Well, have had three more competitions since the one posted about last spring... And I’m in the process of thinking this through some...
Oregon State Fair, August 2017
2nd Place for Dark Czech Lager
3rd Place for Pre-Prohibition Pilsner
Thought the Czech Lager was quite good. The guy that beat me, ironically with another Dk Cz Lager, came in runner up Best of Show.
Rocktoberfest (OR), September 2017
2nd Place for Czech Pale Lager
Capitol Brewers Harvest Classic (OR), October 2017
2nd Place for German Pilsner
And Then There’s Today...
All was going well with this until today... Got results for Oregon Brew Crew’s “Fall Classic”, gels last Saturday in Portland, OR. I’ve entered brew competitions for the last 13 months, and I’ve won at least one medal in each competition until today. Did Not Place...! Notta. Ouch!
Look forward to seeing my score sheets. Hopefully the beer I entered actually made it to the competition (dropped it off at a LHBS). It probably did...
What do I take from this experience?
I’ve done well overall, and competition results shows that I do make good beer... (It proves - as most of you know - that great beer can be made with BIAB, same as any other brewing method...if there is still a question). At the end of the day, making good beer important - at least for those of us that love great beer!
Judging is subjective. Have seen beers that did mediocre in one competition do awesome in another. Sometimes beer does change, similar to wine...over time. And other things can happen too... But you can still learn from sending your beer in for evaluation and see how knowledgeable beer people evaluate it. But if you make good beer, you will win some awards... Maybe not all the time, but at least some of the time.
We have really good /soft water where I live in Oregon. Great for most Pilsners. All of my wins have been from lagers. Every single one. Now, I brew at least 2/3 lagers... Think I need to pay attention to water adjustments more with Ales, in particular APA and IPA. Mine taste pretty good, but not special.
I’ve got my first ever Rauchbier, worked really hard on it. Tastes good, great flavor, but a little “thin”... Was going to use Bavarian Lager Yeast. BCS Book suggested Bohemian Lager Yeast and I went with that instead. Oops. Also maybe could have mashed a little higher temperature. Both of those changes next time should make a definitely better beer next time, with more body and “mouth feel”. I guess this is how we improve. Pros learn the same way...
Anyway, this is a combination Muse / Rant, I guess. Surely there are some interesting examples out here.