We have collected valuable assets to assist you with organizing, running, and judging SCA brewing competitions. If you have any documents, tools, or guidelines relevant to competing in brewing-specific competitions, please contact the web minister to have your contributions added to the site.
Run a competition
Madoc's class notes on how to judge brewing in the SCA.
Madoc's class notes on how to organize and run a brewing competition.
Elska's easy to read checklist of the major concerns in planning for and following up after a brewing competition.
Want to better plan the judging schedule? Want to track every entry at the site? Have competitors preregister with this form. The sections on ingredients & sources allow an entrant to summarize their documentation. Click here for a customizable MS Word version.
Examples of documentation
Madoc's Research: Rum as a Medieval European Possibility - Meistr Madoc Arundel's research paper on the probability of rum existing in Europe during the Middle Ages from Kingdom A&S 2013.
Kingdom Rubric
The current Kingdom rubric for Brewing / Beverages / Culinary; adopted for food and drink projects.
Flavor Profiles
Here is a standard set of flavors that judges may want to describe in their feedback. These are based on standards established for mundane brewing competitions, but serve as a useful way to describe a sensory input.
- Acetaldehyde – Green apple-like aroma and flavor.
- Alcoholic – The aroma, flavor, and warming effect of ethanol and higher alcohols. Sometimes described as hot.
- Astringent – Puckering, lingering harshness and/or dryness in the finish/aftertaste; harsh graininess; huskiness.
- Diacetyl – Artificial butter, butterscotch, or toffee aroma and flavor. Sometimes perceived as a slickness on the tongue.
- DMS (dimethyl sulfide) – At low levels a sweet, cooked or canned corn-like aroma and flavor.
- Estery – Aroma and/or flavor of any ester (fruits, fruit flavorings, or roses).
- Grassy – Aroma/flavor of fresh-cut grass or green leaves.
- Light-Struck – Similar to the aroma of a skunk.
- Metallic – Tinny, coiny, copper, iron, or blood-like flavor.
- Musty – Stale, musty, or moldy aromas/flavors.
- Oxidized – Any one or combination of stale, winy/vinous, cardboard, papery, or sherry-like aromas and flavors.
- Phenolic – Spicy (clove, pepper), smoky, plastic, plastic adhesive strip, and/or medicinal (chlorophenolic).
- Solvent – Aromas and flavors of higher alcohols (fusel alcohols). Similar to acetone or lacquer thinner aromas.
- Sour/Acidic – Tartness in aroma and flavor. Can be sharp and clean (lactic acid), or vinegar-like (acetic acid).
- Sulfur – The aroma of rotten eggs or burning matches.
- Vegetal – Cooked, canned, or rotten vegetable aroma and flavor (cabbage, onion, celery, asparagus, etc.)
- Yeasty – A bready, sulfury or yeast-like aroma or flavor.