2010 Ontario Brewing Awards

[Bobbyok]

I don't think they were using BJCP categories. Honey/Maple, for example, wouldn't fit anywhere with BJCP. I suspect that was an honest "lagers of a particular colour" category rather than pegging Barking Squirrel as a Vienna.

Just my opinion but the BJCP are really the only universally accepted category guide we have. Not to use it opens these competitions to subjective amateurish bumbling or misuse as a tawdry promotional platform.

Except that no well known competition involving commercial beers uses it. World Beer Cup, GABF, GBBF, World Beer Championships, CBAs, etc. None use BJCP category guidelines, even if they use BJCP judges. That doesn't seem to me like universal acceptance. I'm not defending the OCBs, but BJCP categories as I understand them are intended for homebrew competitions, not commercial brewing.

[Derek]

Who voted on the people's choice?

I think the BJCP is great, but it is also limiting. They're judging how well a beer conforms to a category, and not necessarily how great it actually is. The people's choice award could expose those great brews that blur the boundaries of the styles.

That said, people always complains that everyone & their brother seem to get an award, so I think tossing the bronze in favour of the PC is a decent trade-off.

[Rob Creighton]

Yea, who are these "people"?

As to us taking a medal in the bitter category, I submitted it there because thats where I thought it should be and they accepted it. Style and I don't always see eye-to-eye so I have very low expectations when judges go by style guidelines but marketing demands that you enter these. I am hoping to enter the English lager competition in the coming year. Strangely, it has the highest regard among a number of brewers I know and respect.

[Pub Style]

Who voted on the people's choice?

I was one of the individuals who voted on 'people's choice' beers - blindly. bartle did some judging as well.

[markaberrant]

BJCP is not the be all, end all. However, it is a well established set of guidelines that competitions can easily adopt, and if you thoroughly understand them, there actually is a surprising degree of flexibility.

The bottom line is that a 30 second scan of most competition winner lists give you a pretty good indication of the legitimacy of the event. A legitimate event needs enough entries, competent organizers, and quality judges - otherwise it is just an artificial exercise in slapping each other on the back for a job well done.

In this case, I really don't think the categories are THAT bad, but it does appear that the number of entries would have been quite low (as compared to the number of categories) due to it being limited to Ontario brewers. If you refer to the BJCP guidelines, they allow you to mix/match/create categories however you see fit, but each category should have at least 6 entries. I think this is a reasonable number. I just ran a homebrew comp with 260 entries, and I still had to collapse a couple categories (BJCP has 28 categories, I collapsed them down to 24).

Excuse my "western ignorance," but are the winners announced anywhere else other than Troy's blog? Where was this held if there was a people's choice in each category? It seemed to me like this comp sorta appeared out of nowhere, but like I say, I wasn't really following it that closely either.

[wilco]

The answers to some of these questions can be found at Roger's blog, http://quenchyourthirst.tumblr.com/. Includes how many beers were entered from the breweries, but not what beers (though it can easily be assumed which ones were).

[markaberrant]

The answers to some of these questions can be found at Roger's blog, http://quenchyourthirst.tumblr.com/. Includes how many beers were entered from the breweries, but not what beers (though it can easily be assumed which ones were).

Thanks, very helpful! 130 entries aint too shabby. 19 categories still seems like a lot though.

[GregClow]

Here's the full list of breweries & number of beers submitted, from Roger Mittag's blog mentioned above:

Amsterdam Brewing Co. 8
Barley Days Brewery 2
Black Oak Brewing Company 7
Brick Brewing Co. 11
Cameron’s Brewing Company 4
Cool Beer Brewing Company 4
Creemore Springs Brewery 2
Denison’s Brewing Company 2
Duggan’s Brewery 14
F&M Brewery 4
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery 4
Grand River Brewing 6
Granite Brewery 6
Great Lakes Brewery 7
Heritage Brewing 7
Highlander Brew Co. 1
Hockley Valley 2
King Brewery 3
Mill Street Brewery 8
Hop City Brewing 2
Muskoka Cottage Brewery 5
Nickel Brook Beers 7
Old Credit Brewing Co. Ltd. 3
Railway City Brewing 2
Sleeman 3
Steam Whistle 1
Wellington Brewery 6

[velovampire]

Duggan’s Brewery 14

And yet only 12 listed on RB. Wonder what the other 2 were/are?

[markaberrant]

Duggan’s Brewery 14

And yet only 12 listed on RB. Wonder what the other 2 were/are?

I believe some were entered in multiple categories.

[velovampire]

Duggan’s Brewery 14

And yet only 12 listed on RB. Wonder what the other 2 were/are?

I believe some were entered in multiple categories.

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification Mark. My hopes of a new DIPA are now deflated.

[pootz]

I'm not defending the OCBs, but BJCP categories as I understand them are intended for homebrew competitions, not commercial brewing.

The BJCP has three functions within the beer community. First, it provides a standards-based organization supplying qualified judges to both amateur and commercial brewing competitions designed to promote the appreciation of beer styles and their accurate production by brewers. The BJCP tracks members' participation as judges, organizers, or stewards in BJCP-sanctioned brewing competitions and awards continuing education units for participation.

The BJCP also publishes style guidelines categorizing beer, cider, and mead into twenty-eight style categories. These guidelines are used in both the examination of beer judges by the BJCP and, voluntarily, by brewing competition organizers; the BJCP also encourages prospective test-takers to study the available literature on styles and brewing.

Think of BJCP as the ISO 9000 of brewing competitions and judging....it's an objective standardization of styles and beer quality. It buts all the judging on the same page with only a minor portion of decision left to personal preference.....I don't know about you but if I were entering a commercial competition with my corporate reputation on the line, the least I expect is standardized categorization and judges adhering to standardized objective guidelines....anything else is open to nepotism or any number of unseemly practices.

That said, there is enough leeway in BJCP trained judging to appreciate nuance and (as Derek puts it) "how great it actually is". As for brews that push or obliterate style boundaries, BJCP has core guides for these hybrids and mutants but leaves the largest part of the decision up to the judge based in their trained and displayed knowledge of quality and appreciation for experimental artisanal flair.

Without some universal style and quality standards, beer awards are meaningless ad hoc sideshows at best

[pootz]

Denison's Hefe and dunkel entered ??

I'd be interested in who judged and how the also-rans were scored