2009 Pro-Am - Judging

May 30, 2009

Not only did I enter 5 beers into the 2009 Pro-Am, but I also participated as an apprentice judge. My buddy Colin is also chair of the WAHA Education Committee and for a while he had suggested taking part. We've had tastings before and I've rated beers and all that, so my palate has developed for certain styles and beer in general. Right now I have no desire to go through the whole Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), but also realize the value that judging has for my own beers, but also homebrewing in general.

I was a little nervous going in and whether I should be judging other people's beer, so I tried to read up on the BJCP style guidelines. Now I love beer, but trying to read a 50+ page style guide was a little much!! I never realized though what a great source the guidelines are though for the homebrewer as you progress in brewing different styles and styles you've never heard of.

Judging was held at Larry's Homebrew Supply in Kent and I ended up judging Stouts (American Stout, Dry Stout, Foreign Extra Stout and Sweet Stout) and American Barleywines - 12 beers in the first flight and 8 in the second. Seems like a lot of beer, but you don't drink too much and each flight took well over 2 hours to complete. I was teamed up with experienced judges and the general procedure was to sample 2-3 oz. of the beer and review via the score sheet and guidelines as references. After scoring, we would discuss and revise scores as needed (generally want the scores to be within 8 points I think).

I think i did pretty well as a judge and made effort with all my comments b/c getting those on my beers is what I take most out the competition. It was an eye opening experience in terms of how competitions are run, how to win, how much of a crapshoot it is, etc. (I can go into that later), but a perfect way to learn about beer while meeting many other local homebrewers. Anyway, it was a great day and I tried many killer beers!! Pretty cool to know that there are so many good homebrewers out there.

A few photos.....