by Sam Highley, Editor
The judging for club competition one kicked off at the crack of 11am last Sunday morning, with beers in the Mild, Northern English Brown, American Brown, Irish Red, Ordinary Bitter, Scottish 60', California Common, Extra Special Bitter (ESB), English and American IPA, Weizen, Dunkelweizen, Blonde Ale and Belgian Wit styles up for judging. Owing to the large number (15) of entries in the American Pale Ale category, they were judged a few nights earlier, along with the two American Brown's entered.
As usual, the entries were judged against the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines, with each beer being scored on aroma, appearance, flavour, mouthfeel and overall impression, up to a maximum of 50 points. In this case, each beer was judged by three judges, with the individual scores added together to give a final score out of 150. But i've waffled on enough, and everyone is here for one thing, so here are the results:
Group One – Mild, Northern Eng. Brown, American Brown, Irish Red
- Michael O'Rourke — Mild Ale — 117 pts — Silver
- Jamie Harwood — Mild Ale — 109 pts — Silver
- James Petermann — Irish Red — 106.5 pts — Bronze
- Paul Alexander — Irish Red — 104 pts — Bronze
- Martin Budden — Irish Red — 104 pts — Bronze
- Graham Achilles — Irish Red — 104 pts — Bronze
- Sam Highley — American Brown — 94 pts
- Michael O'Rourke — Northern English Brown — 89 pts
- Tony Steeper — American Brown — 84 pts
Group Two — Ordinary Bitter, Scottish 60', Calif. Common
- Chris De La Rue — California Common — 113.5 pts — Silver
- Darryl Barbour — Ordinary Bitter — 112 pts — Silver
- Michael ORourke — Ordinary Bitter — 111 pts — Silver
- James Petermann — Scottish 60' — 107 pts — Bronze
- Sam Highley — California Common — 105 pts — Bronze
- Mark Bilbrough — Ordinary Bitter — 104 pts — Bronze
- Rory McPherson — Scottish 60' — 103 pts — Bronze
- Martin Budden — Scottish 60' — 101.5 pts — Bronze
- Rowan Ferguson — Ordinary Bitter — 90.5 pts
Group Three – ESB, APA, Scottish 80', Eng. IPA, Am. IPA
- Martin Budden — Extra Special Bitter — 111.5 pts — Silver
- Chris De La Rue — Extra Special Bitter — 110.5 pts — Silver
- Darryl Barbour — English IPA — 109 pts — Silver
- Jamie Harwood — Extra Special Bitter — 109 pts — Silver
- Patrick Baggoley — Extra Special Bitter — 104 pts — Bronze
- Sam Highley — American Pale Ale — 103.5 pts — Bronze
- Tom Dixon — American Pale Ale — 102.5 pts — Bronze
- Martin Budden — English IPA — 102 pts — Bronze
- Stewart Wardrop — Extra Special Bitter — 97.5 pts — Bronze
- Jamie Harwood — American Pale Ale — 95.5 pts — Bronze
- Dan Rayner — American Pale Ale — 93 pts
- Mark Overton — American Pale Ale — 86 pts
- Mark Overton — American Pale Ale — 83.5 pts
- Mark Overton — American IPA — 80 pts
- Tony Steeper — American Pale Ale — 80 pts
- Chris De La Rue — American Pale Ale — 77.5 pts
- Stewart Wardrop — American Pale Ale — 75 pts
- Owen Andrews — American Pale Ale — 70 pts
- Graham Achilles — American Pale Ale — 67.5 pts
- Steve Sargent — American Pale Ale — 66 pts
- David Steel — American Pale Ale — 49.5 pts
- Jamie Harwood — American Pale Ale — 40.5 pts
- James Petermann — American Pale Ale — 39 pts
Group Four – Weizen, Dunkelweizen, Blonde Ale, Belgian Wit
- Paul Alexander — Blonde Ale — 118 pts — Silver
- Paul Alexander — Dunkelweizen — 113.5 pts — Silver
- Darryl Barbour — Blonde Ale — 99.5 pts — Bronze
- Mark Bilbrough — Blonde Ale — 87 pts
- Steve Sargent — Witbier — 86.5 pts
- James Petermann — Weizen — 84 pts
And finally, a selection of photos from Sunday's judging session:
Treasurer, Paul Haesler, and President, Darryl Barbour evaluate the
finer points of a Blonde Ale
Last year's competition secretary, Charles Newton, and recent
BJCP course participant, Owen Andrews, evaluate Irish Red Ale
Jamie Harwood, deep in thought over an Irish Red Ale
Mozzie, proving that you really can't think too much about beer
El Presidenté, having just remembered he forgot the bittering
addition in his latest brew
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