HBT.com homebrew competition?

olllllo said:

From her own admission hers are pretty big!
Change "Mine Is Bigger Than Yours!"
to
"Mine ARE Bigger Than Yours!"

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There, that's better.

I'm in, if we can work out the logistics. Apparently, my last shipment is still in UPS-limbo (I'll send a new one out, Brewpastor!) but I bet that doesn't happen all that often.

I'd pay a small entry fee, and not expect much of a prize. I'd really appreciate the feedback, too.

Lorena

Quality feedback is key, much more valuable then an award. If this is going to really work we need to spend some hard core time thinking about judging, judges and evaluation. I beer with fecal overtones should receive a great deal of feedback so the brewer can clean it up next time, that kind of thing...

So far the track record I have experienced isn't too good in terms of feedback. If we are to have a quality comp. that would have to change.

merc said:

another judge (such as myself) that have drank beers around the world, and just enjoy a good drinking beer. Not necessarily the best in class, but knows a good all around product.

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The problem with that, and not that I want to diminish your kind offer!, is that someone who has consumed beer from around the world and in many different styles may well not know what to look for in rauchbier or which hops are appropriate for an American Amber vs. and ESB or if a beer is hopped properly for the ESB category it was entered into or if the hopping profile is more appropriate for a common bitter. These are all very important types of feedback that I want as a brewer. "This is a good beer" or "I really liked this" or "Yuck, this was a gusher and infected" I can get from my buddies.

Here's an idea - perhaps in lieu of a competition, perhaps as a separate venture:

Let's do a massive beer swap. Sort of like Secret Santa, except you'd send a few of the same brews to several HBT members and receive a similar amount of brews from participating members. Everyone could give honest feedback, and you'd be reasonably assured that whoever is giving the feedback knows at least something about beer. No prizes, no judging, just constructive criticism with the opportunity to taste another homebrewer's products.

Yuri_Rage said:

Here's an idea - perhaps in lieu of a competition, perhaps as a separate venture:

Let's do a massive beer swap. Sort of like Secret Santa, except you'd send a few of the same brews to several HBT members and receive a similar amount of brews from participating members. Everyone could give honest feedback, and you'd be reasonably assured that whoever is giving the feedback knows at least something about beer. No prizes, no judging, just constructive criticism with the opportunity to taste another homebrewer's products.

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I think that is a wonderful idea in addition to (rather than in lieu of) a competition with feedback to help all of us improve our brew.

I'd even be willing to have another forum section where recipes can be reviewed by those who have had them. For example; I send out 6 bottles of my ESB to HBT members and then start a thread in this new forum with the recipe name and post the recipe used to brew it. Each person who tried my brew is welcome to comment on it so that others can have an idea of the quality of the beer and some idea how it is supposed to taste if they choose to brew it themselves. Sort of a more structured version of the "recipes/ingredients" section but dedicated to full recipes rather than iterations of recipes and recipe development threads. Just fully developed recipes and commentary from people who have had them.

edit: Sorry to pull this so far off topic. Yuri, if you want to continue this start another thread, I'd like to see this happen too.

I've got a couple of ideas kicking around my head, in addition to the original proposal. I like Yuri's idea as a default if we can't figure out the judging issues.