By Toby Guidry, Certified Judge and Assistant Communication Director
Bruce Buerger and Brian Joas were introduced by Susan Ruud. Both have been doing judge training for the past 4 years and have produced at least 40 judges. They opened by asking about how many people were in each category of judges, evaluators, gurus, etc., and how many people have attended some sort of sensory training. The topics covered and a high-level summary follows.
What judge training teaches you – Teaches you about the concept of styles, which deals with both BJCP and BA styles. It also helps you with general guidelines on how to perceive beer (Aroma, Appearance, Flavor, Mouthfeel, Overall Impression). It helps you build your beercabulary to describe what you’re perceiving using a common language. This also helps build your skills to completely evaluate the beer from all perspectives. Another important aspect is how to tactfully evaluate the beer and to actually be helpful to brewers on how to improve the problematic beers. Additionally, improving brewing process, ingredients, and packaging is a hugely important aspect to helping brewers produce better beers.
How does this apply to homebrewing – Consider how different ingredients and processes influence the finished beer. What about time and process? How do these affect the final product? Impartiality is very important to objectively providing feedback, Practice, practice, practice. You should always be cognizant and self-evaluate and troubleshoot your own palate and perceptions. You should always be aware from your personal limitations. Some people are more sensitive to some sensory compounds than others. Diacetyl and Acetaldehyde are commonly found flavor/aroma components which are not universally perceived the same way. Your caramel and butterscotch might be my movie popcorn butter.
How does this apply to tasting gurus – Consider what are you are observing and perceiving. Do you have certain biases which will affect your evaluations? Is the brewer known for certain styles and influences? This may also affect the finished product. What ingredients and processes were used? Is the brewer/beer going for a certain final profile using traditional English ingredients, or do they like experimenting and producing something completely new? Packaging and shelf life will also be a big influencer on the final product. Is it a style that needs to be consumed fresh? What is the brewers recommended shelf life? Could the issue be a single bottle or batch? Always strive to eliminate your own personal biases where you can. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it isn’t any good.
How we train folks – Analyzing evaluating beers, grains & malting, mashing and water, hops, boils, adjuncts, and specialty ingredients, yeast, fermentation, conditioning and packaging, flaws and troubleshooting 1 & 2, recipe formulation, and exam preparation. These are all aspects that will help from both a BJCP perspective and even a general evaluation perspective.
Thing to try – Prepare materials in advance. Give people a real experience that they can integrate into their process. Don’t overwhelm them. Don’t try to squeeze too much information into a single session. Try to give people a head’s up so they can pre-read the material. Encourage participants to bring questions and help them think about questions that they can research and answer. Try to bring the real world examples which will help people remember what the guidelines are supposed to be about. Sample the ingredients and processes to help people understand how they affect the finished product. This is actually an area where the Budweiser process is a great example. Also remember to stay on point. Don’t drift and lose interest and overwhelm your audience. Keep it in a manageable format and time frame.
Key points:
Can’t install a palate. It must be built.
Build your vocabulary. Use your words.
It’s not about what you like. It’s about the beer in front of you. Remember impartiality!
Just because you scored well on an exam doesn’t mean that you’re the be all, end all of beer!
Style understanding must marry with sensory skills to create knowledge.
Always remember that style isn’t good or bad. If it doesn’t fit into a style and score well in that style, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad beer. It just means that it shouldn’t be placed into that style in a competition. Well made beer may defy certain styles.
The flavor wheel is a good place to build your vocabulary and sensory memory. Malt and hop teas will help you build your perceptions on what malts and hops can provide to the wort and finished beer. You can use both warm and cold teas with hops to figure out both bitterness and flavor and aroma concepts. Be a foodie to learn your experience database and vocabulary. If you don’t know what mango, papaya, raisins, coffee, etc. taste or smell like, how are you going to recognize them in beer? Read the labels and see what the brewer/vintner/mazer thinks the flavor profile should be. How does the finished product compare to the real world aromas/flavors/etc.?
Q&A
Use the online resources and get together with others to get a sanity check on your own perceptions.
How far out should you prepare? Generally speaking, try to schedule the training where you’re doing off flavors after their palate has been built up.
A question was asked about color. Remember, color is only a point of the final score. If the beer hits the mark on every other aspect, color is an extremely small percentage of the final beer.
Developing your palate and vocabulary is a 24/7 process of building experiences, flavors, and aromas.
Don’t be a style nazi. Good beer is good beer. It just might not be a beer for competition.