Love is blind: Finally, an IPA tasting that makes sense.

(Last year I wrote about this same general topic here, as pertaining to a blind taste test of Indiana beers)

Dibbs Harting may have taught me to be a beer judge, BJCP-style, but in all honesty, it's something I don't do very often. Once or twice a year is enough for me.

Effective judging in itself hardly is simple, and yet certain elements can be grasped by anyone. Axiomatic among these is the anonymity of the process. I pour a sample of a particular style, not knowing who brewed it, and I judge accordingly against the stylistic yardstick.

Just like this fellow at Paste. Kudos to the "blind judging" process, which involved objectively (gasp) considering IPAs, and not incessantly snapping selfies. It appears this group has followed this route before. Good for them. More should.

Blind-Tasting 116 of the Best American IPAs: We Have a Winner, by Jim Vorel (Paste)

The top American India pale ale has been chosen

... Yes, there were surprises on all fronts, both in the beers we loved and the beers that didn’t speak to us as we expected. That’s why we committed so fully to the blind-tasting method.

Kentucky State Fair homebrew competition judging will be Sunday, August 15th.

The following was forwarded by FOSSILS via Chuck Harp. Note that there is no spreadsheet attachment; of course, you may contact Chuck directly if you're interested in judging and stewarding. I regret that in recent years, the judging has conflicted with the usual day for returning home from the Great Taste of the Midwest. One of these days, I'll make it back to the fairgrounds.

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The Kentucky State Fair homebrew competition will be held on Sunday, August 15th. We are looking for lots of judges and stewards to help out with our competition. The judging will be held in the south wing conference center of the Kentucky Exposition center in Louisville, Ky. If you are not familiar with this location, please see the KY state fair website for details.

Our schedule for the day is as follows:

10:15 am Start judge check-in (coffee, juice and donuts are planned)

10:45 am Calibration Beer

11:00 am Start judging first round

1:00 pm Finish first round

After each judge is finished with his/her flight, there will be a box lunch provided. Our hope is that by allowing each judge to eat as soon as they are done, we can quickly start on the second round of judging.

1:30 pm Start second round (or earlier)

3:30 pm Finish second round

3:45 pm Best Of Show

Due to the large number of entrants to this competition who are also judges, stewards and organizers, we have decided to also try to have an awards ceremony immediately following the judging. It is scheduled as follows:

4:30 pm Start Awards Ceremony

5:30 pm End Awards Ceremony

We are hoping you will be able to participate, and I would also like to pre-assign judges prior to the event so things can go smoothly

Please e-mail back if you are going to be able to judge or steward this year, and also please fill out and return the simple attached spreadsheet. There is an example tab to show how to fill the form out, and a tab called JudgeList which should take about 30 seconds to complete. The purpose of the form is to let us know if you entered any beers in this years competition (and your likes/dislikes for judging styles). All we need is the class number of the beer or beers you entered, prefer to judge, and prefer not to judge (if you have a preference).

Thanks for your help, and may the next beer you drink ... be the best beer you have ever tasted!

Chuck Harp