Another podium spot!

[Dawg LB Steve]

FWIW, Honorable Mention means that there were more than 3 considered for the medal aka mini bos for the category, it was the last eliminated before getting to the medal beers. It also very well could be that the Gold medal beer actually scored lower than Silver, Bronze and HM too, since the medal is not awarded for score. Just worked my 4th comp Saturday for our Clubs AHA Comp, King of The Mountain.

Nah, it's because mine had a better name.

(C'mon, throw me a bone here)

[mashani]

That's excellent Dave!

[Kealia]

Congrats, Dave. If you're happy that is all that matters.

[FedoraDave]

I got my scoresheets from Das Boot! A little disappointed with the South Ferry score. I haven't read the comments, but it was in the 20s, and I expected better (although the numbers are relative, so there's quite a potential sliding scale).

But the Old Smokey scored a 38! A very good score! And one of the judges scored it a 39, my highest number ever, and it pushes it into the "Excellent" range. Now, speaking of relative numbers, this beer was the 15th one in a flight of 17, so they'd already evaluated most of the beers in this category.

This judge gave me perfect scores for Appearance and Mouthfeel (3/3 and 5/5, respectively). He also commented in the "Overall Impression" section, "Well-made base style without overwhelming smoke. Drinkable. The base seems better than most commercial versions. Nicely done."

"Better than most commercial versions." I am over the moon! I should enter the base recipe in a competition some time.

[bpgreen]

That's fantastic!

[FedoraDave]

In the interest of Full Disclosure, my California Common score was a 25. Disappointed with that.

Both judges had issues with the color being too dark, the fruity esters in the aroma, and not enough hops. They said it wasn't to style, and was more of a porter than a Cali Common.

So I'd better re-evaluate the recipe. Add more hops and retool the malt bill.