Judging a beer to style versus judging it for pleasure
Beer judges grade against a written description. Drinkers ask whether they like it. These are different questions. Knowing the difference makes you a better judge and a happier drinker.
Two questions about the same glass
Pour a classic German Rauchbier, a smoked lager. A judge asks: is the smoke intense but balanced, as the style requires? Is the base beer clean, the malt bready, the bitterness moderate? If yes, it scores high.
A drinker asks: do I want to drink this? Plenty of people find Rauchbier tastes like a campfire and reach for something else. Neither of them is wrong. The judge measured the beer against a target. The drinker measured it against their own taste.
What judging to style means
Competitions use style guidelines, usually from the BJCP or the Brewers Association. Each style has a written description and typical numbers for strength, bitterness and colour. A Munich helles, for example, is around 4.7 to 5.4% ABV and gently bitter, with soft bready malt.
The scoresheet asks the judge to compare the beer to that description in aroma, appearance, flavour, mouthfeel and overall impression. A beer that is delicious but too bitter for a helles loses points, because it missed the target. That sounds harsh. It is also fair, because every entry in the flight is measured against the same description.
What judging for pleasure means
Drinking for pleasure has no scoresheet. It depends on the food, the weather, the company and your own palate. A light lager can be the best beer of the year on a 38 °C afternoon. A barley wine can be perfect by a fire and awful at a beach.
Personal preference is shaped by what you are used to, how sensitive you are to bitterness and even your genes: some people find certain bitter compounds much more intense than others. None of that makes your taste wrong. It just makes it yours.
Where the two overlap
The overlap is technical quality. A beer full of faults rarely pleases anyone. Cardboard from oxidation, butter from diacetyl, a solvent edge from hot fermentation and a sour note from infection all spoil both the score and the pint.
Even something as simple as foam shows the overlap. A good head looks appealing to a drinker and scores well with a judge, as our guide to judging a beer's head explains. A clean, well-made beer has a far better chance of being enjoyed, whether by a panel or by you.
Where they part ways
They split when style asks for something some people dislike. Strong smoke, high bitterness, sharp sourness, intense roast and low carbonation in British cask ale all divide drinkers. A judge must score a beer well when it does these things correctly, even if the judge would never order it.
They also split with innovation. A brilliant, original beer entered in the wrong style may score poorly. A drinker who meets it at a taproom without a scoresheet may love it. That is one reason commercial brewers sometimes skip competitions for their most experimental beers.
Serving conditions can change both
The same beer can taste quite different at 3 °C and at 10 °C, or from a shaker glass and a tulip. Cold hides aroma and makes bitterness more prominent. Judges try to taste every beer in the flight under the same conditions, at an appropriate temperature for its style, so the comparison is fair. Our guide to beer serving temperature gives the usual ranges.
At home you can play. Try your favourite beer colder and warmer and decide which you prefer. That is pleasure. Then try it at the temperature the style suggests. That is judging.
Style guidelines change over time
Style guidelines are not fixed laws. They describe beers that brewers are making. They are revised as brewing changes. The BJCP guidelines were substantially revised in 2015 and again in 2021, when styles such as Hazy IPA were added. The Brewers Association updates its guidelines every year.
That matters for pleasure as well as judging. Many styles that drinkers now love first appeared outside any guideline, in taprooms and brewpubs, before judges had a category for them. The guidelines followed the drinkers, not the other way round.
So a high style score is a useful sign of skill, not the final word on a beer. Some of the most interesting beers you will taste would not fit neatly into any category. Enjoy them without a scoresheet.
Learning to wear both hats
The best tasters can switch at will. They know what a style should taste like and can score it fairly. They also know what they personally enjoy and can say so honestly, in a separate sentence. Learning a style well often changes your pleasure too: once you understand what a sour beer is aiming at, you may start to enjoy it.
Your first step: next time you open a beer, write two lines. First, how well does it match the style on the label? Second, would you buy it again and why? Keeping the two apart is the beginning of judging.
Common questions
What does judging beer to style mean?
Scoring a beer against a written style description, such as the BJCP or Brewers Association guidelines, rather than personal taste.
Can a beer score high and still be unpopular?
Yes. A smoked beer or an intensely bitter beer can match its style perfectly and still not suit many drinkers.
Are personal preferences wrong?
No. Preference depends on palate, experience and context. It just belongs in a separate note from a style score.
Do faults matter for pleasure too?
Usually yes. Oxidation, diacetyl and infection spoil both the score and the drinking experience.
