Putting their heads together

3/24/05

By CHARLOTTE BOECHLER
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbeerians gather to pass judgment on each other's brews

Mark Williamson lifted the glass to his nose and took a deep whiff. He then lowered it and gently swirled around the dark liquid inside before bringing the glass back up.

"Roasty," he said under his breath. After a second, he took another whiff. "Malty."

Mr. Williamson, 49, held the glass up in the natural light and noted the exceptional color. He then took a sip, smacking his lips together several times.

"Dry finish," he nodded, as he checked the mouthfeel.

Mr. Williamson was indeed judging one of the most sophisticated of adult beverages:

Beer.

He is one of 15 members of a beer appreciation club in Santa Barbara who get together once a month to critique and, more important, taste each other's beers.

"You could argue a beer judge has a better palate than a wine judge," said Aubrey Howe III, president of the Santa Barbeerians. "We use our whole palate."

Wine judges, he explained, can get the full flavor of a wine without having to swallow it, so they spit it out. But to get the full flavor of a beer, a beer judge must experience its bitterness, the taste buds for which are in the back of the mouth.

"So if you just fill your mouth with beer and spit it out," Mr. Howe explained, "you won't taste the whole beer. You haveto swallow some of it."

At least, that's their excuse.

Each month, the Santa Barbeerians select a particular style of beer. Members are encouraged to submit their entries, which will then be judged. At the end of the year, the member who has won the most times is named Homebrewer of the Year. The title currently belongs to Ryan Gordon, who has spent an impressive amount of time brewing -- a whole 16 months. He started with a kit he bought online. But over the year as his techniques became more complex, he upgraded his operation and moved on to other digs.

"The back yard," Mr. Gordon, 51, said with a smile. "I started in the house. It got too big, so I moved outside."

Now he's out there about six hours every week, something he insists doesn't bother his girlfriend.

"She just makes sure I brew the beer she likes," he confided.

So what does Mr. Gordon, who took home the title the first year he brewed, credit for his win?

"When I get into something, I really get into it," said the commercial diver. "Every day I wasn't working, I would be researching or brewing."

Doug Jones, a fellow member who was standing nearby inside the Brewhouse in Santa Barbara, where the judging was about to take place, overheard Mr. Gordon. He wasn't buying his reason.

"There's a lot of extenuating circumstances," Mr. Jones, 54, said. "Pete quit brewing, so that made it easier."

He was referring to Pete Johnson, co-owner of the Brewhouse, who was no longer eligible to compete after he went professional in 2003.

JANUARY
American barley wine -- Copper to red with a tan head, the intense hop bitterness is balanced by heavy malt flavors. This is one of the strongest beers around, with double or triple the amount of alcohol in a regular pale ale. Good with sharp (blue) or pungent (Limburger) cheeses and desserts.

FEBRUARY
Framboise -- The reddish color comes from the raspberries that were added. With a long-lasting head, this lambic tastes like raspberries, but the yeast used gives it an intense sourness. Serve with desserts, salads or as an aperitif.

MARCH
Sweet or milk stout -- Dark brown to black with a creamy tan to brown head, the dark-roasted grains and malts dominate and provide chocolate and/or coffee flavors. Hop bitterness is moderate. Serve with chocolate or desserts.

APRIL
Extra Special Bitter or English pale ale -- Golden to deep copper colors with a low to moderate head, it usually has a caramel-like malt sweetness. Hop bitterness and flavor should be noticeable but not dominant. Good with barbecue, buttery (brie) or nutty (Colby) cheeses, pork and game.

AUGUST
Bohemian pilsner -- Often straw-colored with a dense, long-lasting head, it is refreshing and has a complex maltiness and bitterness that is prominent but not harsh. Serve with Indian, Thai, Chinese, Pan-Asian or Japanese cuisines or sharp cheeses, like cheddar.

SEPTEMBER
Dubbel -- Tan to brown with a moderate head, this Belgium-style ale gets its sweetness from the candi sugar that is added. Somewhat bitter but not overpowering. Serve with buttery (Gouda) or pungent (Gorgonzola) cheeses; chocolate; or beef.

