How long were you into home brewing before you entered your first beer competition? What was the outcome of the competition? Were you happy with the results? Did you brew extract or all-grain? What would you recommend to a new home brewer considering entering into their first competition? Tell me about your first competition.
Thank you,
Tikitatt
Your first competition
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Your first competition
Last edited by tikitatt on Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Your first competition
It is never too soon to start entering comps... I suggest you print proper labels and enter in AHB comp
Chris aka Dr Dually
drdually@att.net
Life is tough. It is even tougher when you are stupid. John Wayne
Bottled and enjoying: Nada, zip
Kegged: English Brown, American Amber, Double Barrel Ale
Next up: Kolsch
drdually@att.net
Life is tough. It is even tougher when you are stupid. John Wayne
Bottled and enjoying: Nada, zip
Kegged: English Brown, American Amber, Double Barrel Ale
Next up: Kolsch
Re: Your first competition
What was your first competition like?
DrDually wrote:It is never too soon to start entering comps... I suggest you print proper labels and enter in AHB comp
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backyard brewer
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Re: Your first competition
You don't actually go to the competition, well, you can.... but normally you send in your entries and wait for score sheets and if you're Brad, you big box of ribbons...
Typically, you receive pretty fair and impartial feedback on your beers. One thing you'll want to do is make sure you're entering in the right category. Competitions are both subjective and objective. If you go to www.bjcp.org, you'll see a list of recognized categories and sub cats. When you enter a beer, you enter it in a specific class and category. For example, category 14 is India Pale Ales and it's broken down into A, B, & C for English IPA, American IPA and Imperial IPA. There is a very specific description of what the style is and your beer is compared against that style (the objective part). So... you might have the greatest IPA in the world but if you enter it as an English Bitter, you'll take a serious point hit for not being to style. A lot of brewers will enter border-line beers into multiple categories to see how it scores across the board. There is a fine line between a brown ale and a porter and an English mild might be an ESB or a mild or even an American light ale... There is nothing wrong with a shotgun approach. A few years back a member took a first, second AND third in three different catagories with the same beer.
If you bring your beers to a meeting, you'll get a lot of feedback on where it might score well. What you brew isn't always what you get. I brewed a Wee Heavy that never scored well as a Scotch Ale but scored very well as an Old Ale.
DrDually is right though, best thing to do is just go for it.
Typically, you receive pretty fair and impartial feedback on your beers. One thing you'll want to do is make sure you're entering in the right category. Competitions are both subjective and objective. If you go to www.bjcp.org, you'll see a list of recognized categories and sub cats. When you enter a beer, you enter it in a specific class and category. For example, category 14 is India Pale Ales and it's broken down into A, B, & C for English IPA, American IPA and Imperial IPA. There is a very specific description of what the style is and your beer is compared against that style (the objective part). So... you might have the greatest IPA in the world but if you enter it as an English Bitter, you'll take a serious point hit for not being to style. A lot of brewers will enter border-line beers into multiple categories to see how it scores across the board. There is a fine line between a brown ale and a porter and an English mild might be an ESB or a mild or even an American light ale... There is nothing wrong with a shotgun approach. A few years back a member took a first, second AND third in three different catagories with the same beer.
If you bring your beers to a meeting, you'll get a lot of feedback on where it might score well. What you brew isn't always what you get. I brewed a Wee Heavy that never scored well as a Scotch Ale but scored very well as an Old Ale.
DrDually is right though, best thing to do is just go for it.
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Re: Your first competition
I'd been brewing for a little over 2 years when I entered my first comp. I really only entered because spkrtoy and Patrick tasted my beer and encouraged me to enter. I won BOS ... it's all been downhill from there. 
Personally, I only enter beers into competitions if I think they're good and might win something. There are other people who will enter anything just to get the feedback. This is a bit of a crap shoot, IMO. There are some very good judges out there who give good feedback, but also a lot of people judging who may never have even brewed before. Pay attention to the judge information in the upper left corner of the scoresheet and weigh that against their comments. Judging is also affected by a lot of things like the environment, other beers in the flight, personal preference and/or sensitivity, etc. I think you'll get better feedback having an experienced person taste your beer at a meeting where you can also discuss the ingredients and process you used.
In the end ... go ahead and enter, the worst thing that happens is that you get some lousy feedback.
Personally, I only enter beers into competitions if I think they're good and might win something. There are other people who will enter anything just to get the feedback. This is a bit of a crap shoot, IMO. There are some very good judges out there who give good feedback, but also a lot of people judging who may never have even brewed before. Pay attention to the judge information in the upper left corner of the scoresheet and weigh that against their comments. Judging is also affected by a lot of things like the environment, other beers in the flight, personal preference and/or sensitivity, etc. I think you'll get better feedback having an experienced person taste your beer at a meeting where you can also discuss the ingredients and process you used.
In the end ... go ahead and enter, the worst thing that happens is that you get some lousy feedback.
