Determining The Bjcp Style Of Commercial Brews

[zephon]

Hi All,

I'm interested in getting more involved with amateur beer judging at our local club/comps and as the saying goes "practice makes perfect" so I thought I'd start applying the judging criteria to some of the many commercial brews I enjoy for a bit of training (Someone will probably bring it up so I should also mention that I am planning on undertaking the BJCP study/exam at some point, just trying to get some practical experience with the judging process here).

So, my question for you more experienced judges/competition brewers - how do you determine what BJCP style (or styles) any given beer fits into? Is there some reference I don't know about or is it just something that comes with experience? Perhaps there is some kind of wierd voodoo involved?

One example I've been coming back to is James Squire's Golden Ale, Dr Smuto's clone recipe on here is categorised as "English Best (Special) Bitter". Is that an accurate categorisation and if so how was it determined? While we're on JS what about the Amber Ale?

Ok, I'll stop this turning into too much of a novel and end it here. I'm very interested to hear your advice and opinions.

Regards,
Simon

 

[drsmurto]

JS refer to their golden ale as an english summer ale which isnt a BJCP category. Its probably a blonde ale in its current low hop flavour/aroma form. Originally it was closer to an APA.

My golden ale doesnt really fit it a BJCP category. I entered it in the recipeDB originally as an APA but its not really hoppy enough for that style. Its not technically an English bitter either but wording in the comp guidelines allowed it in. That loophole has since been closed but since that's what it won an award as it's what i have changed it to.

Whilst i am not an experienced judge or brewer, recipe formulation and whether a beer fits into a particular BJCP category (assuming that you want it to) is something i am still learning about each beer i make.

Like you i try to spend more time smelling and tasting beers than i used to. Non-brewing mates find it strange, almost annoying at times but for me its a part of the learning process. I don't sit down with BJCP guidelines when drinking beer unless someone has given me a beer for that purpose.

And for the record, it's Smurto, not Smuto although that does give me an idea for a NSFW brewing label :icon_chickcheers:

 

[crozdog]

Hi All,

I'm interested in getting more involved with amateur beer judging at our local club/comps and as the saying goes "practice makes perfect" so I thought I'd start applying the judging criteria to some of the many commercial brews I enjoy for a bit of training (Someone will probably bring it up so I should also mention that I am planning on undertaking the BJCP study/exam at some point, just trying to get some practical experience with the judging process here).

So, my question for you more experienced judges/competition brewers - how do you determine what BJCP style (or styles) any given beer fits into? Is there some reference I don't know about or is it just something that comes with experience? Perhaps there is some kind of wierd voodoo involved?
Regards,
Simon

Simon,

good on you for wanting to increase your brewing knowledge. The BJCP is a great way to do that.

The way to do what you ask is to know the styles and what distinguishes 1 category from another eg Ordinary Bitter/Special Bitter/Extra Special Bitter. You can then do some research on the beer in question and through the analysis of that information as well as practical sensory eveluation ie appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel you can compare a beer to a category and see how well it conforms.

Please note that there are many fantastic beers around that don't conform to BJCP guidelines. note the term guidelines.....

You can download the guidelines from http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php The guidelines provide the names of classic examples of each style

Best of all keep practicing :icon_chickcheers:

 

[zephon]

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it! I'll keep studying the guidelines and of course practicing (that's the fun part right). Annoying a few non-brewing mates is just collateral damage, they already look at me strangely enough when I sit there with my hands cupped around a pint of near freezing ale in an attempt to warm it up.

And for the record, it's Smurto, not Smuto although that does give me an idea for a NSFW brewing label :icon_chickcheers:

My bad doc, glad I could provide some "inspiration" though

 

[Maxt]

Not to keep harping on a point, but I reckon that using judging sheets (printed off the web), and then actually judging the beers is a really useful exercise.
Grab your favourite commercial dry irish stout, American pale or dark lager, and see how it stacks up.
Plenty will not fit the guidelines (but still be great beers). When you find examples that do, these are the beers to use as a reference tool when brewing your own.

 

[Andyd]

Simon,

I'll second Crozdog's sentiments - good on you!

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you're looking for examples of styles. The first is "which style guides?". In Australian competitions we typically work with the Styleguide published by the AABA on their website (http://www.aabc.org.au/). The second is the BJCP styleguide, most commonly used when studying for the BJCP exam. The BJCP styleguide is not typically used in state or national competition (although I know clubs who do choose to use them, usually because they're not aware of the AABA styleguide).

By and large the styleguides are similar, but different enough to warrant their continued seperate existance.

Personally I would stick to the AABA Styleguide (particularly if you're interested in competing in state and national competition), unless you're planning on studying the BJCP or generally interested in being able to interpret the information that comes out of the US podcasts.

On the topic of commercial styles, one of the things that came out of the Australian BJCP meeting in Canberra last week was a desire to collect a set of locally available beers that are representative of the styles (either AABA or BJCP). This will happen over the next year, but will take time. Until then you'll need to work through the BJCP styleguide commercial examples and try to locate these. Grain and Grape, Purvis and Slowbeer are great sources of the listed beers here in Victoria. I'm not sure what your equivalents in SA will be.

Good luck !

Andy

 

[bconnery]

On the topic of commercial styles, one of the things that came out of the Australian BJCP meeting in Canberra last week was a desire to collect a set of locally available beers that are representative of the styles (either AABA or BJCP). This will happen over the next year, but will take time. Until then you'll need to work through the BJCP styleguide commercial examples and try to locate these. Grain and Grape, Purvis and Slowbeer are great sources of the listed beers here in Victoria. I'm not sure what your equivalents in SA will be.

Good luck !

Andy

I actually replaced, as much as I could, the standard BJCP examples with beers available locally when I worked on the BJCP guide for our club comp changing from the old QLD guidelines.
Even when commercial examples were available I tried to incorporate Australian examples of the style if applicable.
Even less than 2 years down the track it needs revisiting as more beers become available here in QLD (I had to make this applicable to our members)...
I tried to limit myself to readily available examples, which did mean a few beers I knew could have been listed weren't. I'll be expanding on the list before next year's comp...

We probably will change to the AABA styles but that's something we haven't formally discussed yet. It did cause a little confusion amongst members with the QABC this year though, particularly in the english beer area.

 

[Muggus]

I will often "research" beers on something like Ratebeer or BeerAdvocate so at least I have a rough idea of what style they are.
Having said that, even though these are beer rating websites they don't strictly follow BJCP guidelines.
The beers on the sites are seperated into style catagories that are handy, and will generally fit into some BJCP catagories, but you have to remember that they're not strictly put into the right catagory and the catagories arn't as specific, or are more specific.

Either way, it's worth a look.

 

[crozdog]

Andy, how could I forget the AABC? :blink: we use them in all our comps & they do have some ausie categories along with some minor variations to the BJCP guidelines....

Bconnery, any chance you could post your aussie examples list?

Beers
Croz