I had a bit of a WTF moment when I read the scoresheet for my old ale refermented with brett. The overall impression says: "Malt profile is faily one dimensional and missing the complex nutty/carmel or molsses/treacle sweetness. Apparent brett and oak tannins. Perhaps increase the malt blend with bigger specialty malts and some complex sugars." This was by a BJCP Certified judge. The malt profile was 11 lbs Maris Otter 1 lbs flaked barley .5 lbs carastan .5 lbs brown sugar .5 lbs dark crystal .25 lbs extra dark crystal .5 lbs chocolate malt Perhaps I'm missing something, but doesn't brett eat just about every sugar in the beer leaving it fairly dry? Its like complaining about the lack of water in a desert. Am I missing something here? Can you have residual sweetness/big malt presence in a brett beer?
I agree with the judge on this one...an Olde Ale should have some sweetness...which makes it inappropriate imho, I don't care what the bjcp guidelines say...an old ale should taste like an old ale. If the brewer enters in a specialty category the resultant beer should still taste somewhat like the base beer...but then I'm not a huge brett fan either What category did you enter this in?
One of my Old Ale score sheets from a Certified Judge came back with the comment 'oxidized, should be fresh.' Needless to say I was not too happy with the comment, its called OLD ALE for a reason!
Actually assuming its a 28A (Brett Beer under Wild Ales), the BJCP thinks it should taste like an Old Ale too. If you declare a base style it has to show characteristics of that style. The judge basically pulled the Category description: Flavor: Richly malty with significant caramel (particularly in stronger versions). and Comments: The base style describes most of the character of these beers.. and it sounds like your beer didn't match it. If it doesn't have that, what makes it an old ale? Its a very hard category to judge in that a good beer can get a very low score, almost like something entered in the wrong category. If you entered it again you could try to describe the style rather than enter a traditional style.
Don't feel too bad. I entered a German Pilsner in a local competition and the "judge" said I should try Citra or Cascade hops next time. He though it was "boring". Competitions are a bit of a crap shoot. Lolz
I agree with Zonk. Even if the OP is going to enter in 28A it should still taste like an Old Ale...which makes it very difficult unless entered as an experimental beer (34C) or timed so that the Brett is a little (a lot ) more nuanced.
It's the same with fruit beers and svh, the base beer should shine through a bit. Case in point, I had a witbier I aged on radpberries that I entered into a few comps. That damned beer got more honorable mentions because, while being a tasty beer, the base beer was overpowered by the raspberries. I finally had a judge tell me it would have won the category if I had described it as an american blonde ale on raspberries instead of a witbier on raspberries.
I believe it may have been @drewbage who said something like "Don't enter the beer you think you made. Enter the beer you made."
I've said that but many others have said it too. In the writing world a similar sentiment from Faulkner - "kill your darlings"
I dont know.... It just seems paradoxical. How do you brew a beer with strong malt character and sweetness and brett character? Brett will become death, the destroyer of worlds in any beer it goes into. It will eat everything, including the glass if you are not careful. The BJCP Old Ale guidelines states that brett character is acceptable, especially in barrel aged versions (Mine was barrel aged, stuck in a carboy for 6 months, and then innoculated with brett before bottling. It is now 2 years old) You just have to hope the judge has read the category description and does not have a preconceived notion of the style. I entered it as an Old Ale as a strategic move. The English Ales category has 1/8 of the entries as the American Wild Ales category. There are too many hipsters around here trying to be cool and original by brewing sours and the like.
The guidelines say "Some wood-aged or blended versions may have a lactic or Brettanomyces character; but this is optional and should not be too strong." Note the "should not be too strong." Jamil has warned on many occasions that people shouldn't grab one sentence from a BJCP description and assume it means more than it does, and should not build a beer around it while losing sight of the more important attributes. My interpretation is that some incidental (from barrel aging) Brett character is okay, but it shouldn't be significant. You described Brett in one of your posts as eating just about everything or words to that effect, which leads me to believe your beer had a strong Brett character. If that's the case, the judges got it right. Entering a beer in the possibly wrong category doesn't seem very strategic to me. Entering in more than one category, "just in case," can be a good strategic move.
