Dixie Cup Homebrew contest results

The Dixie Cup XXVII is history and the results are in.  I was admittedly very disappointed that I didn’t even receive an honorable mention for any of the ten entries I submitted.  I was so upset that for about a day I even considered hanging up the mash paddle and having a homebrew garage sale.  Well, unfortunately for you, I don’t give up that easily. I just get belligerent, defiant and extremely competitive.
For 2 weeks I have been thinking that these judges had been consuming way too much barley-wine before judging and that some of them had permanent brain damage from higher alcohols.  I received my feedback forms today and I have to say that everything I’ve read makes sense.  Dammit, I hate being wrong.  On the brighter side, 3 of my entries made it to second round judging.  On the flip side of that, they were none of the entries I expected.  These judges picked up on stuff that I thought I could cover up or compensate for and they were right on the money.

The entries that made it to the second round were:

Shaggy Dog Oatmeal Stout.  This is cool because it is the beer I brewed with my dad.  I thought this was a “throw away” entry because it was 12 months old.  So color me surprised.  Compressed feedback would be to tone down the hops and increase the body.  I agree.  Good feedback.
Nottingham Nectar Sweet Mead.  This is a surprise because it was an experiment.  Most “experts” say you need to use a wine yeast or a dedicated mead yeast for mead making.  After some discussion with some other “meaders” we reasoned that mead had been made since the dark ages and they didn’t have “wine yeast”.  I used a packet of dehydrated Nottingham Ale yeast, reasoning that the fruity esters of the English Ale yeast and low alcohol tolerance might make a nice sweet mead.  Feedback would be that this was better categorized as a Hydromel (or light mead).  This was fermented at room temperature which in my house is the high 70’s (F.).
Applewine:  Uh, this was fermented Tree Top apple juice from Costco with extra corn sugar to boost the alcohol per EdWort on Homebrewtalk.com  I didn’t even know there was a category for applewine, but there it is in the BJCP style guide.  Considering the amount of actual effort (or lack thereof) that went into making this, I’m somewhat insulted.

Entries that I thought were sure winners that got poor feedback:

Figgy Mead:  This was made with fresh local grown figs and orange blossom honey that I had shipped from Timbuktu.  Feedback on this entry was that there was an astringency to the finish.  Now that I read that, I agree that this is the flavor I couldn’t put my finger on and why I can only drink one glass of the stuff.  The suggestion was that it could have been fermented too warm and they were right.  I fermented this in the wet bar instead of the fermentation chiller.  Good call.  They did say it had promise and that it could be “dialed in”.  Cooler fermentation temps could make a huge difference.  I hope so since I planted my own fig tree.
Ginger Zingamel Metheglin:  I had given up on this entry until my “friends” convinced me that this was the best thing they had ever tasted.  I thought it was too acidic and that it didn’t have enough ginger or honey up front.  So, I doctored it by adding sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to increase the pH.  Once the “salts” had precipitated out I blended in some fresh honey and lemon zest along with some candied ginger.  It’s quite drinkable, but…  So onto the feedback.  “Sharp and moldy”  What does that mean?  Other comments were that it was “wimpy” or “flaccid”, probably from all the “additives” to reduce the acidity.  “Perhaps wine tannin will fix this?”  No, it won’t.  This is a crap recipe.
Blackberry Melomel:  I thought that this entry would do quite well.  The judges, however, somehow picked up on the fact that this mead was still very young and there was still some yeast in suspension.  Another factor that I hadn’t considered was that with yeast still in suspension this mead came out with a  petillant carbonation level.  (check the box, not to style, move on.)  This carbonation completely masked the berry flavor and I got “needs more berries” and “kill the yeast with sorbate next time”.  I still haven’t bottled the rest of this so there’s still hope.

Stuff that didn’t surprise me:

Mayan Porter is a stupid idea:  But, it was entertaining to read the feedback.  I knew it was a bit “peppery”, but I think those poor judges are permanently damaged.  Way too much heat in them chipotles.  Suggestions are “have a good porter recipe first”, (ouch!) and maybe you should stick to one spice addition instead of three.  I’ve found a couple of flaws with this recipe since brewing it, so I’m okay with this.  For one, I entered it as a “robust porter” when it was a “brown porter”.  Sounds like they should be “close enough”, but brown is an English style and robust is an American style and they are very different.
Old Ale shouldn’t come spraying out of the bottle when you open it:  Yeah.  I had no idea since I never opened one until they had been sent to the contest.  Way too much carbonation which completely ruins the flavors.  Feedback “Carbonation saturation ruined you entry”, “beef up your malt and decrease the fizz”, “astringent finish”, “oxidized” (I thought that was to style?)
Christmas Ale doesn’t mean “Treacle and Clove Bomb”:  Yeah, they picked out the black treacle in this.  I can’t taste it, but what do I know.  Basically, the feedback was that I have no clue how to ferment a “big beer” like this.  I got a lot of suggestions about building a bigger starter yeast culture and using more spices and more malt.  If I use more malt, doesn’t that make an already hard to ferment beer more difficult?  They also picked out a diacetyl flavor, which I thought was an “artificial butter” flavor, but according to the score-sheet it can be toffee or butterscotch.  Then after telling me how much my beer sucked, I got “Overall a pleasant, warming beer that is reasonably appropriate to style, but the complexity of the spice is lost” and  “Treacle is not a spice!  Boost spices! and lower fermentation temperatures to clean up flavor”

Onwards and upwards:

So some of that feedback I found very enlightening and some was just confusing.  Consider that I made the Christmas Ale in January or February and the smaller Oatmeal Stout last October (2009).  Since then I’ve finished the gigantic fermentation chamber and I am dialing in my basic recipes.  I’m encouraged and can’t wait to brew some more.