It was a big cluster last year when it was sponsored by Preston and Steve. They wanted your detailed recipe before even tasting your beer. Then instead of doing a preliminary round and limiting it to 25 in the final round like they said, they invited everyone who entered into the final round at Triumph. I think it was 300 entries - all different styles. You had to show up on the day of judging with a sixpack of cold homebrew.
There's too many hastily thrown-together homebrew contests lately.
The most insulting is the
Chester County Brewfest. Not only do you have to provide 4+ gallons of beer for free, you have to pay a $50 deposit to insure that you show up. The prize? Bragging rights and a plaque. So I have to pay a $50 bond, schlep a keg, gas setup, liquid setup, etc. so that I can stand there all day and serve my homebrew while the organizers are charging $35/person? I know they can't compensate with money for legal reasons, but at least give some t-shirts and have an actual prize for the homebrewers. Where's the incentive? This seems like a giant front so that the organizers can have free beer for their BBQ. 'Oh...let's make it a homebrew contest so we can get these dumb homebrewers to give us free beer for our event. We don't feel like buying kegs of beer...that costs money.'
They should make it a BBQ contest, homebrew contest and battle of the bands all in one. Free food, free beer, free entertainment.