Judging of My Northern Lights IBA

Back in late April I tried my first crack at creating my own recipe, Northern Lights India Black Ale, and entered it for judging. The bad news is I didn't win the tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The good news is, I did pretty good for a first attempt.

The event was this year's organic brewing AHA sanctioned Pro-Am competition sponsored by 7 Bridges Cooperative and Bison Brewing. My final average score was 28, placing the beer into the high end of the Good (21 - 29) category. While there's lots of room for  improvement, 28 out of a possible 50 points is not a bad start. The judges comments have given me some valuable pointers to improving on the recipe. And I have ordered ingredients to try again this weekend on version 2. Only this time the beer will be all-grain instead of partial mash.

Here's the official score sheet key to the Good section:

Good (21 - 29) - A satisfactory beer that generally fits the style parameters. Scores near the upper end of this range may have only a few minor flaws or be slightly out of style and also may be lacking in balance or complexity. Scores near the lower end of this range tend to have more flaws and are likely to have stylistic inconsistencies as well.

Both judges noted sediment around the neck of the bottle, which might have resulted from shipping, but most of their comments match my own thoughts to improve the recipe.

1. The beer got perfect scores on appearance - it is a really black IPA with a good head and wonderful lacing.
2. My hopping did not produce enough aroma, and the bitterness wasn't strong enough to balance the dark grain in the recipe. I have learned from later batches, how to make hoppier beers by using very different approaches to the hop additions and brew times. 
3. I clumsily over-sparged the specialty grains, and also over-oxidized the wort in dumping it into the brew kettle. Until I get two new larger kettles for HLT and lauter tun, I am siphoning my transfers back to the mash tank/brew kettle to prevent oxygenation of the wort.

The next batch will be better (famous last words?), in at least three ways. But all in all, when I count in the fun I had designing and making the beer, and the bounty of having a full five gallons of a good black IPA to savor, I still give it pretty high marks. The recipe can take a few tweaks, and over time I'll become a more accomplished home brewer.