Knuttelbrau Is Received

I recently entered some of my awesome Knuttelbrau into a homebrew competition -- malt madness to be exact.  The judging occurred on Sept 24, and I got my results back today.  I entered Lycanthropic Lager as both a Schwarzbier and a Robust Porter.  You can usually enter one beer into several categories, but not several beers into one category.  I linked the descriptions so I don't have to describe them, but I created the beer with a somewhat Schwarzbier-ish intention, but thought it might have too much flavor and aroma hops to actually work as a textbook example.

Without further ado...
Scwarzbier -- 34.5
review 1
Aroma 8/12: light roast, light coffee, munich
Appearance 3/3: off white low head, very dark
Flavor 12/20: light roast, munich taste, grainy a little, light on dryness, some lingering hop bitterness, low in chocolate bitterness
Mouthfeel 5/5: crisp, moderate carbonation
Overall Impression 6/10: I would bring more of the chocolate bitterness out of it and tone down on the burnt
33/50
review 2
Aroma 10/12: Moderate roasted aroma, clean yeast profile, strong munich malt
Appearance 1/3: dark brown, slightly hazy with somewhat persistent head
Flavor 13/20: some burnt roast flavor with moderate chocolate roast and moderately low munich malt. dry finish
Mouthfeel 5/5: medium lite body with moderate high carbonation. nice smooth finish with no astringency
Overall Impression 7/10: nice example of style except for burntness and bitterness of malt. everything on point except for burnt profile
36/50

Robust Porter -- 31.5
review 1
Aroma 5/12: citrus hop/hop/ and hop
Appearance 3/3: very dark brown  light tan head   clear
Flavor 10/20: floral and citrus hop. moderate bitterness. mild chocolate moderate roast. did i mention hops
Mouthfeel 4/5: medium body. medium/high carbonation. hop bite
Overall Impression 8/10: while i really enjoyed this beer it would have done better as a black IPA. wish i could score this higher
30/50
review 2
Aroma 8/12: deep rich malty character is present. a hint of chocolate aroma present
Appearance 3/3: deep brown color with light tan head that is persistent. some lacing present
Flavor 12/20: Hop bitterness dominates this beer.  while i like this characteristic it is not to category. maltness and dark roasty character took a back seat to the bitterness. getting hints of chocolate and toffee as well.
Mouthfeel 3/5: Medium body with a hint of creaminess. slight astringency is not out of character for this category
Overall Impression 7/10: overall i think this is a very nice beer! the largest distracting character of this beer is the hop bitterness
33/50

What to take away -- I was not expecting the hoppiness to be more of an issue to the porter group than the schwarzbier group.  That being said, it only had an intented IBU of like 28.  1 oz of low-medium AA hops for the hour boil, another oz for 10 minutes, and dry hopped with an ounce of cascade -- if hop character is picked up, it's not for its bitterness.  The porter group must've just gotten a hop bomb before mine and had trouble getting the taste out of their mouth.  I don't see that as anything IPA-ish like the one judge said.  The grainy-ness commented on by the schwarzbier group was highly intended.  I could easily fix that by switching the pale malt to pilsner malt and drop the rye malt all together -- but then it wouldn't be lycanthropic lager.  I definitely do agree on the toning down the burntness though -- I'll switch from using Carafa III to Carafa I, same proportions.  I am also going to try and ferment this colder (though still at ale temps using a lager yeast) and make a starter.  Hopping shalln't change.  The dry hop character mellows out a bit during the lagering phase, as does the rye malt, but both are still there.  I may also substitute some of the pale malt for munich malt or something on those lines.  I will keep the decoction mash (the munich malt was picked up by both the schwarzbier judges, and I can't help but think this has at least something to do with it) but may mess with the scheduling a little bit to try and get better clarity.  I am glad for this feedback because I am looking to make this one of my beers to have on hand -- the other being spider-man, of which I currently have a lot.

I have another competition on saturday, where I entered my bier de garde that was created on the brewday from hell (though tastes very lovely).  Looking forward to more feedback, and if I'm lucky, prizes.

-- Knuttel