Beer Judge School Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on Online Enrollment

David Teckam — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:56:48 GMT

Scott and Bill,
So sorry these postings got away from me. Contact me by e-mail to get going on some beer judge further training. I'm ready for more students.

Comment on Online Enrollment

Bill Heverly — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:30:08 GMT

Hi David,
I took the exam for the first time last September '09. I had taken a formal course with our local homebrew club and thought that I had prepared fairly well. Not well enough, apparently. My scores were a 54 written and a 65 tasting for a combined 57. I'm planning to retake the exam this summer (or when it is given again locally). I am very interested in your online course and would like to participate in it once you get things up a running.
Thanks,
Bill

Comment on Online Enrollment

scott curtis — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:57:57 GMT

I would be defiantly interested in the class. If there is anything that I can help to make it available online, let me know!

Comment on AHA Pre-conference event

David Teckam — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:33:39 GMT

To refresh our memories, here’s the beer line up for that seminar:
Beer Judging 101
1st Pairing - (3 intentionally doctored beers)
Lite American Lager - all 3 Bud Light, dosed with the following:
1.Vanilla extract
2.Peach flavoring
3. Grape tannin (for the effect of astringency)
2nd Pairing –Hop-oriented ale vs. lager
1. Trumer Pils
2. Firestone Walker “Pale 31”
3rd Pairing – Malt-oriented (dark) ale vs. German lager
1. Northern German Altbier- Alaskan Amber
2. Munich Dunkel- Hofbrau Dunkel
4th pairing – Smoky beers.
1. Spezial Rauchbier Märzen
2. Alaskan Smoked Porter
5th Pairing – Aged vs. non-aged Barleywine
1. 2006 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
2. 2009 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

Beer Judging 201
1st pairing- Fresh dry hop character vs. badly aged
1. Imperial IPA- Pliny the Elder (fresh - bottled June 10th 2009)
2. Imperial IPA- Badly Aged Imperial IPA– a blend of various beers/breweries
2nd pairing – different Unique Belgians (non-sour vs. sour)
1. Orval
2. Cantillon Gueuze
3rd Pairing – 2 very different, yet characteristic UK beers
1. Irish Red Ale – Smithwicks Irish Red Ale
2. Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout
4th pairing – 2 very different strong beers
1. Specialty Beer – Homebrewed American Barleywine with Brettanomyces character
2. Russian Imperial Stout – North Coast Old Rasputin
5th beer- (judging sheet example)
1. Bière de Garde – Lost Abbey Avante Garde

Comment on Seminar in June

Gail Williams — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:34:36 GMT

Nice quotes.

Comment on Become a Fan of Beer Judge School on Facebook

Kevin Stearns — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:48:56 GMT

Keep up the good work! Cheers!

Comment on SF Beer Week Classes a Hit

David Teckam — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:30:26 GMT

Got the beer list from Brian. Despite being there, I wasn't 100% sure on the ones we tried or the pairings. So to refresh our memories:
Beer Judging 101
1st Pairing - (3 intentionally doctored beers)
Lite American Lager - all 3 Bud Light, dosed with the following:
1. Diacetyl (artificial butter flavor)
2. Banana (artificial banana flavoring)
3. Clove (real clove added to bottle)
2nd Pairing – Hop oriented ale vs. lager
1. German Pilsner (Pils) - (home brewed)
2. American Pale Ale - Firestone Walker “Pale 31”
3rd Pairing – Different dark beers
1. Baltic Porter - Baltika #6 (Porter)
2. American Brown Ale - Big Sky Brewing Moose Drool
4th Pairing : Smoked beer vs. European Amber Lager
1. Other Smoked Beer - Schlenkerla Ur-Bock Rauchbier
2. Vienna Lager - Negra Modelo blended with Trader Joe’s Vienna Lager (brewed by Gordon Biersch)
5th Pairing – Same Barleywine, different vintages
1. American Barleywine - Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (Vintage 2004)
2. American Barleywine - Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (Vintage 2009)
Beer Judging 201
1st Pairing – Mediocre (defective) homebrew vs. intentional “brett” character
1. Belgian Specialty Ale - (home brewed), with Brettannomyces character
2. Southern English Brown - (home brewed) - blended with Standard American Lager - Budweiser
2nd Pairing – 2 contrasting German beers
1. Schwarzbier (Black Beer) - Köstritzer Schwarzbier
2. German Weizen / Weissbier - Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse
3rd Pairing – Contrasting Belgian styles
1. Saison - Saison Dupont
2. Flanders Red Ale - Rodenbach Grand Cru
4th Pairing – Compare two UK beers
1. Ordinary Bitter – Boddingtons Pub Draught
2. Strong Scotch Ale (a.k.a. Wee Heavy) - Orkney Skull Splitter
5th Beer – (Judging Sheet Example)
1. Doppelbock - Paulaner Salvator

Comment on SF Beer Week

David Teckam — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:18:04 GMT

San Francisco Beer Week concluded with our beer judging seminar at The Englander in San Leandro (yes, we know there was the Celebrator party at the same time). We’re happy to report a sold-out event with an enthusiastic bunch who wanted to know more about beer. We covered many styles and flavors as well as discussing some of the finer points of beer evaluation. The 101 course was meant to be a basic class covering sensory analysis and descriptive ability. For 201 we got more into depth and covered some of the sources of flavors and what it takes to be a good beer judge.
We got good audience participation and I hope we answered your questions adequately. If we didn’t, or if you think of something else, go ahead and ask more. I’d be glad to get into some more detail if you like and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Brian Cooper will list the beers we had for the classes.
We look forward to doing this again next year.

Comment on SF Beer Week

David Teckam — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:46:14 GMT

We're excited to report that the 101 class is almost full (maybe a couple spots left) and the 201 class is getting there.
We're looking forward to this event.