Ohio Brew Week Beer Judging

The beauty of Ohio Brew Week is the free hotels provided to judges. So Mike Nereng and I drove down to Athens last night (well, Mike drove—I just provided witty commentary along the way), went out and had dinner and some beers, and then called it an evening. Smooth and easy. Although the karaoke we saw last night at Casa Nueva may have permanently scarred me. Well, not all of it, but certainly some of it. And I had had several beers, too. But I digress.

In the morning round, I judged Light Hybrids, which consists of:

6A. Cream Ale

6B. Blonde Ale

6C. Kölsch

6D. American Wheat or Rye Beer

We had a pretty solid round of beers; in fact, the Cream Ale that won ended up taking first place in the Best of Show. That’s right, you heard me. A Cream Ale won best of show. It was that good.

In the afternoon session, I judged India Pale Ales:

14A. English IPA

14B. American IPA

14C. Imperial IPA

There were 18 beers overall, so there were two sets of judges; I think we did 10 and they did 8. Those last several Imperial IPAs were a doozy. However, much like above, a very good batch of beers—the four beers that were pushed to the mini BOS were all solid, and the winner ended up getting second overall in the Best of Show.

So overall, I can’t complain—I got to judge some solid beer, and the event was well organized and run. I look forward to doing it again next year. After the judging, Mike and I ran by Jackie O’s for a couple of beers and to hear all of the final results, and then headed back to Dayton. Word.

(7/10/10)