A BTS Look at Judging the First Annual Rhode Worthy Cup Beer Competition

Photo by Kaitlyn Murray

It’s not every day that you get the chance to put your drinking skills to the test, so when RIDEA Committee co-founder (amongst many other accolades) Jennifer D. Pereira reached out to our office about judging for the First Annual Rhode Worthy Cup, I was quick to volunteer as tribute. A summer afternoon away from the office spent imbibing local beer? Sign me up.

But as the day drew closer, I’ll admit I was a tad apprehensive. Sure, like Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones once said, “I drink, and I know things,” but was being a local brewery frequenter and IPA fan enough? Flipping through the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines made me think not. I suddenly found myself dipping back into long buried studying techniques. I don’t think memorizing the difference between the bitterness of a New England IPA vs. a West Coast IPA is what my freshman year science teacher had in mind when he taught us the proper ways of note taking, but oh well. Thanks Mr. Reis!

To no surprise, I was surrounded by a sea of men (no shade, them’s the current industry breaks) when I walked into the Guild on the day of the judging session, but it was affirming when cool lady boss Pereira came to greet me. I was directed to a small table equipped with crackers and carrots (who knew?) for palate cleansings, a small bucket for extra liquid dump-age, and water bottles for hydration a.k.a. tipsiness deterrence. A few minutes after setting up my iPad and once again feverishly reviewing my notes, I was joined by my fellow section judge. To my delight, not only was she a she, but also a certified judge who had participated in her fair share of competitions and who had plenty of experience working in the wonderful world of beer. At least she wouldn’t let me accidentally tank the cup.

For those curious about the process, here’s a brief run down. The goal was to determine which of the hundred-plus beers submitted by twenty-four local breweries should take home first, second, and third place prizes for different style categories. As such, the judges (I would estimate there were about twenty to thirty of us) were divided into eighteen small groups. For instance, over at Table 2, we were assigned American IPAs and IPLs and given a list of about nine blindly labeled beers and told what to expect for each, i.e. beer #1 is meant to be a Session India Pale Ale, beer #4 is meant to be an American-style Pale Lager , and so on. We then went through each brew, one pour at a time (brought to us in unlabeled pitchers), and rated each with a numbered scale on five factors: appearance (I cannot even begin to tell you how much I agonized over recording the right shade of yellow), aroma (it always smelled like beer to me), taste (the distinction between floral and citrus suddenly seemed razor thin), mouthfeel (????) and overall impression.

This is where the guidelines came in handy, for it was not as simple as saying, “Oh, this beer tastes good, I’m going to give it a 9/10.” No, you had administer judgments based on how well the beer in question matched the style it claimed to be. For instance, it did not matter that I, someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy West Coast IPAs, actually liked one of the West Coast IPAs on our list because it wasn’t very bitter —  I had to rate it lower because the Brewers Association dictates that that style should be bitter.

The trickiest part of the whole endeavor, however, was that the online system required a consensus for each beer we tried, meaning our final scores had to be within five points of each other before we could move on to the next tasting. So, if say, my overall rating for one beer was a 33 but hers was a 25, we needed look back through both of our ratings and discuss why we scored things the way we did and see where we could meet in the middle.

This is where the panic set in. How would my tastes and judgements match up against a bona fide beer judge? And what the heck even is mouthfeel anyway?

Fortunately, my fellow judge was very patient and helpful. She both assured me that my input as an average yet enthusiastic consumer was just as valuable and was able to enlighten me on the elusive mouth feel definition. And in the end, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were almost always on the same page with our scores. I think the most we deviated was about seven points for one or two of the samples, and we easily were able to hear each other’s reasonings out and adjust accordingly.

The whole process took about two hours, and yes even with the snacks and water, I was feeling it. But I also felt a great sense of accomplishment. I do drink and know things!

And afterwards, our hard work was rewarded with… more beer! A special shout out to the Guild for hosting and supplying.

Photo by Kaitlyn Murray

From there, the various final scores for each category were tallied up and the winners announced at that weekend’s Ocean State Brewers Fest. Despite getting my fill earlier in the week, I was happily in attendance, and it was fun to see many local breweries proudly touting their medals at their stations. And it was even cooler to find out which brews I had blindly named as favorites.

If you want to see which local brews you should be sippin’ on this year, you can find the full list of winners here.

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