2013 Drunk Monk Challenge

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Location
Aurora
The Urban Knaves of Grain are proud to announce that registration for the 15th Annual Drunk Monk Challenge homebrew competition is now open!

The competition will be held March 8th & 9th at Two Brothers Roundhouse located in Aurora, Illinois.

The Drunk Monk Challenge is a qualifying event for both the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year and the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing.

Online Entry: Register your Drunk Monk Challenge and Menace of the Monastery entries online by March 1st, 2013 at http://knaves.org/dmc There will be a limit of 850 entries for this year's competition. After 850 entries have been logged, registration will close.

Entry Fee: All entries for the Drunk Monk Challenge and Menace of the Monastery are $7. Accepted payment methods include: Check (made out to UKG) and Cash. (Please do not send cash through the mail).

The Menace of the Monastery competition is a competition unique to Urban Knaves of Grain. The Menace of the Monastery competition celebrates beer styles which can be traced back to the monastic brewing traditions of Belgium and Germany. In other words – stuff monks would brew back-in-the-day. This distinctive competition is judged separately from the Drunk Monk Challenge. A special award is made for the winner of the Menace of the Monastery.

Shipping: Pack your entries well and ship to:
The Drunk Monk Challenge, c/o Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 North Broadway, Aurora, IL 60505, ATTN: Gabe Nanni

Drop Off Locations: Entries may be dropped off in person at any of the following until March 1st.
The Home Brew Shop, 225 W. Main St., St. Charles, IL (630) 377-1338
Chicagoland Winemakers, 689 W. North Ave, Elmhurst, IL 60126 (630) 834-0507
Brew & Grow Bolingbrook, 181 W. Crossroads Parkway, Bolingbrook, IL (630) 771-1410
The Brewers Coop (Two Brothers Tap House), 30W315 Calumet Ave. Warrenville, IL (630) 393-BEER
*Perfect Brewing Supply, 619 E. Park Ave, Libertyville, IL (847) 816-7055 (entries must be dropped off by Noon, Thursday February 28th)

Awards for 2013: Custom DMC medals will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each qualifying category. Trophies will be awarded for Best of Show in Beer, Meads/Ciders, as well as the winner of the Menace of the Monastery.

Questions? E-mail [email protected]

Complete rules and regulations on our website. http://knaves.org/dmc

Thanks for entering and good luck!!

Urban Knaves of Grain
 
Just posted 2 entries. What carrier do you guys use to ship entries? Thanks.
 
reinstone said:
Just posted 2 entries. What carrier do you guys use to ship entries? Thanks.

UPS Is probably what most people use. FedEX would work also. It is against the law to ship beer via USPS.

I ship to friends via UPS and have not had a problem. The only competitions that I have entered have had local drop off locations.
 
Thanks for the positive words. We take pride in running a well-respected competition, and it's become an event many people look forward to being a part of each year.

However... it can't be done without enough qualified individuals. We are always looking for more qualified judges. The better the judging pool, the better the feedback people get and the smoother the competition runs.

Good luck to all who enter and thanks to those who volunteer!
 
when I registered I signed up to judge. Will we get some sort of notification or likewise?

Yes, you will receive correspondence from the Judge Coordinator when all assignments have been created. Unfortunately it wont be for a while, as registration is still open for several more days, plus it takes a fair amount of time to create the assignments, as they constantly change as judges continue to sign up, even drop out.

Keep in mind that judge assignments are filled with the most qualified judges first, then backfilled with judges in training, apprentices, provisional, etc.. If we can't find spots for new judges to fill, then we'll see what can be done about Stewarding and whatever else. But for now, I would plan on being a judge but having to sit tight for an assignment. Thanks for volunteering!
 
bmason1623 said:
I didn't know you were a BJCP judge. Cool

Well yes a "provisional" judge which is no big deal. Its really hard to find a tasting test that doesn't fill by the brew club that hosts it as soon as it opens.
 
I've looked into it before, but the info is kind of cryptic. I've been on many waiting list to no avail. Maybe someone who knows a little better can help here, but I think it goes like this. A person finds an current BJCP judge who is willing to host a test site. The site is then registered with the BJCP and fees/testers are gathered and the test is administered. The problem is that usually a brew club will find the current BJCP judge and full all the spots before it even opens. In addition to that only a certain amount of test are allowed per area and I think the current calendar is full until 2015! So good luck to anyone looking to take the test. At this point there is no reason to take the online test because it's valid for only one year in which time you need to have taken the tasting portion and there is no possible way to ever get into a tasting test.
 
