World Beer Cup Entries are due next week (side note: now is an EXCELLENT time to brewery hop!) and we wanted to remind you all how HARD it is to win a medal, especially in a larger category (150+ entries)…like where this beer is entered. Large categories usually have 4 – 5 rounds, which means it has to be considered one of the top 2-3 beers within a flight of 9-12 randomly selected, double blind entries… 3 to 4 times in a row, up against better and better entries.  And THEN it has to be in the Top 3 at the Medal Round. And every round has different judges at the table, from different countries, with different palates and different experiences/thoughts/opinions of the style. Yes, the style has guidelines – making judging more objective in the first round – but once every beer on the table is within those range of parameters (usually by the second round in this case), subjectivity and personal preference come into play (and even more so as the rounds go on). There is discussion, there is debate, most judges have blind spots for certain defects and have lower thresholds (i.e. are more sensitive) for others (they are human, after all), then beers are ranked, and finally decisions are made. To have one beer, get poured 4-5 times (from 4-5 different containers) and then compared to 40-50 other beers, and continually be among ~18 judges agreed upon favorites…. is just INSANITY. So here’s to making a flawless beer to style, that every judge really likes, AND getting really, really lucky.