Competition Corner

Competition Goals

In March, in my BABO summary article, I briefly mentioned that the competition this year met each of our goals. Of course, we don't (to my knowledge) have any explicit goals to our competition, nor do we list any on our advertising mailings. The ones I listed were the goals that I came up with after thinking about it a bit. Perhaps these goals should be made explicit in our call for entries.

The first goal that comes to mind, and maybe the main goal of the first Brew Off, is money. This event is the major fund raiser for our club. I haven't yet seen what the bottom line was for this year's competition, but I know it was substantial. When this topic (competition goals) came up on the Judge digest on the internet, I was surprised to see how many competitions don't make money and don't aim to make money. While there is nothing that says that we need to profit from the competition, I think it is a worthwhile goal and something we should concentrate on. With enough planning and advertising, there is no reason that we shouldn't profit from our efforts.

Another goal, and perhaps the most common goal of competitions across the continent, is to judge the entries and provide detailed feedback to the brewers. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) also stresses this as the goal of judging beer-how the beers end up ranking is incidental. John Pyles, the judge coordinator for the last several years, has gone out of his way to get good, knowledgeable judges, and we strive to get the score sheets out quickly. This is all to achieve our goal of brewing feedback and advice.

Something else I mentioned was publicity for the club. I think this goal is under appreciated, and it goes hand-in-hand with Lisa's goal of becoming more involved in the brewing community. Many clubs are known by the competition they organize-the Malts are known for running the state competition at Stern Grove each year, and the Houston Foam Rangers hold the Dixie Cup each fall. I don't know how "famous" our competition is, but the competition is definitely respected by people who have been entering and judging in this area for a while. We had our club name on all the promotional material, and several of us talked to prospective new members at the Hopyard. The competition is also a way for other club's members to judge with us, as many of us judge in their competitions.

The fourth goal I mentioned was to pick the winning entries and distribute prizes. We certainly achieved this goal, and each year we have a wide array of gifts to include with our ribbons. In the future, we need to keep in mind our needs of sets of eight and easy-to-mail when soliciting prizes.

Bob Jones brought up this issue of our goal of providing qualified feedback to brewers at our competition. He wondered what if we didn't try to achieve this goal and ran the competition more like a wine tasting. I think it is important to keep this goal in the forefront of our minds during the Brew Off. But what if we had a separate competition where the sole goal is to choose the best beers? The organizational load would be smaller, and we could no doubt charge a reduced entry fee to encourage entries. Judges would have fun, since we would use simple score sheets like they use at the Toronado Barleywine judging. Entrants would know what to expect ahead of time, and would enjoy competing for prizes. I would be interested in trying something like this if there is interest. It would be fairly unique in the homebrew world, and there should be a place for such an event.

The next AHA Club Only Competition will be in May (entries due May 18 in St. Louis) and the styles will include German Pilsner, Czech Pilsner and Classic American Pilsner. Bring your potential entry to the May meeting/group brew day on May 9.

Also, I'm still taking BABO feedback on the bulletin board.

Upcoming competitions

You know what summer brings—fog and homebrew competitions.

Bring your pilsners to the May meeting for consideration for the AHA Club-only Competition. Eligible styles are 15a. German-style Pilsener, 15b. Bohemian style Pilsener, and 15c. American-style Pilsener (the pre-prohibition style). Entries are due by May 19 at

Worm’s Way
C/o St. Louis Brews
2063 Concourse
St. Louis, MO 65803

The first round of the AHA National Competition is this month, with the California judging in Nevada City. Entries are due between May 4 and May 15^th at the following address:

Sierra Moonshine NHC ’98
Homebrew Supply
10122 Olympia Park Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945

I’m not sure if Drop offs are acceptable.

One bottle is required for the first round and three more will be required if your entry goes on to the second round. Entry fee is $8 for AHA members and $12 for non-members. See AHA web site [link here] for more details.

The Alameda Co. Fair homebrew judging will be sometime in late June. However, if you want to enter you need to start soon. Entry forms and fees ($3 per entry) are due by May 20. You need to call the fair to get the entry form at 510-426-7611. Then you need to drop off your entry (no shipping entries) at Brewmaster or Napa Fermentations between June 16 and 19. Two bottles per entry. Entries are accepted in these categories: Pale Ale, India; Dark Ale, ESB; Light lager; Dark lager; Any Porter, not refrigerated; Any Stout, not refrigerated; and any Barley Wine. [Not sure I understand these style designations—no further descriptions are published]. There’s also a Best Label and Most Humorous Label competition. Winners receive ribbons at a small cash prize. Best of Show, Best Pale Ale, and Best Stout also gets a $25 gift certificate.

There is also the 2^nd annual Portland Rose Festival Competition sponsored by Nor’Wester Beer Co. that I talked about at the meeting. Michael Jackson and Fred Eckardt are celebrity guest judges. The competition is June 20, and entries are due between May 29 and June 13. Entry fee is $4.00 payable to Nor’Wester Beer Co./Rose Festival Homebrew Competition. All AHA styles accepted except mead and cider. Call Steve Woolard for details at 503-699-9524.