Results concerning the Gluten Free Brewing Project

from the

1999 Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition
Hosted by the St. Louis Brews Homebrew Club

The homebrewing club in my area had its annual competition on December 11, 1999.  I entered two beers from the ranks of the Gluten Free Brewing Project, batch #4 (Extra Special Bitter) and batch #5 (Hefeweizen-style).  As a member of the club, I volunteered to staff the computer, inputting the results as they came in from the judging tables.  I was excited to watch the numbers come in from the other four 'regular' beers I had entered.  Each did very well in its own category.  The surprise came when the steward from the table judging the Specialty category (the category in which the GF beers were entered) came up to the computer desk to ask for clarification concerning the specifics of a few of the entries.  It seems the database was truncating the description line of some of the entries.  For the Specialty category, the brewer is asked to describe what special ingredients or techniques he or she used in brewing the beer.  This is a critical piece of information for the judges, as they look to this when evaluating unusual flavors and aromas in these beers.

Well, as fate would have it, of course it was my GF entries that were being erroneously reported.  Only the first few words of the description were shown, but enough that I could tell that they were my beers.  A decision was made after consulting with the head judge that no change should be made at that point, in fairness to other brewers who also had shortened descriptions, but were not there to speak for their entries.  I completely agreed with this call, knowing it would severely handicap my entries.  And it did.

The results were rather low because the judges could taste and smell unusual characteristics in the GF beers, but had no way to know if they were supposed to be there, or were flaws.  The part of the description indicating 'malted sorghum and buckwheat' were missing in each entry, as was 'Agave extract' in batch #5, so the judges were unaware of the fact that these beers were very unusual.  I think, had they known what they were tasting, the scores would have beer significantly higher.  Here is the scoring ranges used in the competition:

45-50...Outstanding
38-44...Excellent
30-37...Very Good
21-29...Good
14-20...Fair
0-13.....Problematic

Batch #4 (ESB) scored higher with a 25, in the middle of the 'Good' range.  But again, with comments from the judges such as "What is the spice?  Does it come from some grain?" and "Spicy aroma - Coriander?" just shows that they were unable to give credit without knowing more about the beer.  The fact that this exact beer got very positive comments when I brought it to a monthly club meeting for evaluation by all club member's in attendance indicates that it did not get a fair shake at this competition.

Batch #5 (Hefeweizen) did not fair so well.  It scored a 19.5 overall.  I entered this beer into the category for Fruit/Vegetable Beers because it contained Agave extract, but again that was cut off of the description given to the judges, so comments like "Is there any fruit?  Why is it in 18B?" and "Noticeable sourness, is this a fruit additive?" indicate why the score was so low.  On the positive side, the comments of "Head retention good for hefeweizen" and "Good head" indicates that the heading agent used on this beer seems to have overcome some of the weakness shown in prior GF batches.  I have two more doses from the bottle I purchased, so I will report more on this in the future.

In conclusion, I believe that this first outing for the GF beers is not the disappointment that is seems.  At least that's the stance I am taking.  Without the technical glitch that cut off the description fields of my entries, I believe these two beers would have scored in the Very Good range, low to mid-30's.  Not bad for a style of beer that essentially did not exist a year ago.  The Gluten Free Brewing Project will continue undeterred.  I am planning to enter a few batches in out-of-state competitions during the next year, and make a strong comeback in next year's Happy Holiday Homebrew Competition, assuming they have the database fixed by then.

Take care, and thanks for your interest in the Gluten Free Brewing Project.