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Every now and again, I get to do things that make me behave like an idiot. Accordingly, when I was asked to be a judge in the International Beer Competition 2005, I took every opportunity I could to remind people that I had been chosen for such an honour. Requests for any petty social interaction were answered with excessive details about my activities for that particular date. "Sorry, I can't make it to the movies that evening but I'M GOING TO BE A JUDGE IN THE INTERNATIONAL BEER COMPETITION!!!" was a typical email from me around that period. For shame.
Arriving at the venue, agog at the assembled great and good, I found my allotted table and panel members, who were all equally clued up on matters beery, although our collective expertise covered subtly different areas. To briefly sum up the judging process: four hundred-odd beers, split into categories, to be blind-tasted for quality and enjoyability, and then packaging assessed for quality and usability. Sixty judges, split into tables of five or six, blind tasting a two categories (for example, wheat beer, standard lager up to 4.2% abv, strong ale over 5% abv), and then assessing the packaging of two different categories, one morning session, one afternoon session. Spittoons were provided, although judging by the look of the strong ale judges come lunchtime, not used much.
I pick on the strong ale judges for no other reason than their category being one of the most populous, the poor souls / lucky fellows having had a whopping fifty-odd beers to taste. Now, while this is the kind of gruelling-but-enjoyable task that we all dream of, it's actually quite taxing to do. I say this from a position of ignorance though, as my colleagues and I were all miffed and amused in equal parts by the news that we were judging the standard lager category (up to 4.2% abv) in the morning, and fruit beers in the afternoon. To add a further level of irony, there were only eight beers in each category, so we had finished quickly, and got to watch our fellow judges sluicing through the rest of the fine ales, strong lagers, and so forth.
That's not to say, though, that we took our judging duties lightly. Goodness, no. The standard lagers (up to 4.2%) were all diligently eyed, nosed and mouthed, with mixed results, although overall, the quality was a tad disappointing. I'm as curious as you to discover the results (held back until April, apparently), but such was the nature of the operation all the tasting was truly blind. However, I can say that of the eight standard lagers (up to 4.2%), one was so metallic as to almost certainly be from a can (were the submitters serious?), and one had a penetrating sulphurous smell which, while a slight eggy whiff might be desirable in a Burton ale, was just all wrong. Four others were bland without being offensive, and two were acceptable, although given that one was the first beer tasted, it might just have been "first one of the day" syndrome writ large. And given its distinctive grainy aroma, I have a chilling hunch about the identity of one of the ones I scored fairly highly....
The fruit beers were all more or less predictable, with one notable exception, although again, I've absolutely no idea what it was. However, what I can tell you is that it is almost certainly English, and its taste of honey, vanilla, slight woodiness and floral aftertaste was enjoyably distinctive and different from everything else I tasted that afternoon, and also everything I've ever tasted up until that point. It was a bit like Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Beer, but with a smoother, more floral kick to it.
Initial judging duties discharged, I was subpoena'd to one of the "super-juries", as a conflict of interests meant that a couple of medal-awarding judges had to be removed - perhaps this was the pay-off for . Determined not to be cowed by the presence of two legendary figures of the brewing industry, I resolved to fight for what I thought were the best beers, determined that I would make my mark as a young(ish) firebrand, and speak my mind. And do you know what? It didn't make the slightest difference, because we all picked the same beers, in the same order, for gold, silver and bronze medals. Again, we haven't a clue what they were, but it was a nice demonstration that we were scoring along similar criteria, and that the competition overall is worthwhile event turning up worthy winners.
As a footnote, I should add that the sponsor, Sainsbury's, is going to have a mini beer festival, giving the gold medal winners the exposure they deserve. When will this be? April 2005. Go and buy everything by the Rogue Brewery, for it is exceptional.
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