Lew Bryson wrote:

> "Bill Bradley" > wrote in message
> news:Tt10f.7352
>
>>Lew Bryson wrote:
>>
>>>"Bill Bradley" > wrote in message
>>>
>>>>Who the heck voted Bigfoot the best Barleywine? Unless this batch was
>>>>spectacularly better than previous years I don't know how they'd crack
>>>>top-10.
>
>
>>>Ah, that would be blind tasters who didn't see what the label was on each
>>>beer, poor *******s, and only had taste and smell to go on, instead of
>>>years of finely honed opinion and prejudgment.
>>
>>Oh come on. I rather like a number of Sierra Nevada's brews, but I know I
>>am not alone in having found Bigfoot a rather unpleasant experience in
>>Barleywine. Although Heavyweight's Old Salty was not represented,
>>Weyerbacher and Old Dominion were (were Blithering Idiot, Millennium or
>>Insanity entered? They only list the breweries not the particular beers)
>>and I have had difficulty finishing previous years' Bigfoots at all, to
>>the point that I avoid them on principle, but this years would have to be
>>bloody spectacular to beat those two breweries, and they didn't even
>>place! Sorry I've "only" tried about a hundred different brews this year
>>(Bigfoot '05 not having been one of them) but I have a hard time buying
>>that as a gold medalist.
>
>
> Bill, take a look at who judges these beers. Over half the judges come from
> Colorado and west (Mountain state judges are always the biggest group, no
> real surprise). The East Coast (New England and the mid-Atlantic region)
> puts up about 15% of the judges (really, I have the numbers, I'm not
> guessing). I'm NOT saying that the judges are in a conspiracy, but what I am
> saying is that people gravitate towards liking what they drink on a steady
> basis. Western site for the festival, Western judges drinking Western beers
> (and they do, much more so than we in the East drink solely Eastern beers),
> Western beers win medals. I do not think that it's any surprising
> coincidence that Denver and Boulder together have --over the entire history
> of the GABF -- won more medals than any other city. Conspiracy? No,
> inevitable playing of the odds.

Does make sense. I was similarly unimpressed with Rogue's Old
Crustacean, but if that's what the Westernly folks like...

Bill