Competion category question

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adam62cb

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I am entering an upcoming BJCP Home Brew competition. This is my first competition so I would like to enter a bunch of stuff that I have on tap right now.

What category would be appropriate for a Berliner Weiss, which I blended raspberry puree into the secondary? I am not sure if it goes into the 17A Berliner Weiss, 20 Fruit Beer, or 23 specialty category.

Is there any reason you shouldn't enter the same beer into more than category? For example. I also have a Hoppy Brown Ale. It is very dark but not too roasty or coffee like, it has some oats and lots of cascade hops added late. I plan to enter it into 10 C american brown, but I could squeeze it into 12A brown porter. Neither is a perfect fit so I was thinking about entering it into both. Any suggestions.
 
1. Definitely 20A Fruit Beer.

2. If it is not a good fit in either category, then you should reconsider whether to enter it all. Beers in BJCP competitions are supposed to evaluated for style. If the beer doesn't fit the style then you can't expect to score well. IF you are simply looking for feedback, then enter it in American Brown or 23, specialty and explain why it belongs there (lots of hops, unusual ingredients). I can't ever see cascade hops being appropriate in a brown porter and likely if you added "lots" of late addition cascade, they are probably quite evident in the aroma and would be considered a flaw. At least in 10C it wouldn't seem grossly out of place.
 
For the first beer, if it tastes sour and has a noticeable raspberry flavor you won't do well in 17A or 20 and it would have to go in 23. For the second, it depends on the competition, some don't allow you to enter the same beer in multiple categories, others do. If it's allowed you may as well give it a shot and see what notes you get back.
 
1. Definitely 20A Fruit Beer.

2. If it is not a good fit in either category, then you should reconsider whether to enter it all. Beers in BJCP competitions are supposed to evaluated for style. If the beer doesn't fit the style then you can't expect to score well. IF you are simply looking for feedback, then enter it in American Brown or 23, specialty and explain why it belongs there (lots of hops, unusual ingredients). I can't ever see cascade hops being appropriate in a brown porter and likely if you added "lots" of late addition cascade, they are probably quite evident in the aroma and would be considered a flaw. At least in 10C it wouldn't seem grossly out of place.

Yeah, I missed the part about a lot of cascade hops, that definitely would be out of style for brown porter.
 
Review the descriptions for each category and decide if the way it tastes fits into the category. Regardless of what ingredients went into it, it really depends on what it tastes like. Though, your description of it being hoppy in the first post would kind of make it unsuitable for brown porter.
 
Remember that competitions are all about style so you need to evaluate the style and determine how your beer stands up

If your gravitates exceed, IBus, color and flavor profile don't match you get dinged.

Specialty #23 is somewhat of a catch all for beers that don't really fit. One thing to keep in mind is this category can have a wide variety of beers that all have to stand up against each other and they can be completely different off styles
 

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