Beer Forum

I entered the world cup of beer this year & had three out of six beers score 41-44 in the first round w/ national & master judges then those beers went to the second round and got scored by non-BJCP judges & novices. and scored in the mid 30's! I don't get it!!! Can some one explain this. The same thing happened in another comp. Earlier in the year.

I have no idea about the WBC, but yesterday we held the judging for the 1st Round of the NHC for the Mountain/NW region here in Seattle.

There was a good number of judges, but without all the novices, we'd have a hard time finishing anywhere near a reasonable time. I presume the same was true for the folks in Boulder.

That said, we ONLY paired up novices with at least 1 experienced BJCP judge.
We never let Novices "fly solo".

EastOly wrote:I entered the world cup of beer this year & had three out of six beers score 41-44 in the first round w/ national & master judges then those beers went to the second round and got scored by non-BJCP judges & novices. and scored in the mid 30's! I don't get it!!! Can some one explain this. The same thing happened in another comp. Earlier in the year.

Well, bottom line is that there are not enough judges and usually comp organizers are happy to let anybody just that has SOME sort of experience. I would hope that they would at least be paired with a high ranking BJCP judge. If all of your scores from one entry came from non-BJCP or novice judges, then I would email the comp coordiator to complain. It's not like anything will happen for you for this comp - but at least maybe they will pay more attention to judge pairing in the future.


Mylo

My wife and I entered 5 beers into the World Cup of Beers. We received back our score sheets yesterday. As I would expect, there was a mix of novice and BJCP judges that scored our beers. Each of the beers had at least one BJCP judge. In reviewing the comments, I feel that all the feedback from the judges was good feedback, either good or bad, novice or certified.

I have been judging beer for over 20 years as a "novice". You would be lucky if you had me as your judge. Don't discount the comments of a judge based on rank. Listen to what they say. There is good feedback in there if you allow yourself to see it.

One thing to add to this discussion is that the NON-BJCP check box can be misleading. Often you have talented judges that have not taken the exam, yet they have to check NON-BJCP on the current score sheet. We have several judges in western Washington who fit this category, and I would have no problem pairing them with a less experienced NON-BJCP judge.

Edit: Did not read Bigbrews comment, this entry could have just been "+1 to Bigbrews comments" instead.

Definitely a question for the competition organizers, try to give them a chance to reply before assuming the worst.

From what Ive seen They do try to pair non bjcp with experienced bjcp judges. Perhaps somehow the flight your beers were in the judging schedule got mixed up. Who knows.
How were the results of the judges? Were both sets of score sheets close? Any chance the second bottle had a contamination issue? I had a double IPA score high at that event and a 20 somthin second round. Luck of the draw I guess.

There is no sense complaining to the competition organizers. They won't read or respond to your emails/complaints. Pretty much the only thing you can do is not enter that competition in the future.

Last year I won HOTY for NYS...there are a lot of competitions that I will never enter again. Now that I live in PA, there are competitions that I'll mail my entries to because when you enter them and win, they actually mail you prizes and GOOD feedback.


Also, there is another factor here. Judging is subjective. Your flight order can make it or break it for you. It sucks but that's just the way it is. Just think of the US military storming the beaches in WWII....the dudes in front got nailed with bullets while the dudes behind them were able to make it.

One more thing you can do is study for the exam, take it, wait 8 months for your score, pass it, then judge yourself and help novice judges do a better job.