Difficulty vs. Popularity in BJCP scoring (in general)

With good judges, it shouldn't matter. I've been at some best of show tables where there almost feels like a preference for the less "craft" styles because there is no where to hide flaws. An RIS or American IPA really needs to blow the judges out of the water to win, where returning to find the American Premium still tastes clean as it approaches room temperature may be enough for it to win.

 

Fact: Dark American lager is not a very popular style commercially. As such I believe it is at a big disadvantage in a Best of Show setting. A German lager will win over a less popular style, at least here in the USA. If judged in Germany, I can only guess but I would imagine that the opposite may hold true but who really knows. This discussion is an example of the silly sorts of biases that I believe almost all judges have whether they are conscious of them or not. Best of Show judging is a huge crapshoot. However in this case, I do believe that the German styles would have a slight advantage due to the predominant biases at play in the USA. Now, if you put up the same German styles against an Imperial Dark American lager Category 23, then all bets are off, and actually this might even swing the advantage to the Imperial because Americans just love their Imperial shit.

 

My premise is that on any given day there are a few beers that could win. Any judge being human has taste differences. Depending on who the judge is that day probably has a lot to do with who wins. That variable is the biggest uncontrollable variable there is. I have won a contest and having tried a few of the other contestant's beers I would not have picked mine. The real value of competitions is to see if you have flaws in your beer that other people who have some form of credentials can find. Even saying this I would suggest sending to more than 1 competition to verify.

 

If you look at the NHC Gold winners from 2004 to 2013 in category 4. Not all complete.
Some categories you could say yes, others no.

4a Dark American Lager - 2
4b Munich Dunkel - 3
4c Schwarzbier - 5

Looking at Pilsners
2a German Pils - 3
2b Czech Pils - 4
2c Classic American Pils - 3

Category 1 is interesting
1a Light American Lager - 4
1b Standared American Lager - 2
1c Premium American Lager - 0
1d Munich Helles - 3
1e Dortmunder Expoert - 1

Light Hybrids
6a Cream Ale - 3
6b Blonde Ale - 2
6c Koelsch - 4
6d Am Wheat or Rye - 2

Dark Hybrids
7a N. German Altbier - 3
7b California Common - 1
7c Duesseldorf Altbier -5

 

Thanks for compiling this list. It confirms the general sense that I had over years the that some of the blander American styles have fared well in competition. It suggested to me that judges can be pretty good at assessing a beer's merits within the context of the beer's style. If I am not mistaken, there has even been one or more American lager that earned Homebrewer of the Year honors.

 

Peter, I can report that the 2013 Homebrewer of the Year was Annie Johnson for her Light Lager called "Mow the Damn Lawn".

I suspect that my wife helped her with naming that beer!?!

Cheers!

 

I think part of it is that it is easier to score the blander and lighter styles because one tends to look for faults (plus they stick out more) as opposed to optional characteristics that can make judging more of a personal preference.

From 2012-2014, lighter beers won BOY for the NHC.

 

There might be something to this. Perhaps it is easier for judges to be more objective and reach a consensus with these styles because of their narrower guidelines. However, I hesitate to say anything that might sound like a detraction of these previous winners -- if I brewed a ribbon winning American lager (or any lager) I'd be pretty pumped up about it.

 

This was the one I was most sure about.
From my perspective, a better beer name would be "Shovel the Damn Snow off the Damn Driveway." Not sure what the style would be. Winter Warmer?

 

Yeah, you would expect that to be a Winter Warmer although when I am done shoveling I am personally over-heated from the exertion so I wouldn't mind a Pale Lager afterwards. I still have some homebrewed Bohemian Pilsners; maybe I should save those for snow days!?!

Cheers!

 

One of my best friends won gold at the NHC for his munich dunker lager and it was f*cking awesome. No flaws and was also a melanoiden bomb due to the abundance of munich malt and a triple decoction. His recent attempts to replicate it minus the decoction (replaced with lots of melanoiden malt) have been much more bland and not as well attenuated.

 

One comment on the NHC final round golds. Second round has more high level judges than your normal competition. The BOY is Master or maybe Grand Master and up.

 

lots of ways to go with this.
I'd guess a majority of judges, when faced with three "exactly equivalent examples" would favor the styles they enjoy more. For most that is not going to be the Dark American Lager. However there's a subset who would say "Man, these are all great, but we so rarely see a good 4A that I'm leaning towards that beer"

of course the next time I encounter 3 perfect examples of 3 different styles in a medal round, it'll be the first. And yes I know OP didn't say perfect - still. If there was a perfect 4C, and equally imperfect 4A/4B/4C in the top 4, I'd guess the imperfect 4C misses out on a medal - judges seem to like to reward multiple styles.

in my opinion the bigger issue with judging is in Understood versus Misunderstood beers. But we're (slowly) getting better. excessively roasty schwarzbier, excessively fruity Kolsch, asking for more malt complexity in pils or helles, more hops in blonde ale, more body/creaminess in porter, more caramel in amber, accepting only bone-dry, peppery saison, smokiness in Scottish ales, rewarding Hop Juice pale ales or "are there splinters in my tongue?" wood aged beers or bourbon bombs or appley cider. But again, I remind myself: Slooooowly getting better.

cheers--
--Michael