Best of Brew NZ and Beervana

[Steph]

Thought I'd start a thread to give some "mad props" to my favs from Brew NZ and Beervana. Here goes:
- The great guys from stewarding. It was much harder work than I thought but I had a great time hanging out with Martin, Stu, Craig, Chris and the gang.
- Smelling how good one particular beer was in the pouring judge, looking up its number and then finding out it was Armegeddon and realising how privileged we all are.
- Being privileged enough to score some fantastic beer, including an awarding winning and delicious His Majestys in the bottle and being given one by the Yeastie Boys in the rigger.
- Meeting some of the awesome judges. Dave Logsdon was just fantastic and it was great chatting with Shane (from Steam) and Richard from Wig and Pen (among others).
- Hanging out with the guys from Renaissance Brewery. Brian is a legend for buying me coffee on the Saturday morning session of Beervana. Along with Andy and Soren that lot are the nicest brewers around.
- Meeting all the volunteers, including all you lot from RealBeer. There were some super cool people who let me boss them round a fair bit and didn't seem to mind too much.
- Laughing when Daniel from the beerstore introduced himself and said "you seem to drink a lot". And, explaining to lots of poeple that that is how I managed to get involved with BrewNZ and Beervana!!
-Almost forgot....Awarding best shirt to Matt from Harringtons for two awesome shirts on mash-in and at the awards. Big ups to Stu's shirt and pant combo and Paul Mecurio's hilarious beer shirt at Beervana.

Phew, and sure I've missed a bit out....Like the beer. I'll have to get back to it.

[nzbrewer]

(from Steve Nally)

New Zealand Brewing needs a standard

Of the feast of brewers gathered to celebrate at BrewNZ last week, many went home disappointed by a ceremony where judging was the winner on the night and even winners felt like losers.

Richard Emerson received the only standing ovation of the night; Emerson’s Brewery a deserved champion New Zealand Brewery. That was the highlight in a night of nadirs.

This year just 23 per cent of 360 beers entered got medals – and of the 82 medals awarded nearly half (44%) went to overseas breweries.

By comparison in 2008, 37% of entries were winners on the night, in 2007 that figure was over 50%.

So what’s gone on? Have our beers deteriorated? Is there something wrong with the judging? Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Judges have claimed beer appreciation is a sensory thing that can’t be quantified or categorised – that’s an opinion somewhat at odds with brewers who know that consistency of product is achieved by measuring, recording and checking back against that standard.

If there are no secrets in brewing then the mystery must be reserved for how it’s judged. Any sensory system must be clouded by individual human interpretations (behavioural studies have shown adding people to a panel does not dilute prejudice, wherever judges converse a single dominant or senior individual is easily able to sway the opinions of the many).

Legend has it beer is examined solely against style – gold for world class, silver bronze etc – however, when a significant proportion of overseas breweries entered, New Zealand beers performed poorly. That suggests beers were indeed being judged by the company they kept. In 2008 there were eight gold medals awarded to New Zealand beers (excluding best in class) – in 2009 there were just two that reached the standard. By contrast, 10 overseas beers won gold versus just three the previous year.

And it’s not just the standard that appears to be floating.

There’s another continually moving bar in the classes themselves. In 2009 six classes disappeared, to be replaced by nine new ones. Available data doesn’t allow us to track to the percentage of beers “out of style” and therefore automatically out of contention; anecdotal evidence suggests this figure could be quite high.

As an industry we chose to get behind one major beer award to celebrate excellence and give us all something to aim for. That’s what BrewNZ needs to provide – a single transparent standard, year after year, one we can all aspire to.

We don’t want easy medals and accolades where everyone gets a prize. We want honest feedback and to give credit where credits due; if 80 percent of our beers are world class let’s celebrate the lot; and just one percent make the grade, let’s be inspired by that standard.

So set the bar. Set it high. Then stop playing with it.

Footnote: Medals and awards in this data have been collated solely for beverages. The number of beverage classes during this period increased from 10 to 13; in order to compare like with like the medals won by best in class winners in 2007 and 2008 have been excluded, as have champion breweries, packaging and innovation awards.

(see pdf)

[Greig McGill]

What a great article. Where was that published?

So set the bar. Set it high. Then stop playing with it.

That's a really good line, and I agree with the thrust of it. All standards need to evolve though, or they become stagnant and thus meaningless. I'm pretty sure that's not what Steve was meaning though.

Those here who were judges, care to publicly weigh in on the judging process and your opinions thereof?

Transparency == good. :)

[nzbrewer]

maybe even some stewards could share some experiences

[Steve Nally]

Published on realbeer today. The only way to affect change is to let people know the facts.
Transparency will always stop stagnation...

If there is a problem here in NZ let find way to improve it...

[Kempicus]

A couple of things occurred to me...

Judging process and opinions thereof is an interesting call....I've heard of a judge over here that marks beers down out of style based on his own likes and dislikes....i'm not for a moment accusing the judges of that sort of palaver but it just shows how interpretation or opinion can be a huge factor (unfortunately)

44% of golds given to overseas breweries
The NZ beers being judged in the company that they kept i don't think is such a bad thing but i think at the same time is a damning thing for both the judges and the beer. A judge that's only ever tasted mediocrity will give a high mark to something that is slightly better than the average he or she is used to....once the horizons are lengthened, beers are tasted against others, the mediocre beers are put into perspective. How about using this as an inspiration, get better and brew better, ignore the judges and brew the best you can against the best in the world!
For me this brings into question the whole ethos of the 'competition' it sounds like a bad NZ school sports day, everyone gets a medal for competing.

