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My beer, bit flat in this pic |
Competition finals are always a bit of a challenge - there are so many interesting beers so it's tempting to try too many and end up with a sore head the next day. They are doubly a challenge on Monday, and it's probably impossible to be abstenious when your beer wins a prize. Work the next day was a bit of a struggle
This week I had more success - my Belgian Tripel placed third in the Tripels flight (15 beers in total) at the London Amateur Brewers "Fast like a Monk" competition and scored 41&38 from the judges, really pleased with these scores!
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Comp entries |
I'm really pleased with this beer for a few reasons:
There were a few things I could have improved to get a better score:
- It should have been stronger - at 7% I rather undercooked it for the style, at the limits of acceptability. I should have added a bit more sugar.
- It should have been better carbonated - I always take a safety first approach to carbonation in glass.
- It should have been hoppier - but again using my own hops was a bit of a gamble, there wasn't any data on their strength to help get the beer right. In future, as i like em hoppy, I'll over do the hops with my own and cross my fingers.....
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My beers with the orange caps on the winners tasting table |
So after collecting my prize, I sampled some of the other winning beers. The overall winner, a dopplebok was amazing. Deep malty but smooth and warm. The other Tripels were worthy for their top places, and I really enjoyed the Trappist Singels - the winner had the fruity esters of a strong Belgian golden ale but hoppier and at a much more session-able strength.
So a really enjoyable competition - but reckon results and awards nights on a Friday in future please (urgh!)
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Getting my rosette with the other flight winners! |