My BJCP class met for the last time yesterday, and it was the best class of the whole course.
We began tasting and judging the same beer we sampled the first day of class. To Les’s credit, my ability to describe a beer has improved considerably — with my responses bearing little resemblance to the monosyllabic, one-word, vague descriptors of my first attempt. My ability to make an educated guess as to what kind of beer I’m drinking blindly has gone from extremely basic to pretty accurate. The beer in question was Clipper City’s Winter Storm, which according to Kurt —one of the brewers at Clipper City, and a class member — is stylistically an Extra Special Bitter, which is what I guessed it to be and judged accordingly. Not quite to style considering its higher than normal ABV, but otherwise a pretty good example. We didn’t score the beer.
Next we tried another beer blindly, but were told to judge it as an English Dark Mild. I gave the beer a total score of 36, noting that it should probably could have benefitted from a litle less attenuation, or increased maltodextrine that would provide body, sweetness, and reduced the roast-malt astringency I experienced. The beer turned out to be Les’s Mild brewed at Big Brew about a month ago. He agreed that the beer deserved to be in the upper 30s, but not quite a 40.
All in all, I feel pretty confident that my abilities have improved, and my palate as developed significantly. I still have no problem drinking a Miller Lite, but I have to note that I’m more inclined to drink bottled beer at establishments I don’t know well, or have experienced the effects of dirty taps at. (more…)