Return-Path: owner-judge at synchro.com Received: from srvr8.engin.umich.edu (root at srvr8.engin.umich.edu [141.212.2.81]) by srvr5.engin.umich.edu (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id BAA25176 for ; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 01:13:12 -0500 (EST) Received: from redheat.rs.itd.umich.edu (0 at redheat.rs.itd.umich.edu [141.211.83.36]) by srvr8.engin.umich.edu (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP id BAA08596 for ; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 01:13:11 -0500 (EST) Received: by redheat.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.7.5/2.2) with X.500 id BAA07221; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 01:13:10 -0500 (EST) Received: from relay3.smtp.psi.net by redheat.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.7.5/2.2) with ESMTP id BAA07213; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 01:13:09 -0500 (EST) Received: from uu6.psi.com by relay3.smtp.psi.net (8.8.3/SMI-5.4-PSI) id BAA25511; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 01:03:09 -0500 (EST) Received: by uu6.psi.com (5.65b/4.0.071791-PSI/PSINet) via UUCP; id AA04772 for juknalis at arserrc.gov; Tue, 4 Feb 97 01:03:06 -0500 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by synchro.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id AAA00189 for judge-digest-outgoing; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 00:39:46 -0500 Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 00:39:46 -0500 Message-Id: <199702040539.AAA00189 at synchro.com> From: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com To: judge-digest at synchro.com Subject: judge-digest V1 #1376 Reply-To: judge at synchro.com Errors-To: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com Precedence: bulk judge-digest Tuesday, 4 February 1997 Volume 01 : Number 1376 ============================================================================ J u d g e N e t - t h e b e e r j u d g e d i g e s t ============================================================================ Moderator: Chuck Cox Archivist: Spencer Thomas Publisher: SynchroSystems Submissions: judge at synchro.com Administration: judge-request at synchro.com Archive: http://realbeer.com/spencer/judge BJCP info: geninfo at bjcp.synchro.com ============================================================================ contents: Scoring guidelines big beer syndrome CABA's March in Montreal Competition Sixth Annual Moon Madness Competition Request for judges & stewards ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: George_De_Piro at berlex.com (George De Piro) Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 12:11:07 -0800 Subject: Scoring guidelines Hi all, I am disturbed by the fact that I seem to see poor judging more often than not. The following is just the latest. I recently received my score sheets from a competition that I entered last month. Although I won a prize, I was not at all pleased with the results of the judging. I am completely and utterly sick of getting back score sheets that take points away from "appearance" and "body" with no written justification. In this case, it was actually worse: one judge wrote that the body was *right* for the style and then gave me 2.5 points out of 5!!! I know that the standard response of judges that practice this is that points must be taken away somewhere. I believe that this is utter NONSENSE!!! I have awarded beers 6 out of 6 for appearance and only given a 22 total score! It's not at all hard to do. If a beer looks great but tastes like hell, let the score sheet reflect that. This will do much more to help the brewer than simply deducting points from all the categories to arrive at a "predetermined" final score. Aside from not being able to score in a meaningful way, the judges knew absolutely NOTHING about the category they were judging, or beer in general. Their comments illustrated this quite graphically, but I will spare you all the details (I will say that they deducted points because my HefeWeizen was cloudy). There were 3 judges: 1 certified, 1 recognized, and 1 apprentice. They all had the exact same comments about my beer (gee, did they copy each other?). The scary stuff here is this: 1. Too many judges deduct points from "body" and "appearance" just to knock the score down. I believe that there is more than enough opportunity to deduct points from "flavor" and "overall" if it is necessary to score a beer in the low twenties. 2. There are *BJCP CERTIFIED* judges out there that don't know diddley. 3. These same judges occasionally get to "teach" others!!! Points 2 and 3 should embarrass all of us. When your average homebrewer enters a contest and gets back this kind of nonsensical judging, they feel ripped off. They PAID to get their beer judged, and deserve better from our organization. I don't know what more we can do to ensure that judges know their stuff. Perhaps the exam needs to concentrate more on tasting and styles. Perhaps it is too easy. Really, the hardest thing I found about the written portion of the exam was the time limit. I think that if we want to improve our image we should concentrate on ensuring that we are all doing a good job. That would go a lot further than holding a commercial contest. George De Piro (Nyack, NY) ------------------------------ From: "Bryan L. Gros" Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 12:36:17 -0600 (CST) Subject: big beer syndrome I think most of us are aware of the tendency for big beers to win in competitions. We can all think of many reasons for it. The most we can do is try, when we judge, to keep this in mind and judge as fair as possible. Zach wrote: >I just thought I'd interject an observation I had regarding the "big beer" >syndrome