Recently I was asked to do a beer judging for the brewing employees of a Bay Area company. As this only involved about 10 beers and not open to the public, this was a low-key project. The brewers were able to get a one-on-one discussion of their beers, and ask me questions on improving their beers. Some learned about finings for beer clarity, but getting immediate feedback on their beers will help them to improve their brewing. This might be the main goal of an effective beer judge. An informal competition took place for about half a dozen of the beers, with BJCP scoresheets used. As this was a company involved in the science field, sanitation was not an issue with any of the beers. This was greatly appreciated. Despite the experience levels of brewing throughout their company, some of these beers were impressive. One was probably the best oak-aged beer I have had the pleasure of sampling. An invitation to return has already been extended. I am available for more events like this. Just contact me at dteckam@beerjudgeschool.com

        

        

With the end of San Francisco Beer Week, our seminar at The Englander is our second one done for this event. Despite doing this on Super Bowl Sunday (there was not much of an option), we sold out for the 101 portion, and were within a few tickets of selling out the 201 part. Once I get the accurate list of what beers we tried, you can click the blogs link above, to see in the View Comments section. Like with the other seminars. We are looking forward to a 301 seminar in the summer for BJCP judges. This will be something more in depth than what we have done already.

301 will have to be special to attract the experienced judges who think they have tried it all. I have some rare beers lined up, and I will find some very creative homebrews.

Next big project for me will be helping with the regional judging for the National Homebrew Competition in Lodi CA. Brian Cooper is the organizer, and we hope to get as many qualified judges and stewards as possible. You can e-mail me for more information on this one. April 17th and 18th.

Hope to see you there,
David

        

        

We've revised the beer characteristic flash cards so you can use them to help study for the beer characteristic question on the exam.  You can find it on the "Additional Resources" page of the site or download it here.  We hope it helps you prepare for an area of the exam that many students find challenging.

        

With the start of my last preparatory course for a while, I will be making a switch to online teaching, maybe for a couple of years. This is meant to help those who are beyond the range of classes that might be offered by a homebrew club. Some people will travel a hundred miles or so for an exam, but that is usually not reasonable for proper exam preparation. Once the syllabus on this site is updated, the details for my online course will be more clear. This will be in Need Help. 

 

There is no enrollment time. It will be a matter of potential examinees finding an exam and giving the contact person (go to Need Help to see the list of scheduled exams), and themselves, proper notice. All one would need to do is to allow themselves about three months for studying with me, and to have the commitment to do this.

 

I will be teaching my current group of students through mid-November. After that, I will be ready to take on more students. I am careful not to overwhelm myself, and I have a track record for exam success. Some students I did not meet until exam day, but they all passed. You can contact me for more information if you are interested.

        

With the AHA Conference in Oakland over, that also means our most recent Beer Judging 101/201 Seminar is history. This also sold out and was very warmly received. Brian Cooper told me that attendees raved to him when they saw him during the conference. The AHA Conference brought in people from the East Coast and many signed up for both portions.

We are considering our next 101/201 Seminar for Stockton CA for the first Saturday in December. Nothing in stone yet; just planning ahead. We are also working on a concept for a 301 class that will go into more depth and will be geared towards the BJCP judge. This will be a requirement for the class.

I’ll have a list of beers we sampled for the June 16th seminar very soon.

David

        

While the Sam Adams Longshot competition is long done with (at least our part of choosing a beer to be considered by the company for release), it is still a fine memory as this is a premier event for the beer judge. Much thanks to Boston Beer Company for treating the judges so well. A hotel room and meals paid for is a great way of taking care of the judges. I thought I would be reporting on how a different score sheet was used,but the standard BJCP score sheet for maximum brewer feedback was used.The Grand Prize I spoke of in the last posting will be $5000 and Boston Beer Company will make your beer for their Longshot pack due out next year, if I am correct. Of course, that is up to them, and their company chooses the final winners. There are other judgings for this competition in other areas of the country.

The AHA conference now being over with, gives me a good reason to post some more information on judging events. This might be the Super Bowl of competitions (despite no Grand Prize like the Longshot competition),but the quality of this national (or is it world-wide) event is probably second to none. The beers I judged were high-quality and the ciders for Best Of Show were excellent. This competition did uses the score sheets I was expecting for the Longshot. They were along the lines of check boxes, making the judging more efficient, or at least more brief. The point is that there are more than one type of score sheet that can be used in a competition.

Next up for me is the Amador County Fair. No complaints on the quality of entries here which is always nice for the judge, but the quality of judging remains a high-point for competitions I am involved in. This makes it easy to advertise this event for the brewer who would like feedback on his or her beer, mead, or cider. There is also a commercial competition that takes place at the same time, in the same room. And this is the rare commercial competition that gets feedback for the professional brewer, and utilizes yet another type of score sheet. For more information go to www.brewangels.com or e-mail me at dteckam@beerjudgeschool.com

Hope to see you there on July 11th.

David

        

Last Sunday was a commercial beer competition used to recognized brewing excellence for the participants of a local beer festival. Commercial beer judging is something that can be done every time we open a beer we purchase. In a formal setting, it gives feedback to the brewery. But in this case, the feedback is only in an award as no written comments are given back. This is an non-intimidating way of getting into beer judging as it seems that your opinion is your decisive factor. But the BJCP Style Guidelines are still used, and your opinion will have to be justified to your fellow judges. There were plenty of novice judges that day, but they are always teamed up with experienced (BJCP) judges. And I know these beginners all had a good time, and they were all interested in doing more of this.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to use my ticket for the competition (a reward for judging, as well as some of the leftover beer), as the next competition is the same day. The Sam Adams Longshot competition is a competition like no other, due to the Grand Prize. Another unique competition. Hope to see you there in Oakland this weekend.

David

        

The AHA regionals for the West Coast were recently completed in Lodi CA. Over 500 entries were judged in two days. Nothing too different about this one except for the judges had to exercise certain restraint on pouring (only one bottle was available and some went to a further round that weekend), so re-capping was necessary for the half full bottles.

This was another opportunity for mentoring newer judges. I realize most are new compared to me, but a competition is always an opportunity to guide other judges who might be very new (less than a year of judging). Even a simple reminder such as “get sniffing that beer” was used, as this seemingly obvious first step once the beer is in the cup is too often delayed. I am not sure why people wait any length of time to get judging an entry.

Also, patience is important for the senior judges, especially when one judge is finished writing while the other judge is still working on it. Sometimes this is an opportunity to write more (check the cues under the headers to see if you commented on everything). Many times the newer judge is put at ease when you are able to detect and agree on the particulars of a given beer. And they might appreciate you pointing out the specifics that you are noting.

Before I forget again, I will apologize for poor handwriting on my part. As entrants receive my e-mail address on score sheets I hope they will give me feedback on my evaluations. Or even to have me decipher my handwriting.

Hope to see you at the next beer competition. For me it will be the West Coast Brewers Festival judging. Commercial competitions are different in a few ways.

David