OCTOBER
Oktoberfest Märzen -- Light pale to reddish with a moderate to large head, this lager has a malty sweetness that is balanced well with bitterness. Good with German cuisine.

BEER APPRECIATION 101 This is a good year for the Santa Barbeerians. Here is a list of some of the vintages members are tasting.

Mr. Johnson motioned toward Mr. Gordon's red T-shirt, the prize for being named Homebrewer of the Year. The back lists the winner's name and the year he won.

"I've got one with about seven years listed on it," Mr. Johnson bragged.

Suddenly, the conch sounded. The competition was about to begin.

The five judges gathered at a table near a window in a corner of the room.

"Gentlemen ..."

said a woman known affectionately as the "beer wench," lowering the round tray. The five glasses on it were filled with a "calibration beer," or commercial beer that represents what the month's style, in this case a sweet stout, should be like. After tasting it, the judges rinsed their glasses out with water and dumped the water in a bucket.

Incidentally, some members have been caught drinking commercial beer outside of the judging. The evidence was posted on the club's Web site -- www.santabarbeerians .com -- though the suspects' eyes were blacked out to protect the not-so-innocent. Mr. Howe, 35, a computer programmer who bears a remarkable resemblance to one of the men in the photo, insisted that it was just an experiment. The members bought a kit containing additives that represent certain problems home brewers get in their beer, like metal contamination. They needed a bland beer to put the additives in so they could taste them. Apparently, Coors Light tasted so much like corn that they also had to try the more neutral Budweiser.

After the calibration beer, the judges moved on to the first of six entries. After sniffing it, drinking it and, well, drinking it some more, they scribbled their comments on a score sheet, assigning points to each category, including aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impression.

"Low head, not quite opaque," wrote Mr. Johnson, giving the appearance a 1 out of 3. Although typically only those who enter their beers are qualified to judge, he was substituting for a member who wasn't there. He moved on to flavor: "Roast malt dominates palate. Sweetness is there for balance. Bitter hop finish."

14 out of 20. Then overall impression: "Good beer. OK example of style. Could use a bit more body. Maybe too much hops."

Mr. Johnson, a nationally certified beer judge, said the score sheets give members feedback. That was the intention, anyway.

"They read them a couple seconds," he said, "and then they say, 'He's full of ...' "

After the judges write down comments for every beer, which includes a couple of "ringers," or commercial beers, just to throw them off, they discuss them one by one.

"I thought it had pretty good hop aroma. It was light in color," Mr. Williamson, a painting contractor, said about the third beer when it was his turn. "But it was lacking creaminess and body. Overall impression? It missed the mark."

Little did he know, since this was a blind tasting, it was his.

But one has to wonder: After all that beer, doesn't it all taste pretty darn good by the end?

"No, because the goal here isn't to get smashed. The goal here is to taste the beer," Mr. Howe said with a laugh. "It's only 1 or 2 ounces of each one. That's about 5 or 10 ounces in one hour. That's like drinking one beer -- or less."

Maybe so. But by the time Mr. Williamson was on his last one, he was feeling some of the effects.

"As far as aroma goes ..."

he said, referring to his score sheet. There was a pause as he stared at his comments. He had simply written, "I'm not sure anymore."

"My nose is gone!" he explained to the group.

Once the judges shared their thoughts about the beers, and the rest of the club clamored for what was left, it was time to tabulate the results. The highest and lowest scores for each entry are thrown out (to discourage cheating).

With a score of 40 out of a possible 50, putting it in the official category of "excellent," Mr. Johnson's Brewhouse stout was the winner. Again.

But because he doesn't qualify, the title was given to runners-up Michael Robertson and Kristen Cramer.

Mr. Williamson's beer, on the other hand, was the bottom of the barrel.

As one who has only been brewing for two months, he scored 20.7 to land in the "fair" category.

"At least it's not in the 'problematic' category," Mr. Johnson joked.

How was Mr. Williamson going to handle his defeat?

"I'm going to have a beer," he said. "A Brewhouse stout!"

e-mail: cboechler@newspress.com

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