Ger and Rebel discussed the above again. What we suggested at the Munster Meeting was that we run do a competition amongst ourselves (Munster members and members from afar who would be at the festival) for the best beers of the festival. To do this we feel each beer would have to be sampled to give each beer and brewer a fair chance. Otherwise people are making their judgements on previous experiences / opinions. It would appear from the ICB proposed option not all beers would be sampled. It would be impossible for one member to sample all beers and if left to each member to give their best and second best beers etc. it would mean some beers would not be sampled which would not be fair to all brewers and all beers.
Since then on this site the issue seems to have rolled on to an ICB National Awards. That was not our intention as national awards should, we feel, be based on people’s experiences over a whole year. and not on a single festival as all craft beers in the country may not be available at the Festival. . Obviously if ICB nationally wish to run an national awards as is indicated from the Well Festival that it its prerogative. We simply felt we would do an awards from the Festival, get as many members as possible involved, give each beer a chance, have a winner in each category and then an overall winner by majority voting. . As said it was not a national competition or awards we had suggested.
We would think judging national awards on one day’s sampling, so early in the year does not give justice to the status of National award winners.
Ger
