American HomebrewAmerican Homebrewers Association – National Homebrew Competition West Regional Event
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| AHA National Homebrew Competition at Devils Canyon click to view gallery |
This coming Saturday, May 3rd, is the day I take my test to become a recognized BJCP beer judge. I’ve been studying a little but like most folks, I wait until the end to cram. Having already taken the BJCP preparatory classes, I got a small sense of what beer judging would be but not having been at a homebrew competition, I’d never know for sure. That was until last Sunday.
The American Homebrewers Association held their National Homebrew Competition, West Regional Event at Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company in Belmont, CA. I signed up for this event partly because I’ve never been to a competition and I wanted to see what they are really like. And partly because it people who served at this event will get priority for the Samuel Adams Longshot Competition in San Francisco late May.
Not having ever been to Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company (Devil’s Canyon), I assumed that it would be like most brew pubs. Meaning, it would mainly be a restaurant with a brewery. What Sammy and I found was nothing of the sort. Devil’s Canyon is located in the middle of an industrial park and is more of a production brewery.
Since I haven’t taken my BJCP test just yet Sammy and I signed up to be stewards. The job of a steward is fairly simple: we bring beers to the beer judges and double check their scores. According to the BJCP, the steward’s job is as follows:
A program participant who assists judges, obtains entries and supplies, handles paperwork, and manages the competition logistics at a judging table.
While I was initially a little nervous, once we got into the flow of things, being a steward was actually fairly easy. There’s a lot of standing around and paying attention to the judges. As soon as they begin to engage each other in a debate, that’s when you know they’re ready for the next beer. We take away the old beer and score sheets but not before asking if the most recently judged beer should be capped for a mini-Best of Show (mini-BOS). Nothing too exciting but as someone who is passionately interested in beer, I found it very interesting to listen to the judges go back and forth with each other.
Usually, a more experienced judge (national level or higher) is paired with a less experienced judge (apprentice, recognized or certified). It’s kinda like the whole Jedi/Padawan relationship only without the lightsabers, the force, and mind tricks. Also lacking were the Jedi robes, the hair braids and spiritual philosophies. Okay, it’s nothing like the Jedi/Padawan relationship.
I joke, of course. It’s actually a very good system that fosters honest debate and open dialogue. One pair of judges (a national level and a recognized level) were often at opposite ends of the spectrum with their beers. The national level would rate a beer highly and the recognized level lower or vice-versa. If the difference between scores is greater than 7, discussion is supposed to take place between judges and, hopefully, compromise.
At the end of the day, I didn’t get any scores or winners because this was a regional event with the winners moving to the next round. By the end of the day, I got a really good sense of how a homebrew competition works. All-in-all, a very good day and I’m looking forward to this weekend’s test hoping to join the ranks of other BJCP judges.