[Stu McKinlay]

I agree James - we need the overseas beers for both the education of the judges and to put our beer in perspective. I would like to see some way of getting more NZ brewers to taste some of these overseas beers but I'm not sure how that could occur outside of those brewers being judges or stewards...

[Steve Nally]

How many of the judges are from overseas in 2008 and 2009? If the results differ because of the presence of overseas entries doesn't it point to comparing beer with beer and not comparing beers (and cider or shouldn't i talk about THEM) with the standard ie category discription?

[nzbrewer]

we let the brewers into a session of tasting the left over beers. maybe even with the judges. breaking into small groups of a judge or two with 2 or 3 brewers. so the beers can be talked through. Maybe even break brewers into groups based on the styles of beers they want to taste.

This is where the international beers can be very helpful.

Most help is going to the US for Craft Brewers Conference. Spend a week tasting so many different beers, going to seminars on every topic you can think of, and meet brewers from all over the world. At the Brewers Expo they have 2500 brewers from around the world attending.

[Stu McKinlay]

Back to the original thread (which has been so hijacked):

My mad props:

Judging/Awards:
The stewards - most under rated people of the week. Definitely the BEST people.
Craig Bowen - Huge effort bro. Hope you've had time to give Nat some good loving now that it is all over.
The judges - despite everyone's worst fears, these guys all did a great job. I'm sure that every one of them learnt something new - and that says a little about them as people and the character .
Dave Logsdon - being a head judge behind the scenes was a perfect move. Please let this be a precedent. I had loads of fun working with you, learning from you, and telling you to couple kegs!
Paul Mercurio - a lot of attention was on you Paul and from what I saw you really pulled through as a trainee judge, a media front, and as the awards MC.
All @ Emerson's (especially Richard) - well done guys, so well deserved. All we need is for Invercargill to win next year and then my three biggest brewing heroes have all picked up champion brewery.

Beervana:
Tammy and Jaysen of Mata - what a golden couple and what a super family! I've already told everyone how much I respect their beer. I hope to spend more time with you guys next year - Sunday BBQ?
Martin Townshend - King Cnut! I can't wait to catch up with you again geezer, I've got a big wet kiss for that unshaven cheek of yours! And, no, I am not a Fulham supporter ;-) Despite what I've tried to lead him to believe I have got no dirt on him.
The Croucher's - Best looking couple in brewing, the awards can't be far away fellas. Keep working hard and talking to the right people.
Craig Bowen (BeerNZ) and James Henderson (Bar) - for having us on your stand. Hope I pulled my weight, I sure know Sam didn't ;-)
Brendon - late addition to the bar staff on Saturday night, perfect timing.
Everyone who came and said hello at Beervana - serving strangers is all well and good but seeing your friends (old and new) having a great time really makes the weekend!
All those who voted PKB (or any other Yeastie beer)... thanks, it really means more than you probably realise.

Everyone I met... I hope to meet you all again. I don't think I met a single person that I didn't enjoy my brief chat with. What a great blast. I certainly felt at home behind the bar. And felt even better when I ventured out amongst the heaving throngs.

Lastly, and mostly...

The sponsors - without them we'd not have had the fun.

Sam - "the other Yeastie Boy"... what an awesome partner in beer crimes. It's all about beer for both of us but he helps me keep things in perspective.

Steph - if anyone or anything deserved gold that week it was Steph.

David Cryer - you sir are a legend. Thank you. And to the rest of the committee this year, especially Martin as Treasurer (the duck, who appears to be doing nothing to the outsider but is rapidly pumping below the surface).



My beer of the week: Emerson's Brewer's Reserve Southern Clam Stout.


I could say so much more but it's what I said or say to each of you in person that means the most. So come along next year and I'll mad prop you in person.

[Stu McKinlay]

My other beer of the week was a Dortmunder from the New Zealand Naturally Brewing Company. I've heard that this is Ben Middlemiss but I can't find anything about the brewery. Wow! What a beer. I'm surprised it didn't get a gold. So good to see a subtle beer with an amazing balance of malt sweetness, bitterness and minerally water in amongst all those big showy beers. It was one of the very few beers that I had a full glass of during the few days stewarding.

Anyone know where can I get more???

[Martin Bridges]

When we had the SOBA visit to Ben's brewery on Waiheke, the only place his beer was available was at the Saratoga Estate conference centre and (for some reason that eludes me at the moment) The Birdcage bar in Auckland!

I agree that Dortmunder was awesome, as was the Pilsner we sampled during the SOBA visit. Maybe I'll drop Ben a note, see if we're likely to see his beers in more accessible locations!

[Greig McGill]

The reason was that they only had an on-licence, not an offie, if I recall correctly. Contrasted with Waiheke Brewery, who only had an offie! ;)

They were stunners. Best non-German German beer I've ever had. :)

Oh, he was keen to come down for a night at the RCC in Hamilton, so it might be there soon... ;)