Return-Path: owner-judge at synchro.com Received: from srvr22.engin.umich.edu (root at srvr22.engin.umich.edu [141.212.2.35]) by srvr5.engin.umich.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA00762 for ; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 09:19:43 -0500 (EST) Received: from twins.rs.itd.umich.edu (0 at twins.rs.itd.umich.edu [141.211.83.39]) by srvr22.engin.umich.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA01632 for ; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 09:19:42 -0500 (EST) Received: (from root at localhost) by twins.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.8.6/2.5) with X.500 id JAA07751; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 09:19:41 -0500 (EST) Received: from uu6.psi.com (uu6.psi.com [38.145.155.3]) by twins.rs.itd.umich.edu (8.8.6/2.5) with SMTP id JAA07693; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 09:19:32 -0500 (EST) Received: by uu6.psi.com (5.65b/4.0.071791-PSI/PSINet) via UUCP; id AA20314 for spencer at umich.edu; Mon, 9 Mar 98 09:19:00 -0500 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by synchro.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id IAA22589 for judge-digest-outgoing; Mon, 9 Mar 1998 08:37:39 -0500 Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 08:37:39 -0500 Message-Id: <199803091337.IAA22589 at synchro.com> From: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com To: judge-digest at synchro.com Subject: judge-digest V1 #1545 Reply-To: judge at synchro.com Errors-To: owner-judge-digest at synchro.com Precedence: bulk judge-digest Monday, 9 March 1998 Volume 01 : Number 1545 ============================================================================ 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 Subscriptions: judge-request at synchro.com Archive: http://realbeer.com/spencer/judge BJCP info: geninfo at bjcp.synchro.com ============================================================================ contents: Bill's evaluation of AHA NHC BIG BEERS recipes in competitions Make the winners take drug tests Judges for NY City Spring Reg. Comp. AFCHBD results ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Brian Rezac" Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 10:47:22 -0700 Subject: Bill's evaluation of AHA NHC Bill Giffin wrote: > Again I repeat we need adequate evaluation of judges and competitions. My > evaluation of the AHA National competition for example shows the > competition to be grossly lacking in the attributes that make a good > competition. You would think that after all these years that the AHA would > figure out how to run a decent competition. Bill, I may have missed a previous posting of the results of your evaluation of the AHA National Homebrew Competition. But, what attributes (that make a good competition) are you talking about? And how is the AHA National Homebrew Competition lacking in these attributes? - - Brian Brian Rezac Administrator American Homebrewers Association (303) 447-0816 x 121 (voice) 736 Pearl Street (303) 447-2825 (fax) Boulder, CO 80302 brian at aob.org U.S.A. http://beertown.org ------------------------------ From: Al Korzonas Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 12:54:13 -0600 (CST) Subject: BIG BEERS Bill writes: >Al raises the problem of palate fatigue, as have many in the past, yet I >have yet to see any provide a solution for this problem. Perhaps Al can >provide us with a solution for this problem. Whose fault is it Al? >The competition's fault? Sometimes... I've judged at competitions where the whole competition was crammed into a single day and judges had to judge FOUR (!) 15-beer flights. The organisers should have forseen the number of no-shows that you always have and arranged to judge some of the beers the previous Thursday or Friday night to make the flight counts more reasonable. Some organisers don't beat the bushes for judges enough. Some organisers take on too big a competition for their judge pool. It's not always their fault, however... sometimes you can have a flu epidemic and have 50% of your judges not show up... or expect 100 entries and get 300. Ooop... just remembered... I've been to competitions where judges were asked to do Barleywines in the morning and American Pilseners in the afternoon. Or (maybe even worse) Barleywines in the morning and Meads in the afternoon! Let's use our heads, eh? >The judges fault? Sometimes... some judges drink too much of the entry beers. Some have two or three pints during lunch. Some eat peppers and onions and horseradish during lunch! Some are *aware* of palate fatigue and will take a break and have some water and re-taste some of the early beers... other judges are oblivious to palate fatigue and don't bother to do these precautionary things. >Scott has commented in the past >about how good the current crop of master judges are compared to the rest >of us poor sods. Perhaps Scott can provide us with a method to correct the >problem of palate fatigue. Do master judges have palate fatigue? Just I do. I'm aware of it and I try to take steps to minimise it. >because I couldn't, perhaps, pick out the beers that are too large >shouldn't we as judges be able