Best Judging
Below are ranked the competitions providing the best judging feedback out of 89 ranked USA competitions. These competitions are rated Excellent or Great by the entrants of the competition through anonymous survey results. Â
Note a minimum of 3 surveys is required to be included in this list.
"Great judging gifts, wonderful food for judges, staff and during the awards ceremony."
"Highly qualified judges."
"They have highly ranked judges attend."
"Great judges, great feedback."
"I love sending my beers here to get the excellent feedback."
"They also have a lot of high ranking judges who participate, so the feedback is excellent."
"I love sending my beers here to get the excellent feedback"
"high quality judging"
"Very detailed feedback from judges and great scoresheets."
"...meticulously executed with great supervision and coordination on each area from the pool of BJCP Mead certified judges, accountable stewards,..."
"I judged this competition for the first time. It was an outstanding experience! They provided education as well as gifts, opportunities to socialize, mead share nights and more. They really go above and beyond to express their appreciation"
"All my entries were judged by BJCP ranked judges (Recognized or higher). Judge comments were accurate."
" It is exceptionally well judged. Every one of my entries was judged by a certified judge or above. Several of my entries were judged by master and grand master judges. Every time I enter this competition, I receive feedback that helps me to refine my beers. In fact, I will be re-brewing 3 beers based specifically on AFC judges' commentary."
"Comments were brief but to the point and HELPFUL"
"The judging was very effective; mixed use of sliders and commentary. All of the commentaries included some note on the major issues facing the beers and how the beer would be improved. ."
"the judging notes and medals were all quite good."
"The competition was extremely well judged. Of my scoresheets, there were only 4 non-bjcp judges; most scoresheets had at least 2 bjcp judges. Well done!"
"The number of certified, national, and grand master judges participating in this event was impressive. I only had 3 judges that were not certified."
"Quality judging, scoresheet from President of the BJCP"
"Fantastic judging by some highly qualified judges"
"Most judges were BJCP. "
"...quick feedback, above average judges,"
"very good judges; great and helpful feedback;"
"Judging seemed very harsh/ difficult to please a judge versus many other competitions I've entered."
"Judging seemed to drop off this year. Otherwise well judged."
"...the judging seemed rushed by the amount, quality, and legibility of the feedback received"
"...they are sticking with using hand-written scoresheets and the scans of them (combined with terrible handwriting) make many of the comments illegible."
"Inconsistent Score Sheets."
"Contradictory comments galore on the same scoresheet by same judge. A couple of terrible judges. Otherwise decent comp/judging. "
"Fantastic judging! All in person!!"
"Well managed and well judged."
"Just all around well run competition with consitent judging and quality. "
"Judging had some major improvements this year for my entries."
"A bit of difficulty with legibility but decent feedback"
10th Place (12.00 / 15 points) - Coconut Cup
"Good feedback. "
"Most judges were BJCP."
"Quick feedback, above-average judges."
"Wonderful judging gifts and food for judges and staff."
"Very good judges; great and helpful feedback."
"Fantastic judging by some highly qualified judges."
"While there were plenty of certified and higher judges, the overall quality of judging was quite poor. One entry had one judge say my beer was far too bitter for the style. The other judge said my beer would benefit from some more hop bitterness. Both claimed to be certified. Another judge (who was listed as a BJCP National judge!) claimed that my beer was 5 IBU too high for style. That's a level of sensory perception that I find it doubtful someone could have with such confidence. "
"I felt the judging was fair with great feedback"
15th Place (11.38 / 15 points) - Homebrew Alley
" A bit more commentary and feedback from judges is desired."
"Well run and they provide well for the judges/stewards/staff. Always on the top of my list of comps to judge and/or steward. Judging is usually very high quality"
"Great communication and feedback"
"Extremely well judged, and the judging qualifications were fairly impressive: professional brewers, certified, national, master, and grandmaster judges -- very nice mix. There were non-certified judges, of course, but all were paired with certified or above judges. This competition is part of a very competitive circuit, the Front Range, and it is able to draw very talented homebrewers and judges into the competition."
"Great feedback from judges that was helpful in retooling recipes and future category entries. "
19th Place (11.07 / 15 points) - Red Earth Spring Brew Off
"Extremely poor quality judging on mixed-ferm beers; one judge actually stated they hated the category and didn't know why they had to judge it"
"Well above average judging."
"Good food between judging sessions, fun awards banquet, several national judges "
"Great judges"
"they take care of judges and stewards well, good food,'
"The judging pool was top notch and provided a mix of Master and Grand Master judges that gave valuable feedback."
21st Place (10.90 / 15 points) - Alamo City Brew Battle
" judging was excellent and well managed; "
" judging was excellent and well managed; "
"Great detail and well written scoresheets. "
"Judging was on par with other comps. "
" I do feel some of the judging was very poor and scoresheets were illegible..."
"Very well managed, very well judged, and very competitive. "
"Scoresheets were almost unusable. One had fewer than 30 words total on it. "
"Good feedback on scoresheets"