at BOS judgings. At the competition held at the 1996 Arizona State >Fair I was a BOS judge and the final field was down to about 6 beers, which >were then whittled down to 2, those being a Barleywine (of course!) and, >believe it or not, a Kolsch! Both beers were quite good, but then the >discussion of "big beers always winning" came up and we all tasted again. >I think that the Kolsch won because it was not only an excellent example of >the style, but that we decided that this was not going to be another "big >beer"- winning competition. I for one was glad that a "small beer" could >take on the big boys and win! One thing not to do is "reverse discrimination". In Zach's event, if the Kolsch was the better beer, I'm glad the judges recognized it. Many of us believe, but try to ignore it during judging, that a pretty good barleywine is better than a very good Kolsch (or cream ale or AAA etc.). Although it shouldn't be included in judging, many recognize the extra skill and patience required for a barleywine. Since judging is so subjective, it is hard to ignore these intangible things. - Bryan grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu Nashville, TN ------------------------------ From: "Craig J. Pinhey" Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 19:14:34 -0500 Subject: CABA's March in Montreal Competition Announcing the (CABA) Canadian Amateur Brewer's Association's Annual = March In Montreal Homebrew Competition - BJCP Sanctioned Entry Date: Deadline is Saturday, March 8, 1997 at 4 pm. Judging will be = held between March 8 and March 22, 1997. Awards will be announced at the = CABA March in Montreal Beer Event on March 22, 1997. Mail to: Gordon's Cave a Vin 5785 Sherbrooke West Montreal, Quebec H4X 1X2 (514) 487-BREW Entry Fee: $6 per entry for CABA members, payable in cheque to CABA $5 for 5th and additional entries. $9 per entry for non-members For entry forms: Will be distributed in CABA's upcoming CABA Times Non-CABA members can call CABA for entry forms at (416) 462-9981 Email 71442.3646 at compuserve.com Awards will be given for 1st, 2nd 3rd, and best novice in each class, = and there will be a Best of Show judging. Classes: 1. Continental Lager 2. Pale Ale (English, IPA and North American) 3. Brown Ale (English Brown, Mild) 4. Porter 5. Stout (Dry, Sweet) 6. Specialty (Herb, Unique Fermentables) 7. Belgian Specialty Beer - Extra Strength (Holy Beer, Belgian Strong = Ale) 8. Belgian Specialty Beer - Sour (Lambic, Flanders Brown, Saison) 9. Lookalike - This year Unibroue has graciously offered to host the = Lookalike, which will be Blanche de Chambly, their excellent wit bier, = descibed by the brewer as: As pale as possible, less than 15 IBUs. Spiced with corriander, orange = peel and a 3rd secret spice. Low in acidity. Wheat content >50%, partly = malted and partly unmalted, European 2 row malted barley, 11.5 to 12 degrees = Plato. ------------------------------ From: "Mark S. Johnston" Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 20:32:39 -0500 Subject: Sixth Annual Moon Madness Competition Just a reminder that the 1997 Moon Madness Homebrew Competition will be held on March 8, 1997, at the Market House Pub and Pretzel City Brewing Company in Reading, PA. Judges and Stewards are needed. Please contact Mark Johnston at msjohnst at talon.net for information and forms. Please include a snail mail address. Or you can mail a standard AHA Judge Waiver form, indicating BJCP level, judging preferences, and T-shirt size to: M. S. Johnston 443 Calyn Dr. Shillington, PA 19607 Entries can be sent between 2/12 and 2/26 to: Brew-Ha-Ha, Ltd. RD2 Box2519-1 Route 222 Fleetwood, PA 19522 Two bottles per entry. 10 to 16 oz brown or green glass. plain crown caps. no swing tops. $6 for the first entry, $5 for each additional entry. Use standard AHA recipe form and bottle labels or contact me for entry package. 1997 AHA style guidelines and categories apply. BOS wins a complete kegging system. Other prizes & ribbons awarded. ------------------------------ From: murphrey at us.ibm.com Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 22:02:18 -0500 Subject: Request for judges & stewards Classification: Prologue: TCP/IP Workstation Development Building 503, Room G119, Department G78A 4205 S. Miami Boulevard Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Telephone: 919-254-6691 (or tie line 444-6691) Epilogue: The Shamrock Open, a BJCP/AHA registered competition, will be held on Saturday, April 5th,in Raleigh, NC. Judges and stewards should arrive by 9:30 AM, to facilitate judging assignments. Judging will start promptly at 10:00 AM. If you want to judge or steward, please E-mail to murphrey at us.ibm.com (include your judging experience level and the categories you prefer). Experienced and novice judges are welcome (inexperienced judges will be paired with experienced judges). BB&Y restaurant (on first floor in the Caswell Building) Koger Executive Center 3700 National Drive Raleigh, NC Koger Center is a group of office buildings located near the southwest corner of the intersection of Glenwood Avenue (US 70) and the beltway (I 440). Here are specific driving instructions: Go south on Glenwood Avenue (US 70) past I440 Turn left at the first traffic light (this is the entrance to Koger Center) onto Woman's Club Drive Stay on Woman's Club drive (it makes a 90-degree left turn) Turn left again (just before the road ends) onto National Drive Park in the first parking lot on the right Caswell Building is the first building on the right Hope to see you there ... Steve Murphrey ------------------------------ End of judge-digest V1 #1376 **************************** Send subscription cancellations & changes to judge-request at synchro.com. Messages sent to the wrong address will be ignored.