Trinity Brewing returns FOBAB Silver Medal

I see your point, but I still disagree. The judges, who have been described in this very context as highly trained, also have the option of not awarding a medal if the beer doesn't fit the stated parameters. In this case, I don't know how it could get any clearer that this beer didn't fit the parameters. Would you award, say, a blonde ale not fermented with Koelsch yeast a silver medal in the Koelsch category? (That said, there is a very interesting discussion concurrently taking place in a separate thread about the variations of "souring" or "sourness" that can play a role in Brett beers.)

 

Maybe I'm making assumptions here, but it seems that a beer with brett in conjunction with pedio or lacto would be acceptable in the category- so the only mistake was in assuming some of those floral/fruity/phenolic elements were from brett. Which they can be. None of us have tasted the beer, though, so there's also a lot of speculation going on.

The real story to me is the integrity of the brewer, not the qualifications of the judges.

As to the Koelsch point- I said earlier that this particular case is not that clear cut, but I do believe the Koelsch example would be. IOW- you do have a case to make, but aren't using the best example to make it.

 

Well, the tartness and/or fruitiness in a Koelsch brewed with California ale yeast could come from the Hallertau hops instead of Koelsch yeast, but I would expect experienced judges of the style to know the difference.

 

This is the dumbest thread

 

Why?
You mad because its makes FOBAB look bush? It is. As are most things in Chicago, and now the judging talent.

I applaud the gent from Trinity.

This goes to show that cicerone means very little, as do ratings, reviews, or any internet fodder about beer.
You are your own judge and jury.
Hype is artificial. The beer will speak for itself.

 

He did not have to release it to the press, nor blame the judging panel for his mistake. Hype is natural for a Michgander. You're entire state is hype from sports to lakefront. Founders is the only exception, Bells is gimiky and hyped up. If it wasn't for chicago, you wouldn't have Bourbon Barrel beers. Later Bro.

 

LOL at midwesterners accusing one another of hype. That's like the Raiders telling the Jets they suck.

 

Where in the article does he blame the judging panel? Yester reached out to the festival, the festival didn't reach out and ask for the medal back. How can you miss brett? Lacto pitches none of the phenols that brett brings, and to take second place the beer would have to express brett characters pretty hard... ooooor they just didn't get it.

 

Looks like a criticism of their abilities, not a placement of blame. I'm pretty sure that's where the controversy in this story is. It isn't the fact that trinity sent the wrong beer, its the fact that the judges placed a beer with no brett second place in a brett beer category. In context that quote refers to why Yester waited to talk to the event organizers before releasing a statement to the press.

 

Interesting how everyone is saying how great and honest this brewery is, when they set out making 2 beers specifically to show the difference between Brett and lacto, because they think they are misunderstood. Then "accidentally" send the wrong one to one of the biggest events in the country. Then..oops guess what we got you, you can't tell the diff, so we better make a big spectical about it. Now they have tons of publicity. Seems too coincidental to me.

 

The point of judges is to be able to tell what is what in these competitions. The fact that they missed this shows they either, A: didnt know what to look for in brett and are unqualified
B: see option A

How is someone supposed to respect a judges decision, when the judge themselves dont even know what they are tasting?

 

I think before we judge the judges we need to do two things.

First you need to actually try the beer in question. Yeast is a living thing and can do some weird things. I would think especially in the Brett category. Any Brett culture is a huge conglomerate of various strains. A particular culture may throw off quite a variety of flavors.

Second We need to know the actual parameters set out by the competition. I have no idea what the actual judging criteria were. This competition is a medal factory so may have had a lot of overlap. The 1 word category may be a bit different than the full set of criteria underneath.

 

Please don't be fooled. This brewery doesn't have much integrity.

http://m.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archiv...-and-forbes-disagree-over-colorado-springs-iq

 

Once again, my cynicism concerning the qualification of someone who calls themself an "expert" of any kind rings true.

 

Great post; shit, it all comes down to taste. And Trinity can act all high and mighty, but are they 100% sure that no Brett leaked into their other beer? They've got Brett all over the place down there; just look at the brewer, that fucker is covered in it. I bet their 'clean' beers are as 'clean' as he is.

 

I am certain they know what they are doing. Plus this guy has an agenda. I'll skip this place when I'm down in CO.

 

I did, but I didn't wanna say anything.