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  • #16
    I'm out of the brewing business nowadays, but when I was involved, my attitude about events like the GABF was that the value wasn't in winning medals (I did manage a Gold one year), but rather in the pure enjoyment in meeting other brewers, tasting all kinds of beers that I'd never taste otherwise, and in just celebrating BEING A BREWER!

    Going to the GABF anticipating winning medals or coming back with something you can use in promotional activities is pretty much a fool's errand!

    Cheers, Tim

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    • #17
      This phenomena is mirrored in the homebrewing arena as well.

      The upside to homebrewing is that there are significantly more competitions. The general recommendation is to enter three competitions and average the results. This tends to cut down on the skewed judging results.

      With the growing number of categories and the large number of fantastic brews out there, many times it can be a crap shoot.

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      • #18
        I have participated in the GABF as an entrant for a few years now and have been fortunate enough to get some medals there. As it has been already said the results can sometimes be a bit interesting. There have been a few years where the beers that won definitely showed the subjective preferences of the judges. This will always be part of the judging equation no matter how well it is attempted to be removed.

        That said it seems to me that the BA is making and has been making a real effort to minimize the subjectivity of the judging. This is a demonstration to me that the BA is cognizant of the problems involved in any judging or sensory analysis. I personally have never been a judge but have been approved for next years judging. This will really allow me to see from the inside how it truly works. I would recommend to anyone who has concerns of the judging results to also become a judge themselves.

        As for the recent 08 GABF results I could not attend personally so I could not compare medal winning beers. However one of my beers won gold in a category that was a true surprise! My version of that style is somewhat unique and certainly not following the current trends for the style. Those points in themselves seemed to me to eliminate it from a medal consideration right away. The fact that it was chosen for any medal certainly showed that the judges were evaluating the style from abroad spectrum (appropriate for the style) and were focusing on the overall beer. Thanks to all the judges who evaluated it!

        Ok now that I have lost everyone's attention the biggest reasons that I enter any competitions are the following.

        1) Get feed back from trained tasters (judges) who hopefully are my peers in the industry.
        2) Potentially bring some marketing exposure to the beer.

        Oh yeah and..

        3) Travel to cool places and drink beer with my friends in the industry.

        Cheers, Steve
        Great beers don't just happen.

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        • #19
          Hear, hear.

          What no one has mentioned is that winning a medal is strong evidence that you're able to make a very high-quality beer, but *not* winning a medal doesn't mean you *can't* or didn't make a high-quality beer.

          Mediocre Beer = no medal
          Great Beer + Bad Luck = no medal
          Great Beer + Good Luck = medal
          Great Beer + Consistency in Brewing + Consistent Judging = multiple medals

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