too? Remember that in the National's these >beers that are too big for style have been judged not once but twice! And >in the second round three judges has been the norm. I just wonder why we >can be fooled so many times? Is it the judge's problem or is it the >competition's problem? Either way we as judge don't come out of this >problem without looking slightly foolish. What's more foolish... giving a 1.060 ESB the blue ribbon or disqualifying a 1.055 ESB because you *thought* it was too big. Overall, which as an entrant would you rather have? Al. ------------------------------ From: Gordon Strong Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 14:39:18 -0500 Subject: recipes in competitions As a brewer, I agree it's a pain to fill out the recipe forms. As a judge, I think it would be interesting to know about the beers I've judged but only after all scores have been collected and winners announced. As a competition organizer, it's basically a non-value-added piece of paper that must be handled. Unless you are going to use them to provide feedback to judges on their evaluation skills (a valuable use IMHO), or feedback to brewers on the recipes (bloody unlikely given the chaos and time commitment involved in most competitions I've seen), I really don't see the need to ask for recipes. Organizers should only ask for what they need. I would prefer two bottles, no recipe (no flames on 2 vs 3; I'm not making a proposal). Others may disagree, but that's why each competition has its own rules. We have found one use for the recipes. We publish winners of our local contest in our monthly club newsletter for the benefit of our readers. We're not trying to cash in on entrants, just provide some benefit to our members who may have never seen a winning recipe (or even know how to brew) some lesser known or unpopular styles. I think it's a good use for recipes if you decide to ask for them. Bottom line, if you don't have a use for recipes, don't ask for them. If you do get them, try to put them to good use. Educating homebrewers and helping train judges are both elements of our club's mission statement, and seem worthy causes. Regards, Gordon Strong strongg at earthlink.net ------------------------------ From: kathy Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 08:04:06 -0500 Subject: Make the winners take drug tests As a new brewer (years ago) I was puzzled that the recipes I saw in Zymurgy's Winner Circle, typically used so much more malt than the recipes in books as Miller, et al. Could not really big contests send the class winners (and BOS) out for analysis like sports require drug tests for winners. I'd pay an extra pennies for my entries to know the winners were legit. We could go ahead with the awards ceremonies, but disallow retrospectively the winners who are over style limits. Don't award a first place rather that test the second place beer. Brewers know whether they are in style with the OG readings. A few disqualifications from major contests would shape up the craft. cheers, jim booth, lansing, mi ------------------------------ From: kbjohns at peakaccess.net Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 10:29:11 -0500 Subject: Judges for NY City Spring Reg. Comp. HOSI would appreciate if youd be able to help us out with judging our 7th competition on Sunday 3/22/98 If you have already responded please ignore this request. We expect close to 300 entries and will need 30 to 40 BJCP judges. In turn for you r help we can only offer Lunch, a snack & plenty of good beer after the competition, 2 free entries to this years competition and of course judging points. If you can help out please email Ken Johnsen at kbjohns at peakaccess.net. Also if you or your club can pass this on to other judges we would appreciate it Complete information can be found on the clubs web page Ken Johnsen ------------------------------ From: hollen at vigra.com Date: Sun, 8 Mar 98 07:45:49 PST Subject: AFCHBD results Thank you to all who participated in the Fifth Annual America's Finest City Homebrew Competition on March 7th. We had 300 entries and 46 judges who participated on Friday night and Saturday. Full results can be obtained on our web page at: http://www.softbrew.com/afchbc/results5th.htm Please join me in congratulating these outstanding brewers who placed in the Best Of Show round: Best of Show Michael Westcott - American Pale Ale No Club Indicated 1st Runnerup David Askey - Maerzen/Oktoberfest San Diego Brew Techs 2nd Runnerup Frank Leers - Sparkling Melomel Quality Ale & Fermentation Fraternity 3rd Runnerup Greg & Liz Lorton - Foreign Style Stout Quality Ale & Fermentation Fraternity dion Judge Coordinator 1998 America's Finest City Homebrew Competition Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity, Sponsor http://www.softbrew.com/afchbc - --- Dion Hollenbeck (619)597-7080x164 Email: hollen at vigra.com http://www.vigra.com/~hollen Sr. Software Engineer - Vigra Div. of Visicom Labs San Diego, California ------------------------------ End of judge-digest V1 #1545 **************************** Send subscription cancellations & changes to judge-request at synchro.com. 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