Introduction
Congratulations on your first judging gig! You’ve earned yourself an associate judging position, which means you’ll be part of a team tasked with tasting, scoring, and assessing beers alongside experienced judges and the panel chair.
The Judging Process
The judging process usually involves dividing judges into groups to assess specific beers, with each group focusing on a particular style directed by the head judge. This hierarchical structure allows less experienced judges to learn from seasoned palates through open debate and constructive conversation during the assessment.
Show Set Up
Let’s take a peek behind the scenes at the show setup. A dedicated stewarding team works tirelessly to present impartial beer samples to the judges. Before the samples arrive, exhibitors receive class and exhibit tags, which help the stewarding team organize the show efficiently. Beer samples are often delivered in keg format to maintain the brewer’s intended flavors, and the stewarding team’s precision in temperature and pouring timing is crucial.
If you’re looking to break into the judging scene, volunteering as a steward is an excellent way to learn about the show process and build connections.
Judging Process Continued
Now, onto the judging process itself. When you have a beer sample in front of you, start by observing its appearance. Does it align with the expected characteristics for its style? Move on to the aroma—identify primary scents, assess complexity, and consider if it matches the style.
As you taste, pay attention to the balance between malt, bitterness, and hops. Look for specific brewing notes and evaluate texture, mouth-feel, carbonation, balance, and the length of flavor.
To standardize judging, many shows use a scale to assess characteristics such as malt and hop aroma and flavor, bitterness, fermentation characters, and beer body. This scale ranges from none to high, with subcategories to further distinguish beer quality. Judges also review gravity, alcohol content, hop bitterness units (IBU), and color using the American Standard Reference Method (SRM).
| CRITERIA | 50 POINTS | 100 POINTS |
| AROMA | 12 | 15 |
| APPEARANCE | 3 | 20 |
| FLAVOR | 20 | 50 |
| MOUTHFEEL | 5 | – |
| OVERALL IMPRESSION | 10 | 15 |
The end is in sight, all beers have been assessed, depending on the size of the show it could have taken several days to reach this point, the last morning is usually reserved for trophy judging, the best of the show are re-poured and the lead judges will taste through them again to select the ultimate winners, this process can take from minutes to hours depending on the judges, beers, with stakes this high you want to get it right!
So, rookie judge, embrace the opportunity, trust your taste buds, and don’t be afraid to voice your opinions. Happy judging!