Beer Judging

Judging at Plymouth Beer Festival

I had the privilege to sit on the beer judging panel at the recent Plymouth CAMRA Beer Festival and it reminded me as to how hard it is to judge beer. It sounds really easy, tasting beers and saying which one you like best, but actually trying to rank 6 plus different beers is harder than you think.

The format is well organised and credit to CAMRA and their volunteers for the way they run this. Usually there is table of 6 to 8 tasters with a chairman. Jugs of beer are bought to the table one by one and the judges mark the beers for various attributes. Each judge fills in sheet and sums up the scores at the end. Now for the actual tasting and that's where it starts to get harder for there is no right or wrong and there are sometimes opposing views around the judging table.

Firstly, in my view its a mistake to try and identify beer brands as you judge. invariably you are usually wrong. That's not what its about, what does it matter what the beer is called or who brews it, that will only colour your judgement as you start to associate brand or brewer values with the beer you are tasting. Better to focus on the beer itself, the colour, condition, aroma, taste and linger.

Everyone tastes with their eyes. A cloudy beer should not really make it to the judging table but a beer lacking condition could well do so. This is an instant negative and some well known brands can find themselves falling at the earliest of judging fences for this reason. Now it starts to get more difficult.

As a judge you are normally looking for a beer that stands out from the rest. This usually means more hops, more malt, more chocolate, more fruity flavours etc. Not always does it mean the best balanced beer which actually is usually what makes a popular beer with the general public. Having been a judge I can really see how the beers that do the best are the ones that are the most distinctive flavours. The best balanced beers don't always stand out, whereas those with lots of certain flavours do.

I'm not sure there is a right or wrong as any sort of guidance from CAMRA could result in a skewed result, I think its better to just let things take their course. However this does often mean the winning beers at a festival can be the odd ball tasting beers or those with strong flavours that don't always appeal to the masses.

How wonderful it would be if at this years Great British Beer Festival a well known, well balanced tasting brand could win the ultimate prize. Quite how we get to that point I'm not sure, but maybe judges should try to be aware of drinkability when they judge. How often do you here, tastes nice but I could not drink a pint - if that's the case then that's the sort of beer you would not want to win. I for one have my fingers crossed that the winning beer is something I've heard of before and brewed by a reasonably sized brewer.