Malt Madness #3

OK the score sheets and prizes came in the mail today so now everyone can hear how we officially did.

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 For prizes for this competition they gave out cool medals with the Malt Madness logo on them instead of ribbons, I liked them alot. The biggest issue is that for the Gnarleywine we had two brewers and received one medal. I have already written to the Malt Madness coordinator requesting if we can have a second one, we’ll see. For the 3rd place Gnarleywine we received two 40z (approx) bags of pellet hops, they are Brewer’s Gold and Ahtanum. I have never heard of the Ahtanum variety, but Hop Union has it listed in the data base. Personally I could use either since I have no preference, so I’ll let Garrett decide which hops he wants and he can have them. And for the 2nd place Hazelnut Brown I received a Wyeast T-shirt (correct size) and a Wyeast coupon for a free Activator pouch of yeast. I have never used Wyeast yeast before so this should be cool. Looks like Garrett received his score sheets back yesterday so you can check out his post here.

Now, onto the summaries of the score sheets:

  • Saturday IPA – 19/20 – “This beer is lacking in hop aroma, flavor, and bitterness; the finish is sweet and cloying.” – “Needs greater attenuation, pitch more yeast.” (I must say, this beer had 22 total ounces of hops and went from 1.074 to 1.016, these comments don’t even make sense.)
  • Saison – 28/25 – “A Saison that may have fermented a little warm.” – “Perhaps lower fermentation temperature to eliminate fusel alcohols.”
  • Gnarleywine – 38/32 – Third Place American Barleywine – “An excellent American Barleywine, well done!” – “This is a malt monster! I love this barleywine . . . Very, very drinkable.”
  • Hazelnut Brown – 37/36 -  Second Place Specialty Beer – “A nice beer that features prominent hazelnut and chocolate flavor.” – I enjoy the hazelnut flavor, it presented itself nicely.”

It’s funny (in a not so good way), I just looked at all the judges ranks and was kind of turned off by how “young” this group appeared to be (I know I am only a BJCP Recognized Judge). Out of the 8 judges their were 2 Apprentices (unqualified), 5 Recognized ( the lowest qualified level) and 1 Grand Master Level III that judged out beers. Our best score came from the GMLIII judge, nice! Anyway, I’ll take what we got. I think the next local competition is Split Rock in November.

4 Responses to “Malt Madness #3”

  1. Garrett Says:

    That’s it… I’m counter-pressure filling some of our Saturday IPA and we’re submitting it to Split Rock. I want to get a decent review of this beer so we can send it to the judges in this competition with a big “F-U” attached. I don’t know what these fools were smoking, but they obviously didn’t taste OUR beer. I wonder if they got some entry sheets mixed up or something.

    Great scores on the Gnarelywine… although the 32 vs. 38 score is quite a disparity. Don’t think I’ve ever had a beer where the judges’ scores were that different. Don’t worry overly much about the extra medal for me if they say no… don’t need one to know its a good beer 🙂

  2. Brian Says:

    Looks like the extra medal is a no go, sorry dude. E-mail attached below about the medal. With the score for the GW 6 points is about the maximum in differences that is OK, if it is more than that the two judges will typically adjust their scores up and down to compensate and meet closer. Yeah, it’s a large gap, but not unreasonable.

    Michael Lessa wrote:
    > Hi, Brian!
    >
    > Thanks for entering and congratulations on your win. We’re glad you like the
    > medals, but we have decided that we are only awarding one medal per beer. We
    > understand that this is the custom with other competitions as well. To be
    > perfectly honest, myself and another one of the club officers (both of us
    > also being on the competition committee) found ourselves in the exact same
    > situation and we’re not even making an exception for ourselves. We hope you
    > understand and apologize for any inconvenience. Keep Malt Madness in mind
    > for your brewing calendar next year!
    >
    > Mike Lessa
    > LVHB

  3. E Says:

    these people sound like a bunch of idiots. the original post put that idea in my head, and the reply to your email confirmed it.

  4. John - Friend of your brother... Says:

    Brian –

    Are you aware of the Lehigh Valley Brew Fest 2007 September 29th? It’s at Ag Hall – Allentown Fairgrounds
    http://www.lvbrewfest.org 570-992-5546

    Good Luck!

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