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I am trying to improve my performance to style in competitions. For two of my stouts a common theme was the judges wanted/expected more hoppiness. While both had mid-range IBUs for their style, the comments indicated there was not as much hops both for flavor and aroma for representative of the styles. One was an American Stout the other was a Russian Imperial. The imperial was young and dry hopped, But young was not noted specifically. The American was not young and not dry hopped.

Suggestions on what I might do - other than simply increasing the amount, Alpha, or time for Hopping?? I have been considering trying to lower the PH during boil with 8-9 gm of Gypsum.

There are a lot of variables in hop characteristics. How long were the hops in your boil? Did you add hops at different intervals, or just at the begining? Early additions provide hop bitterness and flavor, while later additions provide more aroma. Were you using whole hops or pelets? It takes more whole hops to get the same untilation as pelets. How old were your hops? Older, poorly stored hops are not going to give you as much flavor or aroma.

Imperial stout can have quite a range on hop aroma, from almost none, to aggressive. Typically, I don't expect imperial stouts to have much hop aroma, but that is personal opinion. Hop flavor can be medium-high to high, so if your imperial stout was overly sweet, then you may not have added enough bittering hops, or had a high finishing gravity.

American stouts should have a medium to very low hop aroma. They can have a low to high hop flavor. Again, I would probably look to balance here. Is the beer sweet? If so, then that may have caused the judges to say that more hops were needed.

Unfortunately, there are some pretty wide ranges given for hop aroma and flavor for both of these beers. That can open the door for a judge's personal preferences to sneak in.

My hop adds are typically at Bittering - 60 or 90 min, Flavor - 15 min, Aroma - 0 or 1 min. The Imperial I also did a 1st Wort hopping, but had not started using this technique at the time the American Stout was brewed. I used fresh(<1 mo) hop pellets.

I think Bill's suggestion on the other thread is a good one. Sit down with the beer and judge sheets and see if you agree with the comments. Unfortunately, judging can be subjective and not all judges are created equal.

BigWally wrote:Unfortunately, judging can be subjective and not all judges are created equal

Oh so true, after all, nothing sucks as much as a Double Bock that is too malty (sarcasm off).

Or a Rauch beer that has some astringency It is a smoke beer after all

Based on the good advice here. I poured a glass, reread the judges comments, and restudied my brew session notes. On a second pass in a more reflective mood here is what I found.
Recap on judges "hop" comments.
Aroma- stale hops, hop aroma low
Flavor- Meld of hops to push toward bitterness for sure, no stale hops, hop bitterness moderate, not much american hop flavor reflecting american hop varieties, primarily get bitterness
Overall- good on bitterness but not representative hops aroma/flavor of American hops, would like some american hop flavor

While I used Cascade hops for a 15 min, 5 min, and dry hopping. It was a full 4 months between kegging and counter pressure filling the bottles I submitted for the COC. It is my expectations that the time lag was probably too long and filling from a keg both contributed to the loss of the aroma and flavor hops. It also may have contributed to the "stale" comment. So all the Cascade which would have filled the "representative hop" bill may have been gone.

Lesson- fresh matters for competitions.

Indeed. What I do is figure out what I want to make as much as 6 months in advance (for the normal strenght beers). Some beers, like lagers for example you want to put some age on so I make those first. Some beers are best fresh, many of the American hop bombs as you point out but also wheat beers are notorious for going south quick, I do those such that they are maybe 3 weeks old when the bottle are due to a competition (heffes are really bad, you start losing the clove/bananna action pretty quickly). Generally speaking, the lower the O.G., the quicker you want to drink them. Of course, the really big beers need alot more lead time than that, Barley Wines, Wee Heavies, Old Ales may need more than a year. Then there are the sours, I've got some stuff at home that is at least 2 1/2 years old and I use it to blend.