I chatted with one judge at Homebrew Con. She said there was a lot of pressure just to eliminate beers from each round and not enough time to give quality feedback. I have heard rumblings that this feeling is not isolated to this one judge.
The above is from another forum.
After getting comment sheets, I believe this is the case. There was no helpful input / feedback regarding my entries.
Looking at my results, the initial thought was the judges were just trying to get it over with, as quick as possible.
NHC is not the competition to seek feedback. It's been that way for years.
Yes there was time pressure on the judges to get through the flights.
The short for sheets can be completed quickly, anf there is little room to write down comments.
There is something wrong with this picture.
Especially when it's obvious the judges did not have enough time to judge the beers, with appropriate feedback.
My comments were scribbled so fast that they are barely legible. Perhaps they need reduce the total entries even further, to allow the judges adequate time, rather than just rifle through the beers post haste. Or, get more judges.
The AHA/NHC would be far better off to return to a series of regional competitions, then have those winners go to a national.
Overall, a disappointing experience for us. Not because we did not place, but because of the total lack of constructive criticism.
And they would be wise to use the standard BJCP Score Sheet, with numerical values.