"Steve Jackson" wrote:
"Scott T. Jensen" wrote:
See even you state that you're only sending your best to
the contest.

Why is that surprising?

It isn't surprising. That's the whole point of this thread. I know it is
going on with the GABF.

No brewery is going to go "What are we going to do with
that one infected batch we had? I know! Let's enter it in a
contest." Of course they're going to grab their freshest stuff.

From the special, it is clear that some brewmasters go beyond just sending
their freshest.

It's sort of like how if you're going out on a date with that
woman you've been chasing for months, you don't just
grab your workout shorts and the t-shirt you wear when
working on the car. You're going to dress your best.

And that's fine. What isn't fine is if you then lie to your date that you
always dress this way whatever you do. That's what I'm talking about.

Neither move is surprising in the least.

Correct. However, it doesn't mean either is the "true" beer or person that
you'll normally be able to buy or meet.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't think you've done
anything evil or misleading. What you and the others
did was allowed by the GABF. It's their contest and
how they run it is up to them. I'm just seeking one
that's more likely to represent what us average
consumers will be drinking.

That wouldn't be very fair to the breweries, IMO.

It would be more fair to the consumers though.

Your criteria - buy the beer at a store - is unfair to the
brewers and invites a whole new range of complications.
Which stores do you buy the beer from? What if one
store keeps their craft beers well, but another doesn't?
Then the breweries represented at the latter store are
put at an automatic disadvantage through no fault of their
own.

See my 10/12/2003 reply to "Kevin" in this thread for how I'd have the
contest deal with this.

And, as I mentioned earlier, what are you going to do
about draught-only beer? Many craft breweries sell
their beer only this way. Brewpubs, certainly. You
going to send out armies of people with growlers, who
then have to haul the beer to the testing site overnight
since draught beer sitting in a growler goes south pretty
quickly?

No, I'm not interested in a contest that takes into consider draught-only or
home-brewed beers. Just those that the average consumers can purchase
without having to be within driving distance of the brewer.

First, should there be a category then for homebrewers?
Then again, are homebrewers even allowed into the
contest?

No, they're not, and no they shouldn't. The GABF is a
brewery competition. There are loads of homebrew
competitions, including the national one put on by the
AHA (which shares the same parent as the GABF) to
cover the homebrewers.

And I'm merely seeking and advocating one that is just done on store-bought
beers. All store-bought beers. Not just the microbreweries.

Second, this would be a step in the "right" direction
(as far as I'm concerned). I would just hope that the
beers selected for the shipping brewery categories
were store bought.

See the problems outlined above. How is this better?

See my explanation above and elsewhere in this thread.

Doubtless, some breweries are brewing special things
just for the competition.

And that's the problem I have with such contests. That there are these
contests is fine with me. I wish them the best of luck. I'm just seeking a
contest that would be closer to judging what us average consumers can
purchase.

Breweries do this sort of thing a lot - brewing special beers
for festivals, contests, etc. But, usually, it's a special style or
variety they don't often do. For breweries that have a regular,
staple beer that they're entering, it's too much time and
expense to suddenly brew a special batch of it.

As the special clearly showed, enough do this to, in my opinion, call into
question if who wins the GABF is regularly producing the beer us average
consumers actually purchase.

Someone like Sierra Nevada need the pale ale to be consistent,
and they're not going to suddenly put an inconsistent batch out
on the market just because they want a "speical" batch for a
contest. Doubtless some do that. But I'd say it's in a vast minority.

A "vast minority"? Anyway...

That some do calls into question the contest itself for what I seek. That's
all I'm saying.

And, by the way, don't believe everything you see on TV. A
good rule of thumb that most people learned years ago, but
very applicable to beer. Most TV stories and newspaper
articles get basic details very, very wrong (such as the NY
Times talking about fermenting hops a few months ago).

I'm a marketing consultant by trade so I'm well aware of this. However, to
discount everything you see on TV is just as foolish. The special didn't
just have a commentator talking all the time. It had a lot of the
brewmasters speaking for themselves and showing them do their stuff. It
came across as a nicely done show that was relatively fair and balanced.
They didn't seem to have an agenda. They seems well informed.

Scott Jensen
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