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From: lambic-request at lance.colostate.edu (subscription requests only - do not post here)
To: lambic at lance.colostate.edu
Subject: Lambic Digest #484 (November 14, 1994)
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 00:30:12 -0700
Lambic Digest #484 Mon 14 November 1994
Forum on Lambic Beers (and other Belgian beer styles)
Mike Sharp, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Spirit of Belgium contest winners ("Phillip R. Seitz")
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Date: Sun, 13 Nov 94 15:35:25 -0400
From: "Phillip R. Seitz" <p00644 at psilink.com>
Subject: Spirit of Belgium contest winners
I think most attendees will agree that the Spirit of Belgium
conference and contest turned out to be a stunning success, and
in my currently hung-over condition I can't think of anything
that could have gone better. The technical talks were real eye
openers, the contest produced some outstanding beers, there was
plenty of cameraderie, and there was LOTS OF BEER. And for those
who were interested, everybody got to see that I'm truly as
pathetic as I seem on your screen.... :-)
I'm hoping that some of the other folks who came will provide
summaries of the various talks and other information gleaned from
corridor conversations. We certainly got some meaty info that
should lead to some substantial improvements in Belgian-style
brewing in the very near future.
In deference to the brewers who submitted beers to the
competition, I have listed the contest winners below, followed by
some notes on what we found in the various categories. Score
sheets and ribbons will be mailed soon. Ribbon winners should be
warned that I took the liberty of tinkering with the traditional
ribbon colors. First place winners get black, second place get
yellow, and third place get red. You'll figure it out. :-)
Keep another thing in mind when you get your scores. For judging
we used the updated beer descriptions contained in the Lambic
Digest archives. For scoring, I asked the judges to keep in mind
some qualitative factors in addition to the usual style
conformance guidelines issued by AHA. That is, I told people
that beers with scores in the 30s should be of commercial
quality, and that those receiving scores in the 40s should be
truly exceptional. So if you get a score of 33, this means that
the judges thought your beer is at least as good as others on the
market (at least, I hope that's what they thought). This was to
avoid score creep, and to try to relate the scores to some
tangible qualitative references.
Anyway, the winners...............................!!!!!
Best of Show
1st place Scott Bickham White beer
2nd place Jim Liddil pLambic
3rd place Andy Anderson Double
Belgian Ale
1st place Rick Garvin
2nd place Tony Babinec
3rd place Jim Johnston
Belgian Strong Ale
1st place Tony Babinec
2nd place Dave Justice
3rd place Dave Fothergill
Double
1st place Andy Anderson
2nd place Doug Kruth and Lynne Ragazzini
3rd place Julian Zelanzy
Triple
1st place Andy Anderson
2nd place Charlie "St. Sphinctus" Gow
3rd place Fred Hardy
White beer
1st place Scott Bickham
2nd place Rick Garvin
3rd place Spencer Thomas & Dan McConnell
Oud bruin
1st place Tim Artz, Bill Ridgely, Delano Dugarm & (oops!) me
2nd place Paul Timmerman
3rd place David Hammaker
pLambic & pGueuze
1st place Jim Liddil
2nd place Jim Liddil
3rd place Norm Dickinson & Rich Larson
pLambic with fruit
1st place Greg Rentko
2nd place Scott Bickham
3rd place David Hammaker
Unfortunately I don't have the exact entry count on hand, but it
was just below 90 entries.
Some comments:
Best of Show: BOS judges were Philippe Perpete, Pierre Rajotte,
Don Feinberg (of Vanberg & DeWolf), Dan McConnell and myself. I
would GLADLY pay money for any of the beers that won BOS.
Congratulations!
Belgian Ales: Philippe Perpete helped judge this category, and
his general comment was that all the beers needed more malt
flavor. In his presentation Eric Toft said that this beer style
should be brewed primarily with Vienna malt. Bingo.
Doubles: Andy's beer was really exceptional. I hope to post the
recipe with his permission, and you might do well to start from
there. The general comments at BOS were that it was definitely
in style and definitely excellent, but that it could go even
farther with a little more plummy fruitiness. Sounds to me like
a yeast swap would do it.
Triples: I think we've got this style down pat now, and winning
will be a matter of getting a clean ferment and tweaking minor
recipe factors. I believe Andy used the Wyeast White, and it
worked very well here.
White beers: Same as above. There's no excuse anymore for
brewing a bad white.
Oud bruin: I didn't even know Tim Artz had submitted this beer,
and when it came up at BOS I didn't recognize it and suggested it
as the first to eliminate! Overall this category still isn't
where it should be; many of the entries were better than in the
past, but many (including the 1st place winner) exhibited
unwanted signs of brettanomyces fermentation. We still need to
get a clean lactic ferment to make this category really work.
pLambic: I'm sure nobody's surprised to see Jim Liddil's name
here. The entries I tasted were all quite good, though some
needed more horse/goat/barn. I am continually surprised by the
quality of the entries in the lambic categories; I mean, who'da
thunk a category this complex would turn out so many good
examples?
pLambic with fruit: I really liked the winner here, but was
outvoted in the BOS round. I think the primary concern with the
beers here is that the fruit flavors get overfermented--you know
there's fruit in it, but you can't quite tell which. I'd say the
same for Cantillon's Rose de Gambrinus, but anybody who sampled
the few (HEAVENLY!) bottles of Hansens' Kriek that floated around
the conference know that richer fruit flavor is not only possible
but is rather thrilling in this type of beer.
Special thanks once more to Tim Artz and Charlie Gow, who worked
liked demons and endured the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune to bring this whole thing off.
That's it for now folks--I'm sure there'll be much more info as
people recover!
Phil Seitz
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End of Lambic Digest
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