Beer: An Insider's Guide - Beer Connoisseur

We go behind the scenes of the world’s largest annual competition for professional brewers to see how they decide the beers worthy of Champion Trophies at the Australian International Beer Awards. Three weeks before the winners are announced at the “Academy Awards of Beer”, from 9am to 5pm for five straight days, the nine judges will each sample the 502 entered beers… and unlike wine judges, they don’t spit it out.Head judge Rob Greig says one of the key taste components of a good beer is its level of bitterness and to test that thoroughly, the bitterness glands are at the back of the throat so the beer must be swallowed… all 502 times.