Canadian Brewing Awards

[Brewnoser]

I am just back from judging the final two rounds of this competition. Almost 800 entries - wow.

The final 10 beers for the best of show round were the following styles (from memory)

North American Red Ale
Barrel Aged Dark
Barrel Aged Sour

Saison
North American Amber Lager
Stout
Barley Wine
Experimental (Maple honey)
Quadrupel
North American Dark Ale

The first three were the overall winners. Any one of us could make the winner on a good day. A very good day. Perfect balance of malt and what may have been Citra and Cascade hops. Amber colour. Low carb was only prob (brewpub maybe?). Great fruit esters, again in balance, perfectly matched with the citrusy hops. This was one of those great moments in beer judging - I'll share my though process and what happened for you beer judges to be.

It was the first beer I tasted. I said to myself, wow... that is easy to drink. All afternoon and into the night. I love it, but I expect the other 3 judges will pass it over, but it sure belongs at the best of show table. I then went on to taste the remaining 9. The sour was almost a pure clone of Rodenbach. The Saison was a lemon lime spritzer with what tasted like Soraci Ace hops and a totally refreshing mouthfeel. The Barrel aged thing was all chocolate coffee and Bourbon and vanilla - total dessert beer. The Quad was excellent but really very sweet. The stout was creamy and dense. The NA Dark was beautiful, though a bit astringent and "over bitter" where hops and roast malt collide.

So we started talking - eliminating beers from the 10 (this is the BOS round so no points or sheets). The ones with tiny flaws went fast. Barley wine vegetal notes, Quad too sweet, NA Lager slightly oxidized and ale-y, experimental one dimensional and "novelty" beer, and so on. We dismissed the beer at one time and found ourselves left with only three. The two barrel aged beers and that NA Amber ale that no one had mentioned yet, almost forgotten in our fault finding mission. I said "wait a sec, no one has mentioned this beer... now its in the remaining 3. I have to tell you guys, I really liked it a lot." They all looked at each other and said "Me too". Three of us had it Number 1, the other number 2. BING. Easy.

Sometimes a beer, a simple, plain jane brew, can be as elegant as any fine wine. It can just nail your cerebral cortex with it's balance and, well, perfection. This was one of those moments. And we all knew it. The judges included a guy from Holland who basically travels the world judging beer, the head of Hamilton's homebrew club, the Hozers, and another relatively recent BJCP Judge.

It was a fun time this year.

Jeff

[chalmers]

Thanks for the wrap-up, Jeff!

Hopefully some day we'll be judging the final table with you!

[Tony L]

Thanks for the insight into the process of judging the BOS.