From synchro!judge-request at uu6.psi.com Fri Jan 20 06:07:00 1995 Status: O X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil t nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["7640" "" "20" "January" "1995" "05:13:21" "EST" "JudgeNet Administrator" "judge-owner at synchro.com" nil "198" "JudgeNet Digest #947 (Jan 20, 1995)" "^From:" nil nil "1" nil nil nil nil] nil) Received: by truelies.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.6.9/2.2) with X.500 id GAA07156; Fri, 20 Jan 1995 06:06:57 -0500 Received: from goodman.itn.med.umich.edu by truelies.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.6.9/2.2) with SMTP id GAA07150; Fri, 20 Jan 1995 06:06:44 -0500 Received: from uu6.psi.com by goodman.itn.med.umich.edu with SMTP id AA10951 (5.65b/IDA-1.4.3 for spencer at umich.edu); Fri, 20 Jan 95 06:06:27 -0500 Received: from synchro.UUCP by uu6.psi.com (5.65b/4.0.071791-PSI/PSINet) via UUCP; id AA02040 for ; Fri, 20 Jan 95 05:32:32 -0500 Received: by synchro.com (smail2.5) id AA20366; 20 Jan 95 05:13:21 EST (Fri) Reply-To: judge at synchro.com (JudgeNet) Errors-To: judge-error at synchro.com Precedence: bulk Message-Id: <9501200513.AA20366 at synchro.com> From: judge-owner at synchro.com (JudgeNet Administrator) To: judge-recipients at synchro.com (JudgeNet Recipients) Subject: JudgeNet Digest #947 (Jan 20, 1995) Date: 20 Jan 95 05:13:21 EST (Fri) JudgeNet Digest #947 Fri 20 Jan 1995 THE BEER JUDGE DIGEST digest submissions: judge at synchro.com administrative requests: judge-request at synchro.com send cancellations & rank updates to the administrative address messages sent to the wrong address will be ignored FTP Archives: guraldi.hgp.med.umich.edu in /pub/judge WWW Archives: http://guraldi.hgp.med.umich.edu/Beer/Judge Gopher Archives: guraldi.hgp.med.umich.edu Editor: Chuck Cox Archivist: Spencer Thomas Publishers: SynchroSystems and the Riverside Garage & Brewery Contents: Re: Yeast as a specialty ingredient (bickham) Contest /BJCP exam (Btalk) Re: Specialty beers (Spencer.W.Thomas) Correction... (Lowell Hart) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 08:48:48 -0500 (EST) From: bickham at msc.cornell.edu Subject: Re: Yeast as a specialty ingredient Ed Hitchcock wrote: > > I think some of this is getting way out of hand. I think it can > be summed up as follows: The organizers should provide a list of unusual > or special ingredients for the judges. In the case of Brett yeasts or > other questionably "unusual" ingredients, perhaps the organizers should > pass the onus on to the brewer. A fine idea in principle. I've actually done that - I brewed a strong Flanders-style brown ale, similar to Gouden Carolus. I entered in a competition in North Carolina as a specialty beer, with lactobacillus and coriander as specialty ingredients and Belgian Strong as the base style. This was clearly stated on the entry form and bottle labels, yet it was simply judged as a Belgian Strong. To add insult to injury, the judges commented that the sourness was out of style. I would've complained, but the organizer is a friend of mine ;-) Scott - -- ======================================================================== Scott Bickham bickham at msc.cornell.edu ========================================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 09:57:00 -0500 From: Btalk at aol.com Subject: Contest /BJCP exam This is a repost of a contest announcement with additional details included. The Borderline Yeast Infectors Homebrew Club will be hosting their first annual AHA sanctioned contest on April 1, 1995. Entry deadline is March 18, 1995. Entries accepted in all AHA styles except Sake and Cider. The BJCP exam will be given on the morning of the contest. The contest and exam will be held at Kiwi's Restaurant in Corbettsville, NY which is just outside of Binghamton, NY. Entry forms will be available mid next week. Cool Prizes!! Best of Show wins a complete kegging system. 2nd BOS gets a Half Yard glass with stand. 