Orange County Fair Homebrew Competition

[Brewfoo]

I was there with my son last Saturday and met up with a few Brew friends...Congrats to Chris Coddington and Steve Jareb for placing. All of my brew friends told me to enter just for the food and drinks. I should have listened.

[nico soze]

What's up w the feedback ?

[backhousebrew]

O.C.Fair ribbons arrived today along with the score sheets.
Guess I should call ABC7 News to come over.....or not.

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[backyard brewer]

Nice!

[hjw]

Nice looking ribbons!

[ScottK]

I got mine as well. I only received one score sheet. Is that normal? Additionally, I lost points because the judge did not know what the mead was spiced with, but my entry form clearly stated all the ingredients. That was a little annoying.

[bwarbiany]

I got mine back (two sheets per entry)

Cream Ale: 39/40
Blonde Ale: 29/30
Barleywine: 39/36

Oddly, the blonde ale and the cream ale are the same beer, so I was a bit surprised to see the disparaty. Doubly surprised when the score sheets (judged by the same judges as the cream ale) complained of astringency, thin body, and harsh bitterness...

I think I might have to revisit my bottling practices...

[hjw]

Having one judge score sheet's was because of the record number of entries. You really need a minimum of two judges and preferably 3 or 4. As far as the missing ingredient sometimes the organizer fails to get that info on the pull sheet.

[brahn]

Having one judge score sheet's was because of the record number of entries. You really need a minimum of two judges and preferably 3 or 4. As far as the missing ingredient sometimes the organizer fails to get that info on the pull sheet.

+1 I've experienced the missing ingredient on both sides, as a judge and competitor.

[brahn]

I got mine back (two sheets per entry)

Cream Ale: 39/40
Blonde Ale: 29/30
Barleywine: 39/36

Oddly, the blonde ale and the cream ale are the same beer, so I was a bit surprised to see the disparaty. Doubly surprised when the score sheets (judged by the same judges as the cream ale) complained of astringency, thin body, and harsh bitterness...

I think I might have to revisit my bottling practices...

I doubt it's your bottling practice, but it can't hurt to look at it.

It's not surprising that you'd get 39/40 and 29/30 for the same beer entered in different categories. Those judges thought it was a better fit in the cream ale category. A very good beer entered in the wrong (but close) category getting a score around 30 is about right. At PBC we judged an excellent RIS with Coffee in the RIS category. It probably would have gotten 40+ if we'd been judging specialty beers, but I think we averaged out to around 30.

If there was astringency or harsh bitterness in a blonde ale it shouldn't have scored in the 29-30 range, so those probably weren't strong characteristics.

[bwarbiany]

It's not surprising that you'd get 39/40 and 29/30 for the same beer entered in different categories.

If there was astringency or harsh bitterness in a blonde ale it shouldn't have scored in the 29-30 range, so those probably weren't strong characteristics.

I wasn't so much surprised at the difference in scores as the comments. The judges didn't mention astringency or harsh bitterness *at all* in the cream ale notes, and I wouldn't expect a beer showing those to finish 2nd out of 22 entries in the category, either. It just seems that not seeing it mentioned at all in the other scores suggests the bottles might not have been as identical as they should have been.

Of course, I don't know what order these were served in the flight, what the last things the judges had before each beer were, etc. It's quite possible that something outside the beer itself was affecting their palate at the time, and maybe I'm just overthinking it.

[BrewMasterBrad]

I wouldn't waste too many cycles worrying about the judges comments. Judging is so subjective and there are other variables, as you mentioned, that could come into play.

[hjw]

So true.

[lexuschris]

I got mine as well. I only received one score sheet. Is that normal? Additionally, I lost points because the judge did not know what the mead was spiced with, but my entry form clearly stated all the ingredients. That was a little annoying.

Just got my scoresheets, and my metheglin was also a solo score... and the judge was asking what the spices were. Either they decided not to put any methglin ingredients on the judging form, or somehow just forgot to.

Either way, I was pleased with the feedback from all the judges. They were consistent and comments were about what I was expecting.

Metheglin: 38
Specialty/Gruit: 30 / 35 / 34
Robust Porter: 33 / 29

--LexusChris

[StarRaptor]

Lyn actually judged my IPA and gave it pretty good marks

Costa Del Sol: 32, 36, 32
SNB is Furious (IPA): 35, 32 ,32
Deathfire: 24, 26

Already posted on my website but WTH

Costa Del Sol was judged by three people one of which was a certified BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judge and scored 32, 36 and 32. The aroma (ave 6.7) was described as low hops, green apple, grainy notes as it warms and semi sweet. Appearance (ave 2.7) was judged as having brilliant clarity, gold in color, white frothy head and with large clinging bubbles. The flavor (ave 13.7) was noted as medium hoppy bitterness, slight acidity in the finish, crisp and dry, hop flavor high for the style. Mouthfeel (ave 3) had a nice carb bite, carbonation both too much and too low for the style (I love it when judges do that), medium-light body. Overall (ave 7.3) it was a good (on judge said very) beer, to hoppy for the style (one judge said hops were his first impression) very clean and a refreshing beer just not to style. I did get a “congrats on the technique!” from a BJCP certified judge, which I thought was pretty cool.

SNB is Furious was also judged by three people with one recognized and one apprentice BJCP judge (Lyn). The aroma (ave provided nice citrus and grapefruit with a nice balance of malts and hops, good for the style and was noted as one of the nicest they’ve had out of the 15 they’d judged (remember 70 entries). Appearance (ave 2) with the SRM calculated to around 14, which is pretty borderline for the style, was perceived as being out of style but had good clarity however the head faded fast. The flavor (ave 12.7) came across as nicely balance with a nice hop backbone, cleanly fermented with citrus and pine notes. On the mouthfeel (ave 3.3) I received descriptions of having a medium body but low carbonation, I wonder if they got a bad bottle though I might have forgotten to chill the bottles before BeerGunning. The overall (ave 7) impression was that it was a very nice IPA that could have used more CO2. One judge commented that he could have gone for a couple more pints. Most of the feedback is things I can work on for next year.

Then there was Deathfire… fortunately it seems it’s dark reign was only inflected on 2 individuals with one of them being an apprentice BJCP judge. The aroma (ave 6) came across as smoky (very) with no malts or hops, I’m surprised that peppers weren’t mentioned. Its appearance (ave 2) was dark brown with an espresso head, slightly cloudy but clear? Not a really surprise on the flavor (10) as the pepper (and heat from them) dominated their palates, thought I did like the description that “roasty malts lead into smoky pepper”. Mouthfeel (2) had warmth from the peppers and was dry with limited sweetness. Overall (5) the beer was not well balanced and had too much peppers making it too hard to discern other ingredients. I laugh because I thought the pepper was nicely balanced going in to the competition.