This week at our BJCP class, we learned about and tasted a few beer from some of my favorite styles. It’s so weird but whenever I attend these classes, I find myself at odds… with myself! For the most part, I look forward to going. It’s great chance to sit and learn how to taste beers from one of the few certified master judges. In addition, I get to try a number of beers that I normally wouldn’t be able to get to.
On the other hand, I get a bit nervous as everyone in the class is an avid beer lover. Amongst my friends, I’m the beer guy. Here, I’m a beer guy. Also, I don’t feel completely comfortable with my palette just yet. I feel good when my scores seem to be middle of the road but I get nervous if I find myself too high or low. I shouldn’t be afraid of sharing my reviews as it’ll only help me get better as a reviewer. After all, that’s why we’re all there, to learn and grow from one another.
Just like last time, I’ll post what I scored these beers below. If you’ve tried any of these beers before, feel free to comment and let me know if you agree or disagree.
| Style (Example) | Aroma | Appearance | Flavor | Mouthfeel | Overall Impression | Total |
| 8A Standard/Ordinary Bitter (Tetley’s) |
9/12 | 2/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 41/50 |
| Notes: This is fast becoming a favorite style of mine. Despite the name, there’s nothing ordinary or overly bitter about this beer. The “bitter” comes from the balance of the beer. The style is fairly well balance but more so towards the bitter end, hence the name. The other goog thing about this style is that it’s low gravity, or low alchohol which means you can drink a lot of this and not get too messed up. Important if you’re drinking for flavor and not to get wasted. | ||||||
| 8B Special/Best/ Premium Bitter (Fuller’s London Pride) |
9/12 | 3/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 42/50 |
| Notes: Very similar in flavor profile to the Ordinary Bitter, just higher in alcohol. In a sense, the progression in style is very similar to those of the American pale lagers. | ||||||
| 8C Extra Special/Stong Bitter (Red Hook ESB) |
7/12 | 3/3 | 15/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 36/50 |
| Notes: It never fails to happen to me. Every week, there just happens to be a beer that my palette gets screwed up over. A beer, that I “don’t get”. This week, this was that beer. | ||||||
| 10A American Pale Ale (Firestone Walker Pale Ale) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 8/10 | 45/50 |
| Notes: My favorite style. Like many other people, when I first started to drink beer, I didn’t like the bitterness. I found it unpleasant and simply not good tasting. Over the years though, bitterness became a flavor that I learned to like. After a while, it became a flavor I would crave. Learning to love bitterness takes time and a little bit of pushing your level of comfort. It’s vital for a beer to exhibit some level of hop bitterness. It’s what balances out the beverage. Basically, if the beer ain’t even a little bit bitter, it ain’t even a beer. In addition to the Firestone Walker, we tried two homebrews as well. The first, I didn’t like too much. I actually rated it a 34 (which, from what I hear, is pretty good for a homebrewer). After it had a chance to warm up though, I liked it better. The second beer I rated a 41. While it rated lower than the commercial example, I enjoyed it much better. It had a nose that some in the class was grapefruit, I myself was pulling out some guava notes. | ||||||
| 10B American Amber Ale (SLO Brewing/ Downtown brew) |
7/12 | 3/3 | 14/20 | 4/5 | 4/10 | 32/50 |
| Notes: This was a very poor example of the style. Giving it a 32 was probably being a little too nice. Lots of things were off with this, in particular, I smelled a lot of cheese in the aroma. Not even real cheese but processed cheese. | ||||||
| 10C American Brown Ale (Lost Coast Downtown Brown) | 9/12 | 3/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 6/10 | 40/50 |
| Notes: Supposedly, this is a style that Pete (of Pete’s Wicked Ale fame) developed. I used to love drinking the english version of this beer, Newcastle Brown Ale, back when I was an alcoholic. Now, I don’t particularly care much for the style but this example was a good example of the style. | ||||||
| 14A English IPA (Samuel Smith IPA) |
10/12 | 3/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 42/50 |
| Notes: Now we’re getting to one of the most flavorful and strongest in alcohol of the beer styles, the IPA. Legend has it this style was developed for the long sea voyage to India. Hops, in addition to being a bittering agent, makes for a good preservative as well. As a result, this beer style was better suited for lasting the long sea voyage to India. | ||||||
| 14C Imperial IPA (Mendocino Imperial IPA) |
8/12 | 3/3 | 18/20 | 4/5 | 7/10 | 40/50 |
| Notes: We skipped the American IPA style this week because our instructor John forgot the example at his place. The Imperial IPA is also known as a double IPA. More than likely, the “Imperial” part of the name was given as a nod to the Imperial Stout style. | ||||||
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