Don’t ever pass up the opportunity to judge beer. Ok, I know you do that anyway, but I’m not talking about your personal opinion of Pabst Blue Ribbon. It turns out that real-life beer competitions require amateur beer judges to work alongside the pros. Apparently, amateurs provide useful feedback to brewmasters with their ‘average Joe’ opinions.

And that’s where I come in.

May 19th was the 25th annual Heart of the Valley Brewfest held in Corvallis, Oregon, featuring home-brewed beer from all over the Pacific Northwest. It was two days of beer drinking fun and *hard work* - no really, judging beer takes skill, concentration, and stamina (not to mention a fully functioning olfactory sense).

I had none of these, but still managed to hold my own. What’s exciting about being an amateur judge is how much you learn about beer, and quickly. “It was good” is not going to cut it, and adopting a complicated beer vocabulary is highly encouraged. It’s also exciting to have an excuse to start drinking beer at 9 a.m., which is when the judging started.

The process works something like this: you and a few others judge one category at a time (I had stouts on Friday night and Pilsners Saturday morning). Unlabelled bottles are pulled from a cooler and distributed into tasting glasses (this year made from compostable corn-plastic - yes!). A score sheet is filled out for each beer, which is judged on multiple categories, including: aroma, taste, mouth-feel, overall impression, etc, and each of these is given a numbered score. Scores from each judge must be within a certain point range (7 points) for us, and if there’s any controversy the beers are tasted again, the re-tasted, etc, until noone can sit up straight anymore.

The micro-brews this year were excellent, and I found a new favorite category: the Russian Imperial Stout (e.g. Old Rasputin). In addition to the competition, commercial breweries from all over the PacNW were there, including two notable beers from primarily organic brewers: Butte Creek from Chico, CA, and Roots from Portland, OR (look for more about Roots later).

Since I was crazy for anything that said ‘Imperial’ on the label, I found my way to the booth with Butte Creek’s limited release Organic Imperial India Pale Ale (say that 10 times fast). The release is so limited that I was unable to find the beer at our local beer store for further, ah, research. Despite my rapidly declining faculties at the festival, I can tell you the beer fits the Imperial IPA profile of “high to absurdly high hop bitterness” - it’s not for the faint of heart, though quite tasty, and at 9.1% it also packs a punch.

Ratebeer.com rating: 95% (out of 195 reviews).

If you can find this beer I would highly recommend drinking it. To see where the beer might be available, go here. Butte Creek makes several other, more commonly available organic beers - watch for a taste off in the near future.

Why Organic? Butte Creek says the Imperial IPA is:

A tribute to bringing sustainable farming to the brewing industry. “Go Big or Go Home.” - Larry Berlin, Brewmaster

If you’re lucky enough to find a local brew competition in your area, take my advice: ride your bike to the event.