Pouring competition beers

[DUANNE]

I for one would not like my beer served in a chilled glass. Cool for sure rather than warm but definitely not chilled.

 

[Hippy]

Vicbrew should be shot? Bigcall jay. Have any of you bigmouths ever been hands on? apart from AHB? I dont think so.
If you had so, there are volunteers then there are forum members then there is minimal hands on. Manticle is way out of line and anyone else to say shut the comp down until conditions suit oneself, maybe a reasonable request yet out of chief steward controls, Practicably no? maybe yes?
The chicken shit hearts whom posted troll above at a HUGEE guess have not participated first hand yet are simply trolling for an argument.
Nothing changes around here, even peas n corn is still as dumb as dogshit.

I think that was a **** you and goodnight, have a good life kind of statement guys.

 

[manticle]

I for one would not like my beer served in a chilled glass. Cool for sure rather than warm but definitely not chilled.

Agreed. Glass should be room temp.

I wouldn't 'STOP THE COMP' - just ask if I could have a not hot glass.

Good that it got this dramatic over nothing.

 

[HBHB]

I'll stay out of the 1 way pissing competition, but offer the following:

For the Hervey Bay/Fraser Coast and Maryborough competitions, we have a dedicated set of about 140 glasses - they get washed in very hot water the night before the competition and again as needed during the day with a commercial alkaline beer glass cleaner and rewashed in hot water and air dried at room temperature. The beers are poured to allow a decent head to form without sediment in most cases. Wheat beers are rolled in the bottle unless it's a crystal wheat. If there's anything over carved, it'll be noted and then jugged before pouring for judging.

Which reminds me...... Fraser Coast Bayside brewers - those stewarding this year will need to muster before the comp. Any excuse for a few beers.

We throw a fair bit of money and resources at these competitions, costing us in the vicinity of $1400 every time we come together for a competition so our local brewers can take away as much valuable feedback and new knowledge as possible. We also learn a lot each time about how we can do it better. We're lucky to have a proactive group of dedicated brewers in the region who are willing to share their time, experiences and knowledge and in putting a competition together as often as we can, try to value add to that as best we can.

But damn, the after competition party is always worth the hard yards done in the weeks before.

I would encourage any brewer, young, old, new or experienced to get involved in a local comp for the feedback.

Martin

 

[Bribie G]

As Florian posted, the Brisbane Comp used disposable polycarb beakers and they were excellent - warm glasses can warm the beer because of their thermal mass, but in a beaker the beer stays at whatever temp it was poured in.

Edit; and there's no variation between beakers due to grease buildup as they are all "virgin" and disposed of after each beer.

 

[HBHB]

I think there's a lot of merit in it Bribie G

 

[tallie]

Yep, the biodegradable plastic cups used at last year's BABBs & QABC comps were generally well received. I'm pretty certain they were the 150ml ones from here: https://biopak.com.au/products.php?id=32 .

There were a couple of comments in the judges' feedback about the use of plastic over glass, but the positives were that they were all new, clean, clear, odourless, and had a handy indentation you could use for consistent fill levels. The shape of them meant you could pour the beer directly into the cup without tilting it or worrying about the foam overflowing. Unfortunately, the shape isn't as good for concentrating aromas as a bowl or tulip glass is, but as we were pouring the beers at the table, we were able to capture the initial aromas well enough.

Cheers,
tallie

 

[labels]

The current Adelaide BJCP study group currently uses 200ml crystal clear disposable P.E.T cups

1/. one new cup for each beer
2/. one extra to invert over the other to capture aroma, lasts the flight.

The cost is small

The cups are recyclable

 

[MartinOC]

Gentlemen (& Ladies - a lot of you seem to be wearing skirts about this issue). I was actually going to start a fresh thread on just these sort of issues, but I happened upon this one & thought it might be appropriate to respond.

My original response to this got disappeared into the ethers & I had to distill it here..

I'll preface this by telling you that I'm Chief Steward for Vicbrew & AABC (when in VIctoria), so I sorta guess that gives me just a teensie-weensie bit of credibility when I tell you to pull your ******* heads-in & listen-up....

its a hobby and you should view as such, no there is not any tilt angles, never met a steward yet who cant pour a beer, the day peeps, competitors start whinging about stewards is when competitions are stuffed. Stewards are great people and some I have known are better palate wise than the judges, its just what they chose to do. I was a steward then judged and would be a steward tomorrow.

Degraves, thank you for your observations. I appreciate them.

I was a judge up until 1995, when the AABC decreed that I could apparently do justice to 120 pale ales (INCLUDING IPS'a) in a single sitting in a single day! I was thereafter instrumental in INSISTING that each state should have it's own qualifiers before a National competition could have any credibility.

Nowadays, despite having a very good palate (I'm NOT BJCP qualified, BTW), I actually CHOOSE to be the Chief Steward.

