Subjectiveness of Beer Judging

I manage global infrastructure (Servers, storage, networking, etc...) in US, Canada, and Australia. I don't do much useful at work anymore but herd cats so this hobby really appeals to me. That and wrenching motorbikes.
 
The problem I'm having with subjectivity right now is that for all intents and purposes it's useless information if I get completely contradictory information. Which is fine except you almost never hear a judge admit that. Like those tests with white wine and food colouring getting rave reviews as a red.

Personally I can't tell a ton of things, which I acknowledge, but it means I can't verify if what I'm being told is true either.
 
The problem I'm having with subjectivity right now is that for all intents and purposes it's useless information if I get completely contradictory information. Which is fine except you almost never hear a judge admit that. Like those tests with white wine and food colouring getting rave reviews as a red.

Personally I can't tell a ton of things, which I acknowledge, but it means I can't verify if what I'm being told is true either.
That’s more or less my same feelings toward the subject. Plenty of “experts” will disagree with each other on a beer. I don’t know who, if any, to believe. I’ve found a way to deal with it. I brew to please me alone. I’m not saying everyone should. I’m saying it works for me.
 
I manage global infrastructure (Servers, storage, networking, etc...) in US, Canada, and Australia. I don't do much useful at work anymore but herd cats so this hobby really appeals to me. That and wrenching motorbikes.
I design business processes so your assessment applies to me as well. Jeffpn is right: ultimately, we brew for ourselves. See the medal on the left.... The same batch of the same beer didn't place at the Colorado State Fair. My approach to judges' comments is to evaluate them individually. I repeat the tasting process, look at their ranking, either tell myself I can see where they thought that or, in some cases, what was s/he thinking. The first instrument to trust is your own palate. It, foremost, tells you if you are brewing good beer or not. If you're satisfied, your beer is good. But when I see a comment like "solventy," I try to find that flavor in the beer, knowing that some are more sensitive to ethyl acetate than others. That's the value of a judge's opinion to me.
The problem I'm having with subjectivity right now is that for all intents and purposes it's useless information if I get completely contradictory information. Which is fine except you almost never hear a judge admit that. Like those tests with white wine and food colouring getting rave reviews as a red.

Personally I can't tell a ton of things, which I acknowledge, but it means I can't verify if what I'm being told is true either.
And I know the tests you're talking about, I've written about them and agree: It's subjective, but it's objectively subjective in that the judge does not know whose beer it is or what you were trying to achieve brewing it. If you're looking for absolutes, you're in the wrong hobby - there aren't really any in the beer world and where they are, the metrics often are indicators rather than absolutes. I've laughed at score sheets (and cried over a couple, too). I guess where I'm going with this ramble is first, trust yourself. You'll get better at tasting if you work at it and it really opens up a new world - I approach food now completely differently than before I learned to taste beer. Keep it up, approach your beer as if someone else brewed it, you'll learn.
 
That’s more or less my same feelings toward the subject. Plenty of “experts” will disagree with each other on a beer. I don’t know who, if any, to believe. I’ve found a way to deal with it. I brew to please me alone. I’m not saying everyone should. I’m saying it works for me.

That's where I'm heading honestly. I'd like to learn something from all this but at best I may try and aggregate every entry made with a beer and see if there is a common theme. The problem is I don't seem to find one, so I feel like I may just start entering contests to win shit and just ignore the scores unless I get a prize.
 
Nosy, to avoid a huge quote just typing the response. I don't feel there was any malice in the judges actions, it just makes it incredibly hard for me to find any useful information in what they're telling me. On an aside it's kind of amusing to have 3 different judges make absolute statements about a beer that directly contradict each other.
 
I didn't feel like having a massive quote block there. ;)
 
Nosy, to avoid a huge quote just typing the response. I don't feel there was any malice in the judges actions, it just makes it incredibly hard for me to find any useful information in what they're telling me. On an aside it's kind of amusing to have 3 different judges make absolute statements about a beer that directly contradict each other.
It is, and I know one of the judges who gave me the 20 (!) on the twice-gold beer. I still heckle him from time to time over it.
 
It is, and I know one of the judges who gave me the 20 (!) on the twice-gold beer. I still heckle him from time to time over it.
If i may add my 2c here in defence to the beer judging thing. The beers i recently entered into the local comp here i knew wernt going to be place winners before i entered them. so the scores i received sorta backed up my own judgments with what i was tasting in my beers (to a degree).

what i did notice was when judging beer after beer we all had a quick discussions about what we were experiencing/tasting in each beer and for the most part i felt we were all on the same page with what we were scoring. We were always within a few points of one another therefore validating our judgment.

But it could be a differnt scenario from table to table comp to comp. Ive got little expierence in this department.

For this reason ill continue on the brew comp thing just to keep me on track. But also a good chance to imbibe in a broad spectrum of different brew styles to be inspired by. Like that beautiful blueberry mead i tasted mmmm mmmmm.
 
I think every member of every forum on the internet works in IT. Maybe that’s what leads them to forums!
For shame ! I build environmentally friendly , bespoke housing for discerning buyers ( who can afford me ) since nobody can atm I'm working for a project builder and building supplies company
 
After reading all this, I have learned at least one thing. Beer judging is like judging art, where some people will pay millions for a Picasso original, others wouldn't give 50 cents for a print of same painting. I have seen it on here many times, "if YOU like your beer, it doesn't matter what others say. "
Though I understand if you make 20 different beers a year, having someone let you know if you're on the right track can be helpful. I started brewing to make a beer for myself that I can't find locally,. I have my 2 recipes that fit my taste, and that is good enough for me. I have no interest in being able to brew every beer, just a couple very well.
 
For shame ! I build environmentally friendly , bespoke housing for discerning buyers ( who can afford me ) since nobody can atm I'm working for a project builder and building supplies company
And I'm a process improvement engineering geek for a large aerospace company.
 

Back
Top