The 17th annual Oregon Homebrew Festival is a = Qualifying Event=20 for MCAB II.
First place winners in 18 Qualifying Styles will be = invited to=20 submit
entries into the MCAB II finals competition to be held in St. = Louis in=20 2000.
For more information please see the MCAB web site at
http://www.hbd.org/mcab.

NEW: Additional judging and judge = training=20 session Friday, May 21 1999 7-10 PM

If=20 you are interested in being a Judge at the festival, see http://www.mtsw.com/hotv/fest= .html=20 or contact the Judge organizer, Joel Rae at (541) 758-1674 or cbsbrew at peak.org

------=_NextPart_000_0057_01BE8D0B.8B905040-- --Next_Part_SYNC5776BCA8 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-Path: Received: from postoffice.harvard.net by synchro.com with POP3 (Mailtraq/1.1.0.1036) id SYNC5546BB93; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 02:52:21 -0400 Received: (from root at localhost) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) id BAA29544 for postmaster at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 01:50:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from wwwfw01.qantas.com.au (wwwfw01.qantas.com.au [139.163.82.1]) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id BAA29489 for ; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 01:49:32 -0500 (EST) Received: (from obtuse at localhost) by wwwfw01.qantas.com.au id QAA18446 (8.8.5/IDA-1.6 for ); Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:48:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from iissv01.qantas.com.au(139.163.105.35) via SMTP by wwwfw01-qe0, id smtpdAAAw0BaY_; Fri Apr 23 16:47:59 1999 Received: from sydaapnt02-ns.qantas.com.au (sydaapnt02-ns.qantas.com.au [139.163.35.48]) by iissv01.qantas.com.au with SMTP id QAA29580 (8.8.5/IDA-1.6 for ); Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:47:26 +1000 (EST) Received: by sydaapnt02-ns.qantas.com.au(Lotus SMTP MTA v4.6.4 (830.2 3-23-1999)) id 4A25675C.00255C3A ; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:48:04 +1000 X-Lotus-FromDomain: QANTAS From: "Calvin Perilloux" Reply-To: "JudgeNet - the beer judge digest" Errors-To: judge-owner at synchro.com Sender: judge at synchro.com To: JudgeNet - the beer judge digest Message-ID: <4A25675C.00255AC0.00 at sydaapnt02-ns.qantas.com.au> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:42:54 +1000 Subject: No styles (help!) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Apparently-To: judge at synchro.com X-Hops: 3 X-POST-MessageClass: 10; Mailing List Message Status: RO Spencer, oh man. I have been in Comps where there is indeed an open category. Be my guest in this quest for style-free categories or comps, and please put me on another panel with fixed styles when it comes time to judge! Now for my blathering and justifications... There are two points from which one can approach this, from the brewer's/drinker's arena, and then from the entrant/judge's arena. Totally open categories don't give a brewer any specific goal to shoot for, other than the "drinkability" factor. That's one argument I have heard regarding this, which I want to bring up just because it was there. Discipline needed in brewing? No really, I have heard people argue that this leads to better beer overall. But I think that's not so big of a problem. If you brew what you (and friends) like, good on ya. I think the biggest problems impact the judges themselves, when the act of judging becomes almost totally subjective. Reasonable, well-trained judges (note the first word) can manage that. Unreasonable or brick-headed judges can use any argument, or even none at all, to support why a beer should score higher, and what can you say to counter? Too much hop? How can that be, says the hop head! And he's right! And then we consider the entrant. Perhaps here in New South Wales we have a a very small community of judges and mash brewers, but I do find many times that I run into the entrants personally and need to explain a score to someone who submitted "the best beer I ever made" into a competition. When it's a soapy, fruity Pilsner, it is quite easy to (tactfully) explain what needs improving and, importantly for some entrants, why they were not a ribbon winner. Total open categories invite far too much uncertainty and objectiveness, and can turn all your opinions about the bloke's beer into mere baseless rantings (or gospel, depending on how you scored him). I did have the, shall we say, pleasure of judging a fully open category at a show in Newcastle recently. If the entrant felt that a beer did not fit any given category of the six on offer, the beer could be entered in "Other" with no further description of it. Talk about sifting through apples and oranges! What's better, the malty Bock we tried, or the hoppy Pale Ale? It was a total pot shot, depending much upon the judges' whim that day and personal style preferences. The winner might not have been the best beer at all; the judges were far apart on some of them. The idea of having the brewer write a little essay is quite interesting, and I would like to have time in a Comp environment to read an introduction to the next beer! No seriously. It would be fun, but I doubt that it would be time-effective. And knowing how some people even hate to write out the full style of the beer on their entry form, I doubt that we could ever get them to expand "MU HEL" to "A golden, malty beer with subdued... etc." Ah well, you wanted feedback! There's mine! Calvin Perilloux Turrella, Australia --Next_Part_SYNC5776BCA8 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-Path: Received: from postoffice.harvard.net by synchro.com with POP3 (Mailtraq/1.1.0.1036) id SYNC5616BBD8; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:08:50 -0400 Received: (from root at localhost) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) id IAA21636 for postmaster at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:08:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from pm01sm.pmm.cw.net (pm01sm.pmm.cw.net [208.159.98.150]) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id IAA21361 for ; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:07:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from unigroupinc.com (usr48-dialup63.mix1.WillowSprings.cw.net [166.62.174.193]) by PM01SM.PMM.CW.NET (PMDF V5.2-29 #35315) with ESMTP id <0FAN00MY88EAAK at PM01SM.PMM.CW.NET> for judge at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 13:06:16 +0000 (GMT) Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:09:16 -0500 From: Mike Kilian Errors-To: judge-owner at synchro.com Sender: judge at