Ya! It is a quite demoralizing process and a true shame seeing as though I love the work the BJCP has done!
 
There were spots in the October Milwaukee test Bruce is the contact for as of early Jan. when I signed up. That was the only one anywhere near by that I could find that was actively accepting people. All the others were wait-list only.
 
Paul, yes, it's frustrating. I'm trying to get into a tasting to get to National Level judge, but all the tasting exams have wait lists of over 40 people vying for 12 seats. Crazy. Seems to me, this online exam that they thought would expedite things only pushed the backlog further down stream. Now the backlog is the tasting exam.
 
I entered 3 beers and paid for all three with one check. The website is only showing I paid for 1 entry. Do I need to do anything.
 
oops. shows paid now. thanks. it the awards ceremony a good time?
 
Question, as state above I signed up to judge this Saturday. I took part in brewing beers from three separate accounts that submitted beers for judging not just the ones I submitted with my account. Does this matter? Should I let someone know? I really don't want to judge a beer that I have participated in brewing, not that I would recognize it but still it's the idea of it.
 
I was wondering if you guys were still sorting through boxes and processing payments. According to the event website, my payment has not been received yet and if there is a problem I would like to deal with it ASAP so that I don't miss the event.
 
The system will not allow you to judge a category you entered in. I'm pretty sure it recognizes a cobrewer too, but I will look into that.

Important note - if for some odd reason you get a beer you brewed, or even know who brewed it, you need to stop and tell an official. This is rare but it happens.

Question, as state above I signed up to judge this Saturday. I took part in brewing beers from three separate accounts that submitted beers for judging not just the ones I submitted with my account. Does this matter? Should I let someone know? I really don't want to judge a beer that I have participated in brewing, not that I would recognize it but still it's the idea of it.
 
Send me a PM with your name and I'll look into it. Thanks.

I was wondering if you guys were still sorting through boxes and processing payments. According to the event website, my payment has not been received yet and if there is a problem I would like to deal with it ASAP so that I don't miss the event.
 
Question, as state above I signed up to judge this Saturday. I took part in brewing beers from three separate accounts that submitted beers for judging not just the ones I submitted with my account. Does this matter? Should I let someone know? I really don't want to judge a beer that I have participated in brewing, not that I would recognize it but still it's the idea of it.

We'll get judging assignments this week. If you are scheduled for a flight in a category you're in then, let them know ASAP and they'll work it out.
 
PseudoChef said:
We'll get judging assignments this week. If you are scheduled for a flight in a category you're in then, let them know ASAP and they'll work it out.

Great suggestion thanks!
 
Cheers to everyone who participated in the 2013 Drunk Monk Challenge! We are proud to say that our 15th annual competition was another big success!

This year's event saw a record number of entries, as well as a record number of volunteers. 806 meads, ciders, and beers were sampled and evaluated by 112 judges. The DMC continues to attract the region's top-ranked judges, but also provides an opportunity for new judges to gain experience and increase knowledge. This year's judge roster was comprised of 1 Grand Master judge, 1 Master judge,16 National level, 36 Certified, 26 Recognized, 28 Provisional/Novice judges, and 2 professional brewers.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank some our key sponsors and beery friends. Without their generous support, we would not be able to have such a great event:

- Two Brothers Brewing for being our very accommodating host.
- The Homebrew Shop in St. Charles, IL for sponsoring the awesome medals and various raffle donations
- Chicagoland Winemakers in Elmhurst, IL for sponsoring the handsome trophies for Best of Show and Menace of the Monastery
- Chicago Brew Werks in Plainfield, IL for some killer prize donations, including the prize of the night oak barrel
- Start Total Print Solutions for all the copies and help with the awards
- Brew n Grow in Bolingbrook, IL for the many gift certificates that went to the BOS and Menace of the Monastery winners.
- John's Restaurant and Tavern in Winfield, IL
- Rock Bottom Brewery in Warrenville, IL
- Mid Country Malt Supply in South Holland, IL

Please do not be discouraged if you did not win an award. The DMC has become one of the largest and toughest competitions around.

With that being said, the 2013 DMC results can be viewed here http://knaves.org/DMC/victor/victors2013.html

Scoresheets and awards will be mailed within the week. You should also be able to view your scores by logging back into the registration system.

