I know this is an old post but I haven't bothered to get on to the forum for a while. Anyway, this is a topic that I don't think ever gets old. With that said, I want to add that sometimes the beer just becomes a style. What I mean by that is that you may target a certain style and decide later that it fits into another BJCP category. (My comment here is of coarse in response to the original post.) One of the best beers I ever made was (intended to be) a stout. We entered it into a competition and it didn't do well at all. We knew it was a bit weak (roast wise) for a stout but, it was still a very good beer. After the competition, we tasted it again. It seemed like it may fit more into the porter category. Those two beers are so close that they hardly deserve to have their own categories. Anyway, we entered the same exact beer at another competition (2 weeks later so, age had little impact) as a porter and, it got best of show. (I think it went from a 32 to like a 47. Don't remember.) I have a feeling if it were entered as a stout again it likely wouldn't have made the second round. My point here is that beer judging is very subjective and you should not get down about scores at a beer competition. In fact if it had landed on a different table in the first competition it may have done much better. We will never know. You have to understand that style guidelines are fuzzy sometimes. Competitions are good for boosting your cred among your beer club buds and it makes you feel good if you win but, the real goal here is to brew a beer that YOU enjoy. Don't bother yourself with the opinions of a bunch of other beer nerds if you like what you make. I should also add that when we were brewing religiously for competitions, at first we always tried to hit the high end of the OG for whatever style we were making. We quickly found out that you needed to be well above the high end. If BJCP calls for say 1.050 - 1.060, you better be at 1.065 - 1.070 or you are dead in the water. It don't mater what style you are making. Those judges don't have a hydrometer in their mouth and they are always looking for body. Trust me. We have done a ton of these comps and they are all the same. Keep your gravity high.