synchro.com Subject: Re: Digest for the period 04/22/99 - 04/23/99 To: JudgeNet - the beer judge digest Reply-To: "JudgeNet - the beer judge digest" Message-id: <372070FC.53447760 at unigroupinc.com> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; I) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit X-Accept-Language: en References: <6E9F3459C923D4E68625675C001D15E2.001D16448625675C at unigroupinc.com> Apparently-To: judge at synchro.com X-Hops: 3 X-POST-MessageClass: 10; Mailing List Message Status: RO I agree with Spencer - as judges, we seem to be trying to make the effort more complex than it should be. We're called the "Style Nazi's" and I think it may be deserved at times. It would be nice to judge a beer as to its quality as it exists when judged. I have seen a number of competitions that have listed the entries as broad categories, but I have not had the opportunity to judge at one. My fear is that regardless of the attempt, judges will bring their style guidelines, try to pigeonhole it, and apply the appropriate comments as to why it doesn't meet the style. Style guidelines are historically a moving target anyway. Just my thoughts. Mike Kilian judge at synchro.com wrote: > Table of contents > ------------------------------------------------------ > No styles? (Spencer W Thomas) > > -------------------------------------------------------- > From: Spencer W Thomas Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:45:31 -0400 > Subject: No styles? > > A proposal: > > We totally ditch style guidelines, or keep only the broadest ones > (light-colored ale, dark-colored ale, sour ale, etc.) > > Then we ask the brewer to write a little essay about what they were > trying to accomplish with the brew. All the "style" bits on the > current score sheet turn into "how closely did the brewer get to what > he/she was intending?" The technical quality and "drinkability" parts > address whether it's "objectively" a good beer regardless of its > "style." > > "This won't work," you say, "people will just write down what the beer > *is* like, instead of what they wanted it to be." To which I say: > "hah!" I can't count how many times I've been at a homebrew meeting > and someone came up and said "try this, it's just like SNPA!" And > it's sweet and bland. > > It would be interesting to run such a competition, just to see how it > worked. Maybe add an "open" category to an existing competition? > > Ok, I've said my piece. Now you shoot it down! > > =Spencer Thomas in Ann Arbor, MI (spencer at umich.edu) --Next_Part_SYNC5776BCA8 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-Path: Received: from postoffice.harvard.net by synchro.com with POP3 (Mailtraq/1.1.0.1036) id SYNC5616BBE5; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:21:12 -0400 Received: (from root at localhost) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) id IAA24645 for postmaster at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:18:03 -0500 (EST) Received: from hpamgaaa.compuserve.com (ah-img-1.compuserve.com [149.174.217.154]) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id IAA24560 for ; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 08:17:49 -0500 (EST) Received: (from mailgate at localhost) by hpamgaaa.compuserve.com (8.8.8/8.8.8/HP-1.3) id JAA06919 for judge at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:16:32 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:15:57 -0400 From: "Nathaniel P. Lansing" Reply-To: "JudgeNet - the beer judge digest" Errors-To: judge-owner at synchro.com Subject: Re: no style Sender: judge at synchro.com To: JudgeNet - the beer judge digest Message-ID: <199904230916_MC2-7317-6C4F at compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by airsupply.harvard.net id IAA24560 Apparently-To: judge at synchro.com X-Hops: 3 X-POST-MessageClass: 10; Mailing List Message Status: RO >> Maybe add an "open" category to an existing competition?<< We do this, we call it the "Turtle Creek Award." It is for a good beer that doesn't "fit" into a particular style. The only problem with an "absolutely no styles" competition would be that you would need 4 bottles for each entry, maybe more, as you would need to have multiple "mini-best-of-show" to sort out what is sent on from each flight. Otherwise brewers do _like_ to enter that, especially if they are new brewers, maybe not being informed as to "style", or perhaps they are just pot-luck brewers and just throw in what they happen to have on their shelves at the time. --Next_Part_SYNC5776BCA8 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-Path: Received: from postoffice.harvard.net by synchro.com with POP3 (Mailtraq/1.1.0.1036) id SYNC5706BC51; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 18:15:49 -0400 Received: (from root at localhost) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) id RAA12487 for postmaster at synchro.com; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 17:13:02 -0500 (EST) Received: from dorsey.fcc.net (dorsey.fcc.net [207.198.253.29]) by airsupply.harvard.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) with ESMTP id RAA12425 for ; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 17:12:45 -0500 (EST) Received: from unknown ([207.198.223.218]) by dorsey.fcc.net (Post.Office MTA v3.5.2 release 221 ID# 0-57968U12500L1250S0V35) with SMTP id net; Fri, 23 Apr 1999 18:11:37 -0400 Message-ID: In-Reply-To: References: Conversation with last message Priority: Normal X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 To: JudgeNet - the beer judge digest MIME-Version: 1.0 From: "George De Piro" Reply-To: "JudgeNet - the beer judge digest" Errors-To: judge-owner at synchro.com Sender: judge at synchro.com Subject: RE: No styles Date: Fri, 23 Apr 99 17:00:21 PDT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; X-MAPIextension=".TXT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by airsupply.harvard.net id RAA12425 Apparently-To: judge at synchro.com X-Hops: 3 X-POST-MessageClass: 10; Mailing List Message Status: RO Hi all, Spencer writes about doing away with the current style guidlelines and suggests judging the beer against the brewer's intended goal: > > It would be interesting to run such a competition, just to see how it > worked. Maybe add an "open" category to an existing competition? > > Ok, I've said my piece. Now you shoot it down! Why shoot it down? Why don't you run such a contest and see how it goes? It could be quite interesting... Have fun! George de Piro (Nyack, NY) "Brooklyn's Best Homebrew Club" http://hbd.org/mbas Malted Barley Appreciation Society --Next_Part_SYNC5776BCA8--