2026 UK National Homebrewing Competition Judge

This was my first experience judging a competition, and it was eye-opening to participate in a completely new approach to tasting beer. Preparing for the Sommelier Exam, I've been blind tasting beer samples at home, pulling together my tasting notes to determine the style. In beer judging, however, the style or category is already defined. In this instance we are comparing our tasting notes to the style category it has been placed in to determine whether the beer is representative of that style. I approached tasting the beer in a similar sequence to the WSET systematic approach to tasting, since that is the structure I'm used to. I began analysing the appearance of the sample, then marked the aromas I was detecting, and finally detailed the mouthfeel and flavour. To finalise my judgement of the sample, I compared my notes to the beer style guidelines and was able to come to a conclusion about how well the brewer represented the style. These score sheets are shared with the brewer, so I tried to give constructive feedback and praise well-defined beers. I found it difficult to make practical suggestions without knowing the brewing techniques or ingredients used, but my professional brewing background gave me context for providing notes on what areas the brewer emulated the style or where they fell short. I judged the Pilsner Style Lagers and the Belgian and Abbey Ales categories. There was a wide variety of styles and interpretations within these categories and I had some really lovely brews, particularly a Belgian Dubbel that was rich in toasty, biscuity, molasses aromas that deservingly won second place in that category. Brewing beer on an industrial scale where we have the equipment to maintain cleanliness and consistency throughout the process, it was so impressive to taste beers that were made at home by passionate brewers. Overall, this experience reinforced the importance of structured tasting and style knowledge when evaluating beer quality.