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Susan Ruud is a Grand Master IV BJCP judge and holds a mead certification. She has been judging and making beer, mead and cider since 1996 and assisted in creating the Mead judge exam for the BJCP and was the assistant exam director from 2006 to 2013. Susan was on the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee from 2000 to 2017 and has held the office of secretary for this organization for many years. She has been a judge for the Great American Beer Festival since 2000.
Susan is married with two children and three grandchildren and works at North Dakota State University doing agricultural research in potatoes and canola. She has been there since 1990 and hopes to retire in the next year or so to work full time at the Meadery her husband and her have opened, Prairie Rose Meadery.
This beer was judged as an American Wheat Beer (BJCP Category 1D).
This beer poured a beautiful deep golden color with a huge creamy head and fine bubbles leaving nice lacing on the glass. Viewing this beer just makes you thirsty. This brew begins with a big floral and citrus hop aroma... Read More
Nelson Slayer by Alvarado Street Brewery was judged as a New England IPA - BJCP category 21B - specialty IPA. It poured with a huge off white head, golden in color and extremely hazy. Before even getting the glass close to my nose I could smell a huge dank, melony, citrusy hop aroma. The hops... Read More
An extremely nice American IPA. Pours with a fair amount of chill haze, but has a beautiful, tall white stand of foam. Wonderfully pungent citrusy hops upfront in the aroma are followed by a crisp, crackery, bready malt. In terms of this beer's flavor, the hop character is pleasant but not... Read More
This is a very nicely made, light copper-colored IPA. This beer is beautiful to look at, and upon pouring, the head lasts almost forever. Wonderful flavors emerge upon first sip, with a huge explosion of pleasant floral hops blended nicely with malt, fermentation esters and soft alcohol. This is... Read More
This beer starts out with a huge citrusy hop aroma that follows through into the flavor and has lingering bitterness. There are pleasant hints of Belgian phenolics throughout. This beer has a lovely copper color, a huge off-white head that was extremely long-lasting and left tons of lacing on... Read More
Hop Peak IPA by Breckenridge Brewery is a wonderful American IPA judged as such under BJCP Category 21A. Upfront it had a huge citrus and piney (almost earthy) hop aroma that blended nicely with a pleasant grainy malt following right behind. There were no noticeable esters behind all of those... Read More
