I'll never make it as a BJCP Judge

I took 5 American pale ales...3 commercial examples and 2 homebrew examples, did a blind taste test and I was 0 for 5 in identifying the source.  Was glad I couldnt pick out the homebrew but blind luck should have got me a better score than that.  Has anyone else tried anything like this? 

  I have never done a blind taste test with my own brews, but our brew club does a "Find the Flaw" tasting at every meeting.  I purchase a half dozen or so highly rated brews to compare against my own brew of the same style, but have never done it blind, YET!    This could be a lot of fun!

Ive been doing a lot of these blind taste tests with different variables.  I am finding that brand name/reputation (and maybe packaging) have a lot to do with preconceived ideas of what a particular beer is 'supposed' to taste like.  One of the commercial Pale Ales was one I thought was my favorite for years but I didnt pick it when doing the blind test...my favorite was actually one of the homebrews.

No worries.  But that is good practice for judging.  Competition judging is solely about describing the beer in front of you, and giving feedback to make it better.

I like the sound of this exercise.  Great palates are trained, not born.