOS round. (That is, if the format of eliminating is followed - I have seen some flights done by vote right from the start, but that’s not so common). Simple notes, like “a little astringent” “not balanced” “slight medicinal phenolic” “too bitter” or even “better examples on the table”
Sending this back to the entrant gives him the opportunity to verify that his beer was actually judged in the mini BOS round and perhaps learn what to do to make it even better the next time.
Sure, that could be the case, but that does not preclude the possibility of useful information being given with almost no effort/time required by the judges. When it gets down to the finals at NHC and mini BOS, obviously all the beers are very good.
However, it would still be potentially very useful to know if your beer was knocked out because of some technical aspect that was not as good as others or because of just the simple “intangibles.”
Something like this could even be a “checkbox” on the score sheet. I mean, there are really only 3 reasons you are not medalling if you made mini BOS…
1.) This individual bottle may have been flawed and not up to par with the bottle that was judged in the preliminary flight: Significant Flaw Observed:_________________
2.) While good, this beer fell a bit short in some technical area(s): _____________________
3.) This beer was one of our final choices, but there were simply some slightly better beers that we chose over yours - Great Job.
As a brewer, at least that lets me know if I should consider tweaking something in particular or stick with what I have been doing. It would take no real time and gives the brewer some idea of what it might take to get the beer to the next level.
My British Brown I submitted to Austin received a 40 and pushed to mini-BOS. Didn’t advance but I am still ecstatic with my score. I checked and it seems no British Browns advanced in that region and category.
Any notes made in a mini-BOS would slow the process significantly. In the NHC, the beer has been judged and has at least two sheets of information at that point. Asking to provide notes on each entry during a BOS or mini-BOS round would take minutes per entry. At the NHC the mini-BOS were handled as almost every other BOS round in the country. The beers were presented and quickly tasted for a first impression. This happens extremely quickly. In the case of the rounds I judged we removed beers until we could not remove any easily. Then we looked for the top three in most cases. Often at a BOS or mini-BOS the beer which is not discussed is the best of those presented or at least top three.
I think this is a great competition. It has definitely helped me improve my beers. I was lucky enough to finish first in the first round with a score of 45.5. After the final round, my score was only 34. These were identical beers from the same batch bottled at the same time, and stored in a cold dark fridge. I got mixed feedback with my beer being both over carbonated and under carbonated. Too bitter, and malty and balanced. Having too much body, and needing more body. I expect some differences, but a 14 point total range seems a bit much.
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced inconsistent results and feedback.