Here is the other thing to think about, and this of course does not apply to
a brewpub, which serves their beer on premise. A lot of the beers made in
this country quickly leaves the control of the brewer, and is at the mercy
of the distributor and retail merchant. They are the ones who are
responsible for making sure that the beer you buy has been handled properly
and is delivered to your hands in the best possible condition. Having a
competition where beers are bought off the shelf and judged, would be more a
competition to see who is the best beer distributor or retail merchant.

I know of two stores in my town that have well-stocked beer shelves and
coolers, both deal with the same distributor, but one shop consistently has
the better-condition beers than the other, because the first shop has a
person who sole job is to rotate the stock and pull off the shelf any beer
that did not sell, and is past its flavor prime. The second shop just
leaves the old bottles on shelf, and dusts off the bottles periodically. If
you bought the beers for judging off the shelf at the second merchants
store, you would have incredibly worse beers than beers bought at the first
merchant.

I watched the GABF special, and can relate to those brewmasters that
hand-bottled and took some extra care to make sure the beer arrived to the
judging in the best possible condition. The judging is about the beer, not
how others may mistreat the beer before the consumer can get his hands (or
taste buds) on it.

Additionally, looking at the GABF rules about the beers entered for judging,
which can be found at
http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/...m#confirmation ,
under "Entering Your Beers Into the GABF Judging", is found this
requirement: "Entries must be commercially available and brewed in the US".

So, all of these beers at the GABF should be available for the consumer
somewhere in the country, it is just a question if has been treated well
before you bought it.

Kevin

=====================================

"Scott T. Jensen" > wrote in message
...
> "Douglas W. Hoyt" wrote:
> > Scott Jensen wrote:
> > >This seems more honest judging process to determine which
> > >is the best beers that us consumers can purchase than the
> > >specially brewed, bottled, packaged, and delivered beer
> > >submitted to The Great American Beer Festival. Anyone
> > >know of any beer contest(s) so structured?
> >
> > My local merchant stopped buying in Allagash lately because
> > he said that the local distributor was only sending him 6-month
> > old product. If anyone had bought Allagash here then, it
> > would not have been fair.
>
> I'd agree.
>
> > Any independent purchaser for a legitimate contest would have
> > to jet all over the country in a short period of time--and still
> > manage to keep the beer chilled.
>
> Or do the opposite. Have the beers bought by a trusted parties around the
> country and chill-shipped to the judges so all the beers arrive within a
day
> or two of each other at the judging location.
>
> Scott Jensen
> --
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>
>