Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 06:11:58 -0500
Message-Id: <199704011111.GAA01698 at synchro.com>
From: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com
To: judge-digest at synchro.com
Subject:   judge-digest V1 #1416
Reply-To: judge at synchro.com
Errors-To: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com
Precedence: bulk


judge-digest               Tuesday, 1 April 1997       Volume 01 : Number 1416

 ============================================================================
       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          <chuck at synchro.com>
 Archivist:        Spencer Thomas     <spencer at umich.edu>
 Publisher:        SynchroSystems     <info at synchro.com>

 Submissions:      judge at synchro.com
 Subscriptions:    judge-request at synchro.com
 Archive:          http://realbeer.com/spencer/judge
 BJCP info:        geninfo at bjcp.synchro.com

 ============================================================================
 contents:

 Foam color and ingredients
 Yankee Brewer's Competition
 Re: This May Be Heresy
 2nd Call for Style Guidelines Volunteers
 contest announcement
 which styles?
 publishing BJCP styles
 Style Guidelines

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Torbjorn Bull-Njaa <bull-njaa at interpost.no>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 12:32:20 +0100
Subject: Foam color and ingredients

I am trying to find out which factors influence the color of beer foam, 
and would be very grateful to receive comments/information regarding 
this. As dark beers not necessarily have darker foam, I understand it 
probably is som kind of additive, and not the malt alone that gives the 
sometimes brownish hue?

The question is: Suppose I judge/evaluate a beer with a brownish foam, is 
there any conclusion I can draw regarding ingredients?

Sincerely, Torbjorn Bull-Njaa
E-mail bull-njaa at interpost.no

------------------------------

From: Bruce P Stevens <meadmanb at sprynet.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 97 13:54:16 -0400
Subject: Yankee Brewer's Competition

LAST CALL FOR ENTRIES AND JUDGES/STEWARDS 
                  ( COOKS+DISHWASHERS TOO)

I am reminding  everyone that this competition is happening  next 
Saturday April 5th in Monmouth, ME  at  the Cask & Hive Winery premises. 
This is located exactly halfway between Lewiston and Augusta off Rt 202 
on the Norris Hill Rd 

It is on the top of the hill about 1/3 mile from 202,  where it meets  at  
Highmoor Farm, a large landmark not hard to find. It's 15 miles or so 
either way from Augusta or Lewiston.

Remember that this is being held in the Jamaican Mess Hall at the Chick 
Orchards warehouse and the theme of our food this year will be Caribbean 
in nature. We will have Jerk Turkey roasted on the spit with applewood 
fires as well as fresh venison roast (the little buggers are damaging our 
apple trees) in Carib sauce with red beans and rice. Veggie lovers will 
have special fare as well as the opportunity to much on apple bark and 
the fresh buds not taken by those ungulates with horns.

 Keeping  with cheap Yankee tradition, we will limit our costs to those 
in attendance .

Bunks are FREE and there are minimal fees to cover the cost of dinner and 
festivities.  Bring your sleeping bag with you and plan to spend the 
evening after the event wassailing in the orchard. We will have a bonfire 
and singalong with our MALT bagpiper corps.

Please register with Tom O'Brien at (207) 878-2031 ,  via fax at (207) 
797-9115
 or email at        tobrie71 at mail.caps.maine.edu

PS - Remember that this is open to Professional brewers as well as 
homebodies and we will accept entries with prior arrangement up until the 
morning of the event.

 I will be making pick-ups in VT ,NH and Maine during the middle of the 
week

Bruce P Stevens - ex Chem E, ex RC , ex ecute the IRS and Free Mead for 
All?

Well ,how about no more taxes first and Free Beer for All instead?


