It's like the good old days! I remember during covid I judged and I think I had 24 to get through, took me 3 days, especially as some were 10%! 
February competition, Dark Beers
- Thread starter Twostage
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12. Definitely a two night job.
Sadly that isn't mine - a bit concerned mine hasn't shown up yet as it was posted a week ago.
Nah. That's mine.
Hmmm. Unfortunately not many entries have their screen/forum name on them so I’m having to to do a bit of Hercule Poirot to work out who sent what. What was written on your bottle?
Is anyone else thinking of entering ?
If not I think I'll start judging tonight
If not I think I'll start judging tonight
At least that mystery is solved!
How's the judging going?Is anyone else thinking of entering ?
If not I think I'll start judging tonight
I’ve done two batches, third one tonight.
I’ve decided to radically alter judging (anyone who knows me will not be surprised
). Instead of the usual first second and third, I’ve divided them into styles/groups and awarding a first place for each category. I might rank the winners into first, second and third overall if I can figure out a fair way of doing it.These are nice beers.
Isn't Best of Show, or overall first, second, third done purely on which you like best, with no regard to style guides or scoring?I’ve done two batches, third one tonight.
I’ve decided to radically alter judging (anyone who knows me will not be surprised
These are nice beers.
That's a thought.
Right, the scores are in...
Firstly, despite this being a marathon judging session I've really enjoyed it. It has made me realise how nice dark beers are and I'm going to brew more of them and order more when I'm out. The number of entries also shows how popular it is to make, possibly because dark beers are really nice but the choice is limited at your local. Maybe a message here for the commercial brewers.
I can also say none of the beers had what you would call a fault, all were very drinkable (although some were definitely in the 'last one before bed' category).
One thing I must say for future entrants and judges is that the beer bottles must be labelled. I had to label some of the bottles myself and was constantly worried I'd mislabeled them.
So that's the overtures done with.
As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to split the entries into categories which are porter, oat stout, other stout and other and have just a first place for each. I also decided that @RichardM was right and I should have overall ranking.
So here we go - category winners "in no particular order", lights dim, tense music...
Porter - @Stu's Brews with Coffee, chocolate, and vanilla porter.
Oat stout - @tondy79 with Oatmeal stout.
Other stout - @UKSkydiver with Mocanilla imperial stout.
Other - @Nottsbeer with Trappist bottle 1 (he sent two bottles but only wanted one of them in the comp).
Overall places :-
Joint third (I only realised afterwards that this means all category winners placed) :-
@Nottsbeer - Trappist 1 and @UKSkydiver - Mocanilla Imperial. I really couldn't put one above the other.
Second :-
@Stu's Brews - Coffee porter
First place :-
@tondy79 - Oatmeal stout.
Well done all winners and placers (sort of same thing here) and thanks to all entrants for giving me some nice beer to drink all week
.
Going to start typing up my notes for the entrants (another marathon session
) so I'll get them out as soon as possible.
Finally, I'd be happy to 'judge' dark beers again next month (and every other month) if anyone is interested.
Firstly, despite this being a marathon judging session I've really enjoyed it. It has made me realise how nice dark beers are and I'm going to brew more of them and order more when I'm out. The number of entries also shows how popular it is to make, possibly because dark beers are really nice but the choice is limited at your local. Maybe a message here for the commercial brewers.
I can also say none of the beers had what you would call a fault, all were very drinkable (although some were definitely in the 'last one before bed' category
).One thing I must say for future entrants and judges is that the beer bottles must be labelled. I had to label some of the bottles myself and was constantly worried I'd mislabeled them.
So that's the overtures done with.
As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to split the entries into categories which are porter, oat stout, other stout and other and have just a first place for each. I also decided that @RichardM was right and I should have overall ranking.
So here we go - category winners "in no particular order", lights dim, tense music...
Porter - @Stu's Brews with Coffee, chocolate, and vanilla porter.
Oat stout - @tondy79 with Oatmeal stout.
Other stout - @UKSkydiver with Mocanilla imperial stout.
Other - @Nottsbeer with Trappist bottle 1 (he sent two bottles but only wanted one of them in the comp).
Overall places :-
Joint third (I only realised afterwards that this means all category winners placed) :-
@Nottsbeer - Trappist 1 and @UKSkydiver - Mocanilla Imperial. I really couldn't put one above the other.
Second :-
@Stu's Brews - Coffee porter
First place :-
@tondy79 - Oatmeal stout.
Well done all winners and placers (sort of same thing here) and thanks to all entrants for giving me some nice beer to drink all week
.Going to start typing up my notes for the entrants (another marathon session
) so I'll get them out as soon as possible.Finally, I'd be happy to 'judge' dark beers again next month (and every other month) if anyone is interested
.
.
)
Lovely job, thank you very much! And well done to all those who placed!
stubrewworx
Regular.
