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Drawn to perfection photo by Bob Pennell Beer judges from left, Ross Litton, Mark O'Neill and Emile Amarotico toast the first home-brew competition. Judging home-brews requires immersion in subject By Paul Fattig of the Mail Tribune The five men gathered at the table were sober, somber and serious. After all, there was beer in front of them Saturday afternoon. But this wasn't just any beer or any Saturday afternoon. Before the beer judges sat three brews judged the best out of the 32 entries in the first home brew competition at the Osprey Brew Pub in Medford. The judges pondered long and hard over the top brews, which included an English pale ale, a stout ale and a honey ginger ale. "Bloody brew!" exclaimed judge Ross Litton, an Australian who owns the Walkabout Brew Co. in Central Point. "Why couldn't one be outstanding and we'd get this over with?" Having said that, he grinned into his beer, obviously drinking in the moment. Joining him at the judge's table was Mark O'Neill of Gold River Distributing in Grants Pass; Emile Amarotico, president of Standing Stone Brewing Co. in Ashland; Richard Armstrong, one of the owners of Blue Pine Brew Pub in Grants Pass; and Gary Dahl of Draught Board Homebrew Shop in Medford. Like the judges, the home brewers are typically beer aficionados who appreciate a good brew, explained Jake Rockwell, one of the owners of Osprey. "The people who entered are beer connoisseurs but also home brewers who brew on a regular basis," he said. No doubt they were drawn into the contest by the prize, an honor for any home brewer: Osprey will brew some 200 gallons of his -- or her -- beer and sell it under the brewer's name during the holidays. The contest was an attempt to raise awareness on the quality of micro brewing, Rockwell said. "We want people to learn to enjoy a good beer," he said. For those whose beers needed a little fine-tuning, the judges would provide some advice, Rockwell said. "I didn't taste any as a judge, but I sampled some of it," he said, adding, "Most of it was good." Indeed, beer is no longer considered the belching, loutish cousin of wine, according to the judges, who took their tasks seriously. The judges considered each entry based on its aroma, appearance, flavor, overall impression and "mouthfeel." Thelatter refers to body, carbonation, warmth, creaminess, astringency and other palate sensations. "It's a tough job," Litton said. "You have to try to judge how the brewers can increase their brewing skills. When you're drinking the beer, they don't tell you what process they used. You have to discover that." What's more, beer judges have to drink the beer, not simply gargle it around in their mouths and spit it out like their wine-tasting counterparts, O'Neill said. "Beer is bitter and the tastebuds that taste bitterness are on the back of your mouth and tongue," he explained. But the judges drank out of shot glasses, and chased each sample with a drink of cold water. Before judging beer, the judges try to determine what type of beer the brewer was trying to make, said Litton, 33, who began drinking the amber liquid in Australia before he took up brewing it in the states. "If they were trying to make porter stout or a pale ale, you have to judge the beer on how close they got to that style," he said. "Some of these beers are really good," he added. "Unfortunately, we can only judge a couple of categories. They don't want us to become impaired when we're judging." What impaired the judges was the fact that the three top beers were so close in quality. After sampling them once, they sampled them again to try to find a difference in quality. "Good nose -- like the nose," O'Neill said as he held the glass of beer close to his nose, breathing deeply. "This is the breakfast of champions," Amarotico declared of one. "This guy has his style down," Dahl said of another sample. When the swishing, sipping and snipping was done, the oatmeal stout espresso made by Medford resident Mark Anderson was judged the top brew. It was a difficult decision, concluded Armstrong, 41, a veteran beer judge who began brewing beer at home nearly 20 years ago. "The oatmeal stout was the most drinkable of the three," he said. "The honey ginger is the hardest to brew. Usually, if you try to brew a honey ginger ale you are going to screw it up. This guy hit it right on the nose." But he and the other judges felt the English pale wasn't quite in league with the other two finalists. "I thought it had a lingering bitterness than wasn't true to style," Armstrong said. "But the stout had it all. It was rich and creamy. The flavor profile was right. It was definitely drinkable." Litton agreed the stout was very good beer by any standards. He also felt the judges held up well. "Towards the end, when you are in the process of elimination, you gotta watch out," he said. "When you have to keep going back and trying it again, you can step over your threshold there a bit. "But I think I'll be fine in about an hour," he added. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA