Regina – Some would call it a dream job, tasting beer for a living.
But the Ale and Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan (ALES) judges aren’t just knocking back a few with their friends. They take their beer very seriously.
The ALES Homebrew Open is on all week at Bushwakker BrewPub.
“We want to give each beer a good judging,” said ALES Open judge David Freeman. He pours a beer from category 11-A Mild.
“Normally what I would do is cover it up,” he said as he puts his hand over the beer sample. “Make sure the aroma characteristics get concentrated within the glass. And then I go to the appearance.”
He holds the glass up to the light so he can accurately judge the beer’s colouring, and compare it to the style guide. He’s also looking at how much head the beer retains on top and compares that to the style guide.
“It’s slightly brown, which this style should have a copper to mahogany colour. It’s fairly clear, so that’s good. And, it has an off-white to tan head,” he said. So far, he seems impressed.
“Next we go to aroma. What we should be smelling is a low to moderate malt aroma, which I am detecting,” he says to his fellow judges. “It may have a little bit of fruitiness. I’m getting a little bit of caramel to it.”
Next category, flavour.
“You want to take a good swig of it, put it in our mouths and let it roll around a little bit.”
This particular category has a wide range of flavours. Malt, sweet, caramel, toffee, toasty, nutty are all acceptable. It can even have a bit of fruit or raison flavour to pass. The judges are also looking for an acceptable sweet to bitter ratio.
“This one is pretty relaxed on the bitterness. It has a good balance. This brewer knows what he’s doing,” said Freeman.
He moves on to mouth feel. Mouth feel is about how slick the beer is, and what the body of the brew is like. This beer should have a low to medium body, and low to medium carbonation.
“Overall, this one is pretty good! In a score out of 50, I’d definitely put this is the mid-30s for sure,” said Freeman. The other two judges disagree though, giving it a score in the high 30s.
It may seem like a tough score, but there are 645 entries that represent 80 different styles of beer. Meaning the judges have about ten beers per day to sample.
“You only drink about an ounce to an ounce and a half of each beer,” explains ALES Club president Josh Morrison. “When we judge beer we’re looking for specific things. But, at the end of the day we’re trying to tell the brewer, first of all did we like your beer? Second of all, how can you make it better.”
The craft beer industry is booming. There’s been a groundswell of craft breweries springing up across the province in the past two years. Many of those breweries are being run by ALES club members, and are vying for a medal in the prestigious competition.
The ALES Home Open is one of the largest and longest running home-brew competitions in Canada, making the prizes a major coup.
“We all want to get better as home brewers. One way to get better is by entering a competition, and getting some feedback about your beer,” said Morrison.
One of the most common questions he answers, is how do you become a beer judge?
“It’s a bit of work actually,” he said. “There’s a certification program you need to take. It’s basically a university level course that takes about three to four hours a week for an entire semester to become a certified judge.”
Saskatchewan has more certified judges per capita than any other province in Canada.
But even “un-certified” beer experts can come to the award ceremony on Saturday. The judges will make their final decisions on which beer wins it all at 1 p.m. at Bushwakker BrewPub.
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