Medal, Schmedal

This past November, Trinity Brewing out of Colorado Springs, Colo., won a silver medal for its Easy Swinger in the Wild Beer (Brett) category at the Festival of Barrel and Wood-Aged Beers (FoBaB) in Chicago. Winning is usually a cause for celebration. But Trinity founder Jason Yester didn’t relish his award, he returned it.

Why? The brewery mistakenly sent Swing Se Pliser, a sour IPA that uses the same base IPA as their Easy Swinger, except it’s fermented with acidic Lactobacillus instead of funky Brettanomyces. Both beers however, are “aged on individually dry hopped French oak Chardonnay barrels.” Confused? We don’t blame you.

Yester owned up to the mistake and sent the medal back, but criticized FoBaB judges, who also evaluated a Wild Beer (Acidic) category, for not being able to distinguish Lacto from Brett.

FoBaB organizers apologized for the error. And the internet cheered, praising Yester and Trinity for returning their prize, while LOL-ing at the unnamed judges. The debate and hate continue. But what did we learn from this?

Everyone makes mistakes.
Trinity shipped the wrong beer, and FoBaB should screen their judges better. Mistakes happen. Chalk it up to first world problems. Everyone needs to relax and have a beer.

Take professionally judged competitions with a grain of salt.
Beer judges—professionally trained or not—are just people whose opinions are influenced by everything from palate fatigue to lack of experience. Even the most prestigious ones. Every awards process has its imperfections.

At the end of the day, the real judges are consumers. And they don’t care if a beer meets specific style guidelines or wins a medal. They just care if the beer is good.

Respect Beer. ■