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Well, as predicted my bog-oak smoked, late hopped (Cascade), style-bustin' oatmeal stout confused a number of BJCP judges significantly. <!-- s;-) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;-) -->

One reported "earthy/ herbally" hops (cascade?!?), and both reported high fusol alcohols, while neither reported the phenols which, by definition, come from smoking malt and were pretty apparent (although not over-the-top). One judge listed his BJCP status as "pending" and one included his number but refused to list his qualifications or rank...


They missed the mark (probably my own fault for brewing outside of the style guidelines) in an almost comical way and it's really making me consider a series of experiments (on BJCP judges) where I brew 3 beers, each with one aspect outside of the BJCP guidelines for a style and then submit that beer to 3-5 BJCP competitions and see if the BJCP judges can accurately figure out what is different or even loosely agree on the scoring sheets. (There is calibration within the same competition to ensure the appearance of accuracy, but not between competitions.)

Could be quite entertaining, or it might surprise me.

Adam

Hi Adam,

Moot points!

Not every person is blessed with the olfactory sense of a Gass Liquid Chromatograph!

Having now judged 2 comps to BJCP guidlines here are some observations:

First comp was were the entrants declared the BJCP Cat & Subcat and also declared the weirder ingredients in the specials category. This made it easy for the new judges to relate to the style guides and mark accoringly. Also the logical progression of flavours/abv and colours helped the pallette.

The second comp was different. It was marked to BJCP recommendations but the judges had to define the cat/sub-cat based on the entrants written description. This obviuosly can lead to mis-categorizing! Also the beers were submitted in Random order so it might have been Ale/Stout/IPA/Russion Imperial/English Brown/etc. It kept the brain active all right as you didn't have a sequence of similar beers to compare against.

Its difficult to remember that great IPA I tasted 5 ot 6 stouts ago!

As for calibration: Just fill a bottle with Heineken or Guiness and enter that and see what happens!

No better man Adam.
God help the judges!