Thanks again to each and every participant of the 2013 Drunk Monk Challenge! I hope to see you again at next year's competition, which is tentatively planned for March 7th and 8th, 2014.

DMC Organizers
 
DMC was my 1st competition ever and i was very impressed how well it was organized, submission system is great and i could see scores/results the same night as competition took place, the only thing i would add would be an extra payment option through paypal (it could make it easier for organizers). I will be back next year, hey if possible i will try to volunteer as a minion helper :)
 
It is a fantastic competition that I would encourage everyone to enter. I agree that being able to pay entry fees via a credit card would be nice. Otherwise it is a very well run event that is quite enjoyable.
 
DMC was my 1st competition ever and i was very impressed how well it was organized, submission system is great and i could see scores/results the same night as competition took place, the only thing i would add would be an extra payment option through paypal (it could make it easier for organizers). I will be back next year, hey if possible i will try to volunteer as a minion helper :)

It is a fantastic competition that I would encourage everyone to enter. I agree that being able to pay entry fees via a credit card would be nice. Otherwise it is a very well run event that is quite enjoyable.

From an entry standpoint, I would also like the ability to pay online, but from what I have heard it can actually make it harder when processing the entries.

With sending payment along with the entries, it is easy for the people unboxing everything to match up the payment with the bottles in the box. 6 bottles = 3 entries = $21. Whereas with paypal, you have 3 entries and a reciept (if they remembered to include it in the box). That reciept then has to be cross referenced to another set of paperwork that may not may not exactaly match the entry name & the paypal name to verify the payment.

It may not sound like a lot, but when dealing with 800+ entries (1600+ bottles) that all need to be accounted for, sorted by category, and stickered with a number, any extra steps can cause trouble.

There are also extra fees involved with accepting paypal for entries which don't seem like a lot per entry, but probably add up quickly when dealing with a large number of small transactions.

I am sure the committee has discussed using PayPal. I think it was an option in past years, but I am not sure of that as this year was the first year I entered the competition.
 
Kurt B is exactly right. Everything he said. It's particularly difficult when people submit entries under aliases such as "UKG Barrel Brewers" or "Garage Brewers", you get the point. And yes, the fee. It's not a large amount on the grand scheme of things, but we'd rather save that money and put it towards nicer medals, trophies, gifts for the volunteers, a nicer lunch for the volunteers, a couple beers for volunteers, larger rental space for judging, etc, etc. We want to take care of the judges because we cant run a competition of this magnitude without their help. (FWIW, I've never been at another competition where they grant you vouchers for beer).

We did use Paypal last year. I agree it's a convenience for the entrants, but it can be a hassle for the organizers. This will be revisited in the future.

Thanks for the comments, compliments, and suggestions. We're always open to them (especially the compliments!).

Thanks to everyone who volunteered. There are too many to list or count, but they know who they are. See you again next year!
 
I see it now, makes a lot of sense to do it the old way
If i decide to help with competition next year do i just select stewart on the DMC website when registering? , what does this require, how much time im committing for
 
I see it now, makes a lot of sense to do it the old way
If i decide to help with competition next year do i just select stewart on the DMC website when registering? , what does this require, how much time im committing for

Yes, there is a place to register as a steward on the entry page for the DMC.

This year was my first year working as a steward. If you can stay organized, it is not a difficult thing to do. Basically, you are in charge of making sure the correct bottles get to the judges along with the score sheets, and then after the entries are judged that the score sheets are fully filled out and that they get to the people responsible for the data entry.

The person that is in charge of the stewards, Luann Fitzpatrick, does a fantastic job with making it easy to understand as well as getting new people like me comfortable with the process. There is even a manual on how to be a steward located near the bottom of the DMC page (http://knaves.org/DMC/index.html)

As for the time commitment, I was at the DMC for a few hours on Friday night for the Mead/Cider rounds, more just to get a feel for what I was going to be doing on Saturday. They normally don't need as much help on Friday as they do on Saturday. Saturday was an all day affair. I got there at about 8 in the morning to start setting things up, and did not leave until about 8:30 that evening after the cleanup, awards banquet, HUGE raffle, and a number of beers. There were a few people that got there around lunch just to work the afternoon, and a few others that just worked the morning session.

All the unboxing/sorting of the entries actually took place the weekend before the competition. That only took a few hours. The nice thing is that you can do as much or as little as you would like.
 
Back
Top