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"beeristhereason":3pb7fynz wrote: maybe as ichiban said there should only be one winner and a few distinct beers, the only problem i can see with this is that personal preference may get in the way/ bias voting. if two thirds of the attending party prefer cask ale(insert beer type here), sure, then a cask will be deserving of a best beer award but under a system where by beers are not judged by style another cask (insert beer type here) or two may creep up into the distinction ranks through bias.[/quote:3pb7fynz]I think if the judges are doing their jobs properly, this won't be an issue. If you don't like stout, say, or believe that cask is objectively the best way to serve beer and non-cask beer isn't "real", then you shouldn't be judging. The other way to deal with personal bias is to have lots and lots of judges voting on the same beer: having judges designated to particular style categories greatly increases the weight of personal bias.

Since opinion on the format is divided, and we have time, I'd like to run a poll on whether we should give out style-based awards along the lines of last year, or fewer awards (say gold, silver and bronze) which pay no heed to style. Am I right in thinking these are the two options open to us?

"TheBeerNut":1ohc7nwn wrote: I think if the judges are doing their jobs properly, this won't be an issue. If you don't like stout, say, or believe that cask is objectively the best way to serve beer and non-cask beer isn't "real", then you shouldn't be judging. The other way to deal with personal bias is to have lots and lots of judges voting on the same beer: having judges designated to particular style categories greatly increases the weight of personal bias.

Since opinion on the format is divided, and we have time, I'd like to run a poll on whether we should give out style-based awards along the lines of last year, or fewer awards (say gold, silver and bronze) which pay no heed to style. Am I right in thinking these are the two options open to us?[/quote:1ohc7nwn]

a poll would be a good idea, i was under the belief though that last years awards were not style based and that is what led to the need for a structured competition. once again i do not see how the style based plan leads to personal bias as the judge/s for that category is only voting on that particular category and therefore every category/style of beer present will be in with a chance of winning the best beer award, plus tastebuds will not be tired or maladjusted when it comes to asting any particular style. to sum up i believe there are strong arguments for both judging formats and no doubt there will be further debate. for now lets go to the polls.

"beeristhereason":7pgucyb9 wrote: i was under the belief though that last years awards were not style based[/quote:7pgucyb9]Sort of. The full awards list is here[/url:7pgucyb9]. I'd be afraid that this year's list would end up looking very very similar.

"beeristhereason":7pgucyb9 wrote: once again i do not see how the style based plan leads to personal bias as the judge/s for that category is only voting on that particular category[/quote:7pgucyb9]And if they don't [i:7pgucyb9]like[/i:7pgucyb9] that particular category, their negative votes will carry more weight than if those same votes were thrown into a big pot with all the other judges' votes. The more people who vote on a beer, the less relevant their personal bias.

&amp;quot;beeristhereason&amp;quot;:7pgucyb9 wrote: tastebuds will not be tired or maladjusted[/quote:7pgucyb9]There are technical ways around that <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->
[img:7pgucyb9]http://www.expats-shoppingarcade.co.uk/thumbs/T%20150A.JPG[/img:7pgucyb9]
[size=59:7pgucyb9]Biccies.[/size:7pgucyb9]

&amp;quot;oconn&amp;quot;:12y21x34 wrote: in 10 yrs time when this is the most prestigious award in Irish Craft brewing circles[/quote:12y21x34]
Whaddya mean "in 10 yrs time"?!