------------------------------

From: jdecarlo at juno.com (John A DeCarlo)
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 20:23:38 -0500
Subject: Re: This May Be Heresy

On Fri, 28 Mar 1997 13:14:03 -0500 Doug McCullough writes:
> Near the middle of our thirteen weekly study sessions the BJCP 
> released Style Guidelines that diverge significantly from the AHA's. 
> Our mentor informs us that we had better be prepared to answer
> exam questions per the BJCP Guidelines and
>not the AHA's. Isn't the exam tough enough without this added level of
>obfuscation?

I don't see the problem, exactly.  Everyone who has studied for the BJCP
exam in the past had to know that the AHA guidelines weren't always
correct, and had to be able to work around this issue.  Not to say that
the BJCP are now or will always be 100% correct, but they clearly reflect
more effort in correctly defining the styles than the AHA ever did. 
Isn't that a good thing, or am I confused about what we judges are
supposed to be doing?

>Rather than further balkanize the homebrewing hobby, perhaps the BJCP
>should explore cooperation and consolidation. The current environment
>diminishes both the AJA and BJCP.

Shouldn't you be saying "the AHA should explore cooperation and
consolidation"?  They have yet to seriously work on guidelines.  James
Spence may have tried, but he was only one person, and the AHA hasn't
seriously considered knowledgeable input in the past.

The AHA may be more interested now in becoming an organization to serve
homebrewers, but the most sensible approach for them would be to
acknowledge that there are other organizations capable of doing a much
better job than they.  In this case, it would be the BJCP for
competitions and judging, including style guidelines.

John DeCarlo, jdecarlo at juno.com, Arlington, VA
http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/1113

------------------------------

From: Tom Fitzpatrick <fitz at popgtw.fnal.gov>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:18:12 -0600
Subject: 2nd Call for Style Guidelines Volunteers

This is the second call for Style Guideline volunteers.
Those who have already sent a reply will be contacted
soon. There has been some uncertainty about how this
committee will function. A member of this committee 
will not be expected to travel to meetings or incur large
personal expenses. The primary form of communication
will be e-mail and listserver based. There has been a
healthy but not overwhelming response. There is still
room for you to participate.
Thanks,
Tom

- ---------------------------------------------
Beer and Mead Enthusiasts,

	The 1997 BJCP Style Guidelines are complete
and can be viewed at:
 http://www.execpc.com/~ddavison/bjcp.html
using the Adobe Acrobat 3.0 reader. Note that the last
revision date is 3/18/97.

Recent revisions to the mead guidelines have been
implemented. Note that there is an expanded set of mead
style guidelines available as a separate document. These
expanded mead guidelines may be used for competitions
with larger numbers of mead entries or they may be
useful as a reference to the most commonly made meads.
Special thanks to Michael Hall for providing the information
on which these guidelines are largely based. Thank Yous 
are also in order for Ken Schramm, Steve Dempsey, and
Dan McConnell. 

The beer categories have remained stable
since early February. In the future the guidelines will be
updated only once at the end of the year. 

	Since beer styles are always changing and 
evolving, the BJCP has decided to form a subcommittee 
of the Competition Committee to evaluate, research, and 
update our guidelines.

	We are looking for a variety of individuals to fill 
various roles in the committee. The level of commitment 
may vary greatly. One can volunteer as an outside 
consultant for a particular style or become a long term 
member of the committee. Qualifications may include but
are not limited to:

 -access to historical materials.
 -access to research materials.
 -in depth knowledge of all styles.
 -expertise in a particular style.
 -acquainted with known expert(s) on a style.
 -able to perform research/interviews with experts in
a style's country of origin.
 -experience and knowledge chairing committees, keeping
focus and bringing issues to closure.
 -commercial industry contacts.
 -commercial brewing experience

Interested parties should e-mail Tom Fitzpatrick 
(fitz at fnal.gov) with the following information:

1. Name
2. Preferred e-mail address
3. City, State, Country
4. Paragraph outlining your desired role and 
level of time commitment.

	The BJCP welcomes all opinions, comments, and 
suggestions regarding style guidelines. 

Cheers!

