Does The Beer Industry Need A Less Restrictive Award System?
I got to personally cover my second Brewer’s Association sanctioned beer judging awards this past weekend, this one being the 2012 World Beer Cup. With 95 different categories from around the world, and multiple entries for each category, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to judge that many beers, with the goal of singling out the best three for each category.
It got me thinking about how different a BJCP Brewers Association judged event views beer versus what the Internets thinks of beer.
While there is much more to it, basically BJCP The Brewers Association judging sets categories and styles of beers, and sets guidelines for home brewers, pro brewers and judges on what recipes and finished products fall under what heading. So a brewery could make a Purple IPA with 7 IBUs, but in a competition like World Beer Cup, that wouldn’t qualify as a judgable IPA. For brewers who are following these set guidelines, winning a medal means you nailed it. Being able to tout that your beer won a gold medal not only legitimizes the hard work and mad brewing skills, it quite frankly is a great selling point. Pabst has been riding that Blue Ribbon win for 119 years now.
I’m going to name some very popular, very tasty beers off the top of my head: Founders KBS, Alchemist Heady Topper, 3 Floyds Alpha King, Arrogant Bastard, Cigar City Hunahpu’s, Green Flash Palate Wrecker. The likelihood of any of those beers winning an industry recognized medal is not impossible, but not likely, based on previous results, and BJCP guidelines (I’d imagine). So this brings me to a question and a possible good idea.
Do all the beers revered by geeks, connoisseurs,etc need to be validated by a GABF or World Beer Cup medal? I don’t think the sales of KBS or Arrogant Bastard would be impacted negatively or positively by the tag line “Medal Winning.” We know we like the beer, and we know it tastes good to us. I’d hazard to guess if I asked any of those brewers if they are upset by not winning a medal for their big, unique beers, I would think they are not. As humans, we still like praise, recognition and validation from our peers and superiors.
So perhaps one night out of the year, the BA guidelines should go under the mattress, and the most popular beers should be judged on behalf of The Brewers Association. Big IPAs, Big Stouts, Extreme Dogfish Head/ Bruery Style beers, self proclaimed Gruits, Hybrid Kolch’s and so on. Each brewery can enter their geeky flagship Internet darling, and medals can be awarded based on blind taste results. Instead of the most trained home brewers and judges picking winners, it should be a panel of folks from Ratebeer, BeerAdvocate, Reddit, The Full Pint (shameless yes), Untappd, Brewbound, and some of the other influential names in the big/extreme beer movement.
I’m not one to trample on tradition, but I do love the idea of starting a new tradition along side the tried and true formula. For everyone who loves a balanced American Style Brown Ale, there may be two people who can’t get enough Founders KBS. The brewers should be recognized for making people happy, and this might be the way to do it. Depending on the feedback of this posting, I may dig deeper into this idea and try to present it. Please, sound off.
May 13, 2012 @ 2:16 pm
I think we need to add a category for BA beers. How can you put a beer and its BA counterpart in the same category. Its a common thing done, so it would be a full category. For example KBS, CBS, and FBS are in the Imp Stout category.
May 10, 2012 @ 10:59 am
The BJCP, its style guidelines, the judging process have nothing to do with the BA run GABF and the WBC.
The primary purpose of the BJCP is to provide feedback to brewers. The comments are supposed to be more important than the score.
The BA has their own style guidelines.
http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/publications/beer-style-guidelines
Their are commercial interests at hear with GABF and WBC awards. You won’t see a homebrewer trying to brew up an Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light Lager anytime soon.
May 10, 2012 @ 9:53 am
Seeing as hype, artificial “rarity” and “trade” value are not in the current World Beer Cup guidelines, then yes, I suppose there needs to be less restrictive guidelines.
May 10, 2012 @ 9:33 am
You should also note that the World Beer Cup doesn’t go by BJCP guidelines at all. They are a set of guidelines the BA puts together, basically derived from each years previous competition(s), the yearly GABF, and biyearly WBC and judges feedback from those events.
May 10, 2012 @ 9:02 am
Speaking as a Certified BJCP Judge, I like the idea. In some ways, the guidelines may be too restrictive. For two years in a row, I’ve participated in judging at a local beer and wine festival, where we do exactly what you’re suggesting: We have a blind taste test. The beers are categorized as light, amber, and dark, and we pick the best beers based on their unqualified (i.e., undefined) characteristics. Does it have good aroma? Is it clear? Good head? Above all, does it taste good?
It’s challenging without the BJCP Guidelines to reference, but we’ve surprised ourselves with our picks both years.
May 10, 2012 @ 8:51 am
Cool idea though I’m not sure it’s necessary – it would be fun though.
Categories help because the best bourbon barrel beer isn’t better by style than the best hefeweizen. You certainly can have a personal favorite, but that’s different.
95 categories is a lot, and there are several ‘specialty’ categories that are open to almost any interpretation of beer. Take a good look at the category list, I don’t think it’s a restrictive as you imply. Which beers aren’t winning due to the guidelines?
I don’t think many beers are missing out on medals because of the design of the categories. I would agree with you, I don’t think most brewers care if those beers win awards. That isn’t what is selling them.
You’d just end up with stout lovers voting for stouts, IPA lovers voting for double IPA’s, etc. You’re basically throwing a party so that the people can duplicate the results of the highest rated beers on beer advocate/rate beer. I’m not sure what I’d get out of a popularity contest driven by others people’s tastes.
May 10, 2012 @ 8:46 am
Actually Palate Wrecker did win Bronze for Imperial IPA, and most of the other breweries you mentioned won awards for other beers.
There are experimental and specialty categories for beers that are outside of the norm. There are also a number of wood/barrel aged categories. Check out the winners at http://www.worldbeercup.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/WBC12-Winners-List.pdf