Bier Meisters 27th Annual Homebrew Competition

It was that time of year again, that very special time where I get all judgmental and make drinking beer into hard work.

The Bier Meisters regional competition is regrettably the only competition I faithfully show up to judge at.

It's been eleven years since I took the BJCP exam, and they've rewritten the style guidelines completely once and partially a couple times since then. My original score on the exam was an 83, which qualified me for National rank once my experience points caught up with my score.



Slowly I've accumulated 35 experience points before this weekend, and since I judged Best of Show this weekend in addition to three flights as head judge, I think it's time I start studying for another test. One or two more competitions and I'll have the experience points for Master ranking. But to get that rank, I'll also have to score a 90 on the exam.



When my schedule and budget allows, I'd like to do more competitions, travel up to IBU and Omahops, FOAM, all these great clubs that send judges (and entries) to the Bier Meisters competition.



For that matter, to judge at Nationals. The year we hosted it, I was co-registrar which got me three experience points but also disqualified me from judging int he competition since I'd helped log in the entries.



We don't get as many entries as we did when I got into this. I think they said we were just barely above 300 this time, and I can remember some competitions that knocked on the 500 mark. That said, when I started judging (in 1996), there were a lot of flights where the entries were poison until proven otherwise.

And it's okay if the entries are terrible: it's easy to fill a score sheet out when you have lots of obvious flaws to describe, and those brewers are probably entering to get feedback that will help them improve on what they already know is a problematic brew.



But if there are fewer entries, the brewers entering them are more serious and advanced. I judged a flight of ten meads on Saturday morning that included four assigned scores over 40 and one I gave 48 points to. This is on a 50 point scale, and 45 and up is defined as 'world class.' Frame of reference: I'm still living off a 45 I got on a Cider in 1998.



In fact, in that mead flight I only recall one clunker that really had some obvious flaws. There were a couple that left points on the table because the entry forms didn't provide necessary information (when the brewer MUST provide carbonation and strength designations and doesn't, I can't give him points in those areas: I can't tell if you hit the pocket if you don't call the pocket). Assuming those entries were entered as what they were, i.e. sparkling if it was effervescent, etc., I think that flight might have had seven 40+ entries. That's incredible.

And judging Best of Show, I was really impressed with the overall field. Usually, the way this works is you pour the 25 beers and ciders (the three meads are treated separately), and start kicking things based on obvious flaws. An Oktoberfest might have been the best 3B Oktoberfest/Märzen in it's flight, but it's possible that's damning by faint praise. It could have a significant flaw and just have been closer to the mark than anything it was up against.

This is my sixth BOS round, and it seems like every previous one I've gone through the field and been able to mentally kick ten or more entries before the panel even begins discussion.



This field, I think there were four obvious duds. The grounds for dismissal get pretty narrow when you have to pick first second and third out of 20 really spot-on entries.

The other frustration with BOS rounds, judging beer is not about personal preference. It's about assessing whether what's in the glass fits the style guidelines. But when you're arguing about whether this is a better Bohemian Pils than this is a Foreign Export Stout than this is a Belgian Dark Strong, well, if you happen to love Bo Pils, your personal prejudice is bound to come into play.



The counterbalance is you have four very experienced judges who don't have the same favorites. Judges who know better than to fight too hard for a style they just happen to adore, and who are also leery of kicking a beer just because it comes from a style they can't get excited about.




Discussions of technical difficulty sometimes come into play, too, though they didn't really this year. In fact, the clear Best of Show winner (all four judges were unanimous on it) was a Foreign Export Stout. This is a style that can hide a lot of sin, though I don't think this example was doing so. I've judged quite a few stouts over the years, and I've never encountered a Foreign as dead on balls to style as this one.



Still, there's a sense of injustice when three of the four judges at the table pick the beer you'd give fourth place to the third place slot and your number three becomes an also-ran.


Actually the last three or four beers to get kicked were ones I wished could get on the podium. Of course, every one of these beers came to the BOS with gold medals, I don't think anyone walks away feeling wounded that they didn't get a Best of Show place. That's like the Olympics of Beer and even the great aren't assured of victory.



Oh, and afterward, as you can see, homebrewers and beer judges know how to party. Great catered meal, fun talk by Steven Pauwels of Boulevard Brewing, a little award ceremony.