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BrewMasterBrad
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Re: Your first competition
I was brewing for almost a year before I entered a competition. It was my 7th all-grain batch and only my 2nd all-grain lager (it was a Vienna). It took a third place in it's category. I mostly entered to get some feedback since I was pretty much brewing on my own and I wasn't sure if my beer was any good. Shortly after that competition, I joined BrewCommune. The guys in the club (especially Pete, Patrick, Tim, and Lyn) were great at providing feedback and were instrumental in my becoming a BJCP Certified judge.
Currently, there are only four competitions that I enter almost every year, Pacific Brewers Cup, America's Finest City, Southern California Regional Homebrewers Championship, and NHC. Last year was the first year for the Hangar 24 Homebrew Competition, but they did a nice job with it, so I will probably enter again.
Competitions are a great way to get objective feedback, but like brahn says, it is kind of a crapshoot. It is difficult for competition coordinators to find enough qualified judges, so you sometimes get feedback that is less than educated or relevant. If you want real, and instant, feedback on your beers bring them to a club event. We will give you the straight shit. There is no sense in candy coating feedback on beers since that does nothing for you as a brewer. If it's good, we will let you know. If it is infected, we'll spit it out. If it has off flavors or is out of style, we will let you know.
Currently, there are only four competitions that I enter almost every year, Pacific Brewers Cup, America's Finest City, Southern California Regional Homebrewers Championship, and NHC. Last year was the first year for the Hangar 24 Homebrew Competition, but they did a nice job with it, so I will probably enter again.
Competitions are a great way to get objective feedback, but like brahn says, it is kind of a crapshoot. It is difficult for competition coordinators to find enough qualified judges, so you sometimes get feedback that is less than educated or relevant. If you want real, and instant, feedback on your beers bring them to a club event. We will give you the straight shit. There is no sense in candy coating feedback on beers since that does nothing for you as a brewer. If it's good, we will let you know. If it is infected, we'll spit it out. If it has off flavors or is out of style, we will let you know.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada down at Trader Vic's
Re: Your first competition
Thanks brahn!
brahn wrote:I'd been brewing for a little over 2 years when I entered my first comp. I really only entered because spkrtoy and Patrick tasted my beer and encouraged me to enter. I won BOS ... it's all been downhill from there.
Personally, I only enter beers into competitions if I think they're good and might win something. There are other people who will enter anything just to get the feedback. This is a bit of a crap shoot, IMO. There are some very good judges out there who give good feedback, but also a lot of people judging who may never have even brewed before. Pay attention to the judge information in the upper left corner of the scoresheet and weigh that against their comments. Judging is also affected by a lot of things like the environment, other beers in the flight, personal preference and/or sensitivity, etc. I think you'll get better feedback having an experienced person taste your beer at a meeting where you can also discuss the ingredients and process you used.
In the end ... go ahead and enter, the worst thing that happens is that you get some lousy feedback.
Re: Your first competition
I started brewing in early 2006, and my first competition was early 2007. I'd say it was roughly my 12th batch or so, and 6th all-grain.
The competition was pretty screwy -- it was at a local bar in Georgia (where I was living at the time), and there were only 6 entries. All entrants had to bring 12 bottles and they would pour around the room to the other contestants, but the judging was done by a panel of three (incl. Spike, the head brewer at Terrapin). It was interesting to taste the other entries -- three were horrible, there was a belgian which had a good flavor but hadn't fully carbonated yet, a halfway decent double IPA, and my IPA. The DIPA and my beer were the final two, and I ended up winning. Got a nice "Georgia Premier Homebrewer 2007" trophy out of it too. That beer went on to be a national finalist for Sam Adams LongShot, which we [my neighbor and I] never would have entered had we not won this competition.
As a new brewer, I recommend entering competitions to get the feedback. As others have mentioned, you need to take all score sheets with a grain of salt, as some of them can be WAY off base. But in general, you get feedback that can be used to improve your process, feedback that is very difficult to obtain without other brewers tasting your beer.
The competition was pretty screwy -- it was at a local bar in Georgia (where I was living at the time), and there were only 6 entries. All entrants had to bring 12 bottles and they would pour around the room to the other contestants, but the judging was done by a panel of three (incl. Spike, the head brewer at Terrapin). It was interesting to taste the other entries -- three were horrible, there was a belgian which had a good flavor but hadn't fully carbonated yet, a halfway decent double IPA, and my IPA. The DIPA and my beer were the final two, and I ended up winning. Got a nice "Georgia Premier Homebrewer 2007" trophy out of it too. That beer went on to be a national finalist for Sam Adams LongShot, which we [my neighbor and I] never would have entered had we not won this competition.
As a new brewer, I recommend entering competitions to get the feedback. As others have mentioned, you need to take all score sheets with a grain of salt, as some of them can be WAY off base. But in general, you get feedback that can be used to improve your process, feedback that is very difficult to obtain without other brewers tasting your beer.
Brad
Re: Your first competition
You want feedback? Give me 2 beers. If I open the 2nd one, its good.
Re: Your first competition
Really? If I open the 2nd one, all it really proves is that it's beer!nico soze wrote:You want feedback? Give me 2 beers. If I open the 2nd one, its good.
Brad
Re: Your first competition
bwarbiany wrote:Really? If I open the 2nd one, all it really proves is that it's beer!nico soze wrote:You want feedback? Give me 2 beers. If I open the 2nd one, its good.