[Artemisia] Judging alchohol

[Brian Johnson]

Personally, I believe that a reason behind why someone chose to use vodka over brandy or other alcohol might be a valid question that a judge might want to know.  If I'm making a beverage that comes from a specific area then it might be a valid point of interest to learn that I used an alcohol that is native to the area from which I am basing my beverage.

I don't believe anyone expects you to explain EVERY SINGLE aspect of what you were doing.  In some cases, it might be interesting to learn that someone did make their own charcoal, smelt the iron, form it and do all the steps of making a knife but for most competitions, its not required.

Regardless, it was VERY rare that anyone did all of the steps that you ascribe to them.  Most of your examples are not adequate representations of an artist's area of expertise.  No jeweler goes out and scrabbles around looking for jewels in the dirt.  They do know how to look at a stone and judge its quality and value and how to bring out the best qualities of that stone by cutting facets and polishing.  A blacksmith most likely doesn't make his own charcoal, find and smelt the stones to make iron.  All they do is FORM the iron into usable shapes.  

On the other hand, a vintner or brewer would start with a raw product (they may not grow the grains or grapes themselves) and they would have been on hand for all aspects of their creation from the initial brewing phase on into the final judging as ready for drinking.  Unfortunately, we can't distill our own spirits on a small scale so it may be in our best interests to do more than research the flavoring of a beverage.  It just seems kind of half-assed to me not to research what the best base of a beverage might be, as well.  

Just my $.02.

Brynki



vindulfr at aol.com wrote: 
?
So, I presume then if one is judging, say, a handmade dagger, that?one must inquire whether or not the artisan dug, smelted and refined the ore that went into it? Or that every jeweler is potentially marked down for not mining their own gems?

For my part, I am fully prepared to accept without explanation that the average SCA leatherworker does not have a tannery in their back yard, that an armorsmith probably doesn't have their own rolling and stamping gear for sheet metal,? that the gold leaf on that scroll wasn't panned from the creek in the scribe's local park?,? that those ivory buttons don't mean the tailor killed their own elephant, etc.

Haakon Hersir Haukarson

Quietly reminding himself that buying raw materials happens to be Period.


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