Homebrew Alley XVIII

[FedoraDave]

The results are in.

I entered my Kölsch and my Double IPA.

DIdn't win anything, and the Kölsch scored in the mid-30s while the Double IPA scored in the low 30s.

Some mild tweaks to both might improve them, though. A different choice of yeast and slightly more hop presence in the Kölsch, and a more aggressive hop schedule for the Double IPA with a slight tweak to the malt bill will bring them both closer to style.

But overall, I'm not disappointed. The Double IPA was my first attempt at the style, so there's a learning curve there. And for some reason, the entire batch of Kölsch didn't seem to carbonate properly, so I was sure I'd get killed for submitting flat beer. But apparently I lucked out and they got a good bottle, because I got 4 out of 5 for mouthfeel from both judges. In both cases, both flavor and aroma sealed my doom. A couple points higher in both those categories would have made a big difference in overall score.

[bpgreen]

If nothing else, it sounds like you got useful feedback.

[FedoraDave]

Very useful feedback. I can agree pretty much with their comments throughout. I did think the IPA was a little too sweet, not dry enough on the finish, and not as aggressively hopped as it could have been. And the kölsch could have benefitted from more contribution from the yeast, as befits the style. Everything was encouraging.