Posts Tagged ‘Beer Judging’

The Governor’s Cup

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

So I attended the Governor’s Cup competition this morning in Columbia as a judge — my first official judging event.

Since I don’t have my scores back yet, I judged as an apprentice rank. My group tasted nine European Amber Lagers — eight Oktoberfest/Märzen beers, and one Vienna Lager.

We started with a calibration beer which turned out to be Sam Adams Oktoberfest, and the consensus score at our table was 35, which is a pretty decent beer. Not perfect in that it was a bit too hoppy for style — typical for Sam Adams, as I see it — but a good beer.

Then we settled down for the tastings, which shook out like this:  (more…)

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BJCP Class 1

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Wow.

I’ve taken some classes in the past that did a pretty good job of trying to intimidate students on that first class, and the BJCP exam study course I attended yesterday is right up there with certain physics courses in terms of breadth and depth of material.

I expect to have to really improve my ability to memorize, but I also expect to exercise certain other abilities that I think are generally less common to the average person, much less the average beer drinker. I’m going to have to exercise my ability to make aesthetic judgments while suppressing my own personal preferences in a disinterested way. (more…)

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