3rd BOS gets 50 lbs Klages malt. Club award. $50 gift certificate based on top 5 scoring beers entered by each club. Prizes will be awarded for First Place in each of 14 major categories. These will include glassware, malt extracts, 6 packs. Ribbons for top 3 places in each major category and BOS. JUDGES NEEDED: Contact Bob Talkiewicz , phone 607-772-8442, fax 607-722-1379. Entry form requests to Doug Lukasik . Include your snail mail address. BJCP exam info: Contact Scott Bickham . Get brewing! Bob Talkiewicz, Binghamton, NY ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 11:02:48 EST From: Spencer.W.Thomas at med.umich.edu Subject: Re: Specialty beers Btalk at aol.com wrote about Re: Specialty beers: > The Specialty category is a real pain in the butt to judge, IMHO. But fun! I've judged "specialty" (including herb & fruit) at the Michigan State Fair the last couple of years. > If the brew were labeled Maple Coriander Apricot Bock, I'd expect all of the > flavors to be at least detectable. Usually, you don't get to see the "label". You get the list of special ingredients. Thus the dilemma (as a brewer entering the beer): suppose you've added just a touch of (say) cinnamon & nutmeg because you think it will enhance the apricot flavor, but they don't come through individually (in your opinion). Should you list the cinnamon & nutmeg, in case someone with an ultra-sharp palate picks them up, or should you leave them out so you don't get comments like "cinnamon & nutmeg are undetectable"? Frequently, in "fine" cooking, it is considered a fault if any single herb or spice stands out. Instead they should all blend together to produce a delicious melange, and to enhance the flavor of the primary ingredients. > This style category is quite vague since almost anything goes. > If I were entering this beer and the Maple was just not there, I wouldn't > list it as an ingredient since I would expect the judges to be looking for > it. More commonly, the maple makes a difference in the flavor, but it is not easily identifiable as maple. If you leave it out, the judges may downgrade you for an "off" flavor. If you put it in, then they may mark you down for "no maple flavor". It's a no-win situation. (And, unless the judges have made or sampled a fair number of maple-flavored beers, they may not even know what the flavor contribution of maple syrup IS! I'm not sure I could immediately identify it, even though I have (100% Massachussets) maple syrup on my pancakes almost every Sunday.) > I wouldn't leave anything for the judges to wonder about or have to > guess. A laudable goal, but not achievable in practice, as I've noted. =Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Jan 1995 01:07:37 -0800 From: Lowell Hart Subject: Correction... bickham at msc.cornell.edu wrote: >Subject: Re: Identifying "special" ingredients > >In case Rick Garvin doesn't mention the 1994 HWBTA Nationals, I will. The >same honey basil beer placed in two different categories, herb and >specialty. Now the specialty beer judges shouldn't have scored the beer >well unless the honey contributed to the overall character of the beer, >but in this case, the herb beer judges should have recognized that the >beer was miscategorized. On the other hand, if the honey is subtle, >then perhaps the herb beer judges were more accurate. Just to clear things up a bit, I have it on good authority that the two beers winning the two specialty categories were NOT the same beer. They were both brewed by Mark Cottrel, a San Joaquin WortHog, and were indeed part of his "beer to go with Italian food" series, but one was honey-basil, the other was honey-basil-oregano(?)-something. (My memory can't come up with a for-sure list of ingredients, but it was four items and shared the honey-basil with the other beer. Also, don't even ask me which one was entered in which category.) This came up soon after the event, in some discussion here, and I tried to correct it then. Apparently it didn't take. I had both beers at the time, side by side, and they were most certainly not the same beer. The fact that the 'same beer' story got around so widely might be a good argument for standards for listing ingredients on judges' forms. The whole name of the beer should probably be printed as part of the results. Lowell Hart San Joaquin WortHogs Raketenflugplatz, Fresno Home of NHC Western Regional '95 lhart at cati.CSUFresno.edu ------------------------------ End of JudgeNet Digest ************************