Tom Fitzpatrick
BJCP Competition Director
BJCP Competition Committee Chairman


------------------------------

From: Btalk at aol.com
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:49:16 -0500 (EST)
Subject: contest announcement

Parlor City Brew Off
BJCP sanctioned event.
April 19, 1997
Binghamton , NY
Entry deadline Friday April 11

All recognized styles of beer, mead and cider may be entered.
Mead and cider will have separate Best of Show award.

Judges and stewards needed! Lunch and breakfast goodies will be provided.

Questions? Ask one of us...
Organizer, Kurt Nelson,  k_nelson at sunybroome.edu

Asst Organizer, Roger Haggett, rhaggett at juno.com

Head Judge, Bob Talkiewicz, btalk at aol.com

------------------------------

From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:21:00 -0600 (CST)
Subject: which styles?

Doug A. Mccullough <Doug.A.Mccullough at bridge.bst.bls.com> writes:
>
>In the same vein, don't entrants have a right to know whether the Style
>Guidelines against which their beers will be judged will be the BJCP's or
>the AHA's? I am not seeing that specified in contest announcements.

Certainly, an entrant needs to know how to classify his or her beer 
before sending it in.  Therefore, the entrant needs to know what set
of guidelines a competition will be using.  As Russ pointed out last
week, a competition can use the AHA Style Guidelines as published
by them, the recently created BJCP style guidelines, or a completely
different set of styles.  But this is the main information that a brewer
needs to enter a beer.

>Rather than further balkanize the homebrewing hobby, perhaps the BJCP
>should explore cooperation and consolidation. The current environment
>diminishes both the AJA and BJCP.

I think most peole here would argue for the AHA to cease to publish
their own style guidelines, given that they defer to the BJCP for training
judges. I agree--if the AHA is going to look for the BJCP for a list of
judges, they can also get a copy of the current style guidelines.  However,
the AHA runs one of the biggest competitions in the country and they
are free to create their own style guidelines for their own competition.
It is just that the average brewer, being more familiar with the AHA than
with the BJCP, assumes the AHA styles are the only ones out there.

Good points, Doug, not heresy.

          - Bryan
            grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
            Nashville, TN


------------------------------

From: "Bryan L. Gros" <grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:25:07 -0600 (CST)
Subject: publishing BJCP styles

Russ wrote:
>I have to say that I am not in favor of suggesting that everyone follow
> the same format for their competitions. I know there is a faction out there
>which advocates such uniformity but I do not support them. Competitions 
>should be like homebrews and homebrewers. Each one should have a 
>unique "house character".

this is a great idea, and it seems like I do see this more on the west coast
than
down here (Southeast).

Was the BJCP not negotiating with Brewing Techniques to publish the
style guidelines?  I thought I read that on this forum a while back.  If
so, that would promote the BJCP as well as solve Dion's (and many of
our's) dilemma.

          - Bryan
            grosbl at ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu
            Nashville, TN


------------------------------

From: "Houseman, David L" <David.Houseman at unisys.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 18:40:16 -0500
Subject: Style Guidelines

The point of having universally accepted style guidelines for entrants
and competition organizers and judges is to eliminate confusion and save
on distribution costs.  This has absolutely nothing with what categories
are collapsed in competitions.  Whether there is a large competition
that has separate awards for the various porters or brown ales or they
are collapsed together into category for judging and prizes in a small
150 entry competition is irrelevant.  A brewer and a judge still have to
know to what style to brew, enter and judge the beer even if the
categories or subcategories are collapsed for the sake of competition
efficiency.  Perhaps all "Dark Ales" are one award category for a small
competition or even a large one where there were just a few entries in
this area, everyone involved has to be in synch as to what is supposed
to be judged as what.  Competitions should NOT have to send out style
guides explaining these to potential entrants.  Nor should they assume
the information is accessable on-line by everyone.  Agreed to, widely
available through varied media and common style guides makes everyone's
life easier in homebrew competitions.

Dave Houseman

------------------------------

End of judge-digest V1 #1416
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