At last year's Vicbrew, a beer came back from judging & was about to be chucked down the sink, when I ran it under my nose. A lot of the stewards around me were pulling faces at it, but I said "Oh Yeah! Baby! Gimme a glass!!!". I talked them through the structure of the beer & how it wasn't infected, but rather, an EXCELLENT example of the use of Brettanomyces. You see, I don't JUST do the Chief Steward thing - I also educate my stewards, who sometimes feel lacking in confidence to judge.

One panel of jugdes didn't know what "Biere de table" was/meant & I had to draw on my reading of Pierre Rajotte's book some 15 years previously to explain it to them!! Geez! I even have to educate Judges!!!

Judges or stewards should have sent them back.

I agree with you, 'though any steward that I trained wouldn't let it get to the table in the first place. I have STANDARDS!!

Pull your your head in. If I, as a judge or a steward got a warm glass, I'd ask for a replacement - to be fair to the entrants. Considering the effect you mentioned it's hardly a big ******* deal. I imagine the conversation would be along these lines:

'Can i have a cool glass please?'

'No worries, they are a bit warm aren't they?'

Of course it's a hobby - you think I don't know that?

Your response is unwarranted and rude. Make sure you buy me a beer if you steward or judge the next Vicbrew (or any of the comps in between - I'm likely to be at most trying to 'fix' everything to my exacting standards). We can talk about grand finals then.

Mantcle - Would you like to be my protege?????

It's definitely a hobby - but still most of us take it very seriously and don't want factors out of our control to determine the final result.

Mantickler is the kind of steward I'd want stewarding my beer - from the sound of his response he treats the beers he pours with care and attention, just like it was his own.

Hmmm.....See above!!

Anyone who serves beer in a warm glass should be shot, especially in a competition

Are you a judge &/or a Steward? If not, then I would urge you to give it a go, so that you can walk a mile in my shoes. Once you've seen how the whole operation works, then & ONLY THEN will I listen to your opinion.

Vicbrew should be shot? Bigcall jay. Have any of you bigmouths ever been hands on? apart from AHB? I dont think so.
If you had so, there are volunteers then there are forum members then there is minimal hands on. Manticle is way out of line and anyone else to say shut the comp down until conditions suit oneself, maybe a reasonable request yet out of chief steward controls, Practicably no? maybe yes?
The chicken shit hearts whom posted troll above at a HUGEE guess have not participated first hand yet are simply trolling for an argument.
Nothing changes around here, even peas n corn is still as dumb as dogshit.

I'm just leaving this one for cogitation so far.......

Did the stewards know the glasses were hot before they poured? If so it seems pretty poor to me that they didn't stop and request some cooler ones.
All any one wants out of any contest is a level playing field and the opportunity to perform at their best. To suggest thats what you want isn't arrogant, rude, or at all out of line. Thats about fairness.
Also not everyone enters thinking they are going to win, but to get some honest feed back about their brew, so they can improve. It's made hard if your beer isn't presented well. I'd be disapointed to hear that had happened to an entry I'd put in.

Let me explain how it happens at Vicbrew/AABC level:

I give my stewards a briefing of how things happen well in advance & Impress upon then the importance of correct serving temperature, sediment reduction (except where the entrant has specified "Mit-Heffe" for weizens) & give a demonstration of how I want them to pour the entries (ie. at eye-level, no sediment).

I stress to them the importance of serving the beers at the correct temperature (I carry a laser-jobbie to be sure), which means no warm jugs or glasses.

I also attend the judge's briefing in order to introduce myself & assure them my best efforts to ensure that they get the entries served to them at optimum. I ask them to bring any problems to my attention ASAP, so I can fix them. It's a feedback thing.

Any further questions on serving beers at competitions?

 

[bum]

Any further questions on serving beers at competitions?

Yeah, I've got one.

If an experienced head steward gives numerous examples of why judges are morons, why should anyone enter a comp?

 

[manticle]

You call two numerous?

 

[bum]

If that's the sum of your point then I see no reason to moderate mine.

 

[manticle]

Bof

 

[Toper]

A well written description of what happens at Vicbrew and the AABC's Martin.As someone who's had the pleasure of judging at Vicbrew and also stewarding ,I can attest to your professionalism.p.s. I'll bring my own glass for the Parabola tasting

 

[MartinOC]

A well written description of what happens at Vicbrew and the AABC's Martin.As someone who's had the pleasure of judging at Vicbrew and also stewarding ,I can attest to your professionalism.p.s. I'll bring my own glass for the Parabola tasting

Actually, that was a severely cut-down version of what I originally wrote & I had to re-write it with an absolute SKINFUL (someone pushed the idiot-button last night!) :icon_drunk:

Take place in the queue, pal! If you want some of my Parabola, you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers. It's MINE, I tell you! MINE! MINE! MINE!

Anyway.....Does anyone have any questions?