I got my scores back from the National Homebrew Competition last week.  I only entered one beer, and although it did not go through to the finals, it did score fairly well. Since I also judged at this event, I already knew my beer didn’t advance to the next round. My overall score was a 33.3, with scores ranging from 31 to 36.  That is pretty close to what I thought the beer might do. I could have got lucky and received a higher score, or it could have ended up like one competition where the beer was quite good and it bombed. It happens. But in this case it was right around where I felt it was as well. What I do want to show you is some prime examples of a couple of good scoresheets. One good scoresheet, a good scoresheet that is missing one key component, and one very poorly written scoresheet. I will black out the names of the judges who did these to protect the innocent. But I think this is a great example of the highs and lows of what to expect in competition when getting feedback. Still, out of three judges to get two decent sheets with feedback is still not acceptable. All three should have at least put forth an effort, at least that is my take. Whether I think they are right or wrong, or I agree with what they say or not doesn’t matter. The effort put forth is what does.

The goal of competition is obviously to put your beer up against other homebrewers beers of the same category and fight for bragging rights. The secondary, and sometimes most helpful aspect of competition is to get feedback on how to improve or tweak your beer. As a beer judge, you owe it to whomever paid the entry fee to give honest and complete feedback. Regardless of what you do while judging, as long as you put forth an honest effort to this, you are a good judge in my eyes. Always remember that on the other end of that beer you are tasting, is someone who paid their hard earned money to not only pay the entry fee, but also pay the shipping charges to have that beer on your table. For this reason, I do get upset with large flights and long judging days. I just feel that by the time you get to the end beers, you are unable to give the same feedback that you do to beers number 1 through 10. Anyway, lets dissect my results.

Cover Sheet

First thing to notice and pay attention to is where your beer was in the flight, and how many beers were in this flight. As you can see from my cover sheet to the left,  my beer was 5th in a flight of 12.  This is actually a good position. The judges have gotten the first beer out of the way and even had a few others to gauge where the average beer in the flight may be.  Typically the first beer tends to score lower than it may really be. Many judges feel you can’t score the first beer as 40 points, because what do you do in a flight of 15, if 3 other beers tend to be just a bit better than that first one? Where do you go?  Also, being last is not good because by then the judges may have palate fatigue or just simply be bored with the flight. It does happen, whether any judge would like to admit it or not. So 5th is a nice spot in the flight, however there were a lot of beers after mine so when it comes to who to move forward, my beer could easily be forgotten as well. Also, flight size is important too. If there were 4 beers in your flight and you took 3rd, well you got a ribbon/medal, but is that really where you want your beer to be, 3rd out of 4th? However, change that up to 3rd out of 15 or 20, and that means a hell of lot more. I can live with that.

Now lets start with the bad and work our way to the good.

Example of a bad scoresheet

So let’s just for a second forgive the judge because hopefully he is inexperienced (Apprentice usually means they are a new judge waiting for the scores. But now they have a selection for that) Because he has a rank, he took the exam and did not do too well. Well, I can see why. If he gave feedback like this during his exam, I can see why he didn’t even get above 60 points. Anyway, lets look at why this is so bad. First off, the comments he leaves are very vague and hard to understand what he means. Aroma: earthy, malty. Appearance: medium head retention, off-white head, bright amber color. Flavor: malty, citrusy dry finish  Mouthfeel: Nice carbonation, med body.  Overall Impression: Malt back ground, dry citrusy finish, ??? ??? hop aroma, ?????? in body and finish. That my friends is a total of 35 words…..actually 33 full words and only 32 I could read. There is no reason for point deduction, no recommendation on what I could do to make the beer better.  Now to get even more picky, there is no description of what he was tasting. He took 5 points off for aroma. Why? Not enough hops for him? Too much Hops? Why take a whopping 10 points off in flavor for an American Pale Ale which is malty, with a citrusy hop presence and dry finish? You get the picture. When you get a scoresheet like this. You really have to contact the Competition Director (comp_director@bjcp.org) and let him/her know. Judging like this is waste of your money and it is obvious this judge either doesn’t care and is there for reasons for himself, or needs more education. But he is not doing anyone any favors.

OK, now for a much better sheet.

Better sheet

This is a much better sheet. The judge here obviously was tasting the beer and was interested in doing her job. The comments on what she was tasting are good, and well described. Although I would be looking for a bit more info in my scoresheets. For example, what could I have done to push this beer into the next level for her? I like to know that, and really we should be telling the people that. They may agree or disagree, but we need to let them know what they could have done to do better.

The last scoresheet is pretty similar to the second one, but he does give some helpful insights into what I could have done to boost my score.

A good sheet

Now, granted, the BJCP wants you to fill all the lines. That is a good guideline to start with when filling out sheets. You should try to leave no line not filled in with some observation or suggestion. But, this can be very hard in lighter styles, very one-dimensional beers, and lifeless beers. But as a rule you should try. I am sure this judge did, based on several of his lines filled out (especially when compared to sheet #1). I am just stating that for reference. Overall I was happy with the feedback I got, except for the one sheet. I would have been quite upset if there were only 2 judges at the table I got a sheet back like that. That did happen to me once, and I didn’t contact the director. However I do it now. Otherwise judges like that will taint the reputation of those of us who at least try.