Entered a beer at the County Fair

I've been brewing for about three years, made some good beer, and a couple great beers and one really crappy beer that I can't drink and I can't seem to bring myself to pour out.

Anyway, I made a beer, Huckleberry Kolsh that I feel turned out this time. This is my second try with huckleberries, I fixed a lot of the issues I had with the first batch. The huckleberry flavor is light, the color is light purple and it smells good, bright white head. No wine flavors like I had in the first try.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66163329@N05/6026568132/in/photostream

I don't know what to expect. How do they judge a beer?

Did you enter it as a Kolsch or a Fruit beer? The style it is entered under can make a world of difference. They will judge based on the BJCP guidelines (unless otherwise stated) and the fruit is out of style for a Kolsch.

I entered it as a fruit beer. If I had entered it as a Kolsh, some poor judge might have a heart attack and call Germany on me

http://www.spokanecounty.org/Fair/SIF/data/pdf/Competitions/beer11.pdf

I'm super excited, I don't know what to expect at all. I plan on going to the fair the first day to see how it fares.

This gives me a good idea...

I'll be entering my Hellfire Porter and Succubus Dunkelweizen this year, along with some of my LPR Apfelwien (depending on how this current recipe turns out). I might try to squeeze in one more beer, but I doubt I'd have enough time.

I wish you luck with this beer. Be sure to post your scores when you get them.

Thanks! I will post up what the beer scores. I should know by the 9th of September. Paper work had to be in by today, and beers dropped off at the LHBS on the 23rd - 25th of August.

I also entered my state fair. I've been brewing beer for under 6 months. I entered a Raspberry Kolsch and a Honey Pilsner Ale. I turn them in tomorrow and I am planning on attending the awards ceremony on Sunday. I hope I get my score sheets back then too.

Good luck on your brews, competitions are a good tool to improve your brewing skills. You typically get great feedback but depends on the caliber of judges at the competition. I would suggest entering them in a number of contests to get a fair judgement of the brew.

COLObrewer said:

Good luck on your brews, competitions are a good tool to improve your brewing skills. You typically get great feedback but depends on the caliber of judges at the competition. I would suggest entering them in a number of contests to get a fair judgement of the brew.

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I wish I could do that, but competitions seem to be few and far between here in AZ.

KFH said:

I wish I could do that, but competitions seem to be few and far between here in AZ.

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There's two big ones a year here. The Great Arizona homebrew comp in March, and the Arizona Society of Homebrewer's Oktoberfest comp in October/Novemeber(which is coming up).

There is also a Coconino county competition in September. I believe entries are due for that one within the next couple weeks.

Also look for competitions in California and Colorado. Both have really big brewing communities, and generally have big competitions with quality judging. I just recently shipped two beers off to the Gnarly Barley festival in CO. I think there were like 250 entries or so in that comp. (It costs around $5-10 to UPS a few bottles to CO or CA)

Well I dropped my brews off earlier today. Awards ceremony is tomorrow but not sure if I can get my score sheets back then. Hopefully I can.

They all should judge the beers the same assuming they are certified BJCP

1 Inspect Bottle and Pour Beer- They will inspect the bottle looking at the fill level, clarity and sediments..they will pour the beer differently depending upon your carbonation level
2 Smell (so get the initial smells out of the bottle)
3 Visually look at the beer
4 Smell again (after some intial smells fade)
5 Taste- coating the entire tounge and basically chew the beer
6 Rate "Mouth Feel"
7 Taste- Rate how it is compared to the style it was entered into and compared to the rest of the beers in your flight.
8 Smell and Taste some more until they can give you feedback (hopefully positive and constructive) on your beer.

I think that about covers it....

I don't know all the specifics of the score, but I have a second place ribbon. I'm super stoked. I will have to wait until the fair is over to see the score sheet I suppose, so in a couple weeks I'll know what they liked and didn't.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Good job. Let us know what you scored when the sheets come in the mail.

Congrats!

I picked up my score sheets today, judged by two groups, similar comments. This is not a AHA competition, but still graded within its fruit beer category.

Aroma: 3 of 4 points, light,
Appearance: 2 of 3 points, good color, slight haze, good head
Flavor: 8 of 10 points, light malt/hops, thin body
Overall Impression: 2 of three points

Comments: Clean, picking up just a slight nose of the fruit used, nice color with slight touch of the fruit color. Light delicate beer with just a hint of the fruit. Good idea using a different fruit to such a light style beer. Big challenge for sure.

Comments group 2: Clean, very light malt/hop aroma but suitable for style, hazy, nice purple, white foam. Malt/hops very light, balanced, but it should be more. Huckleberry only shows itself in bitter. Kolsch beer should have toasted character.

My comments:

Pretty fun to compete and share my beer with complete strangers. The huckleberry is light, the yeast seemed to just rip it apart over the fermentation period and during bottle conditioning. This is a delicate beer, I was worried some flaws would show up.

I will try again.

Congrats on the second place. Competitions are a great way to learn to brew better. Friends pat you on the back and tell you you're making good stuff, but judges can really give you some honest feedback.

Very nice! Too bad we all couldn't enjoy the fruits of your labor