EP-405 Maddee McDowell of The Tasting Alliance

What happens when a respected name in wine and spirits tries to make a move
into the beer world? Does their experience translate into a new category,
or do they have to build a reputation from the ground up? Does the beer
industry welcome interlopers, or view them with skepticism and confusion?
And if they’re asking to judge your beer at a new competition, does anyone
show up?

These are all questions I asked myself when I was invited to judge at The
Tasting Alliance’s second ever beer competition in December 2023. I, like
some others in and around beer, had never heard of the group, or only knew
them for their wine and spirits competitions that take place in San
Francisco, New York, and Singapore.

In this episode, I talk to Maddee McDowell, vice president of The Tasting
Alliance and the person who handles the logistical organization of their
beer competition. You’ll hear about what it was like for me to participate
in judging, but also what The Tasting Alliance hopes sets them apart from
other competitions. Maddee shares what the biggest category of entries was
(it’s shockingly not IPAs), some of the differences between running wine
and spirits competitions versus beer, and how they’re trying to build
relationships in the beer community to gain a wider diversity of palates at
the judging table. We also talk about how the competition changed from year
one to two, and how many entries she, somewhat optimistically, hopes to
receive in year three.

The competition doesn’t end once medals are announced, McDowell assures us.
And at the very least, The Tasting Alliance’s experience is another way for
us to better understand competitions and what it takes to make them happen.