2011 NHC Indianapolis?

Has anyone heard back about their scores yet? I see that the results have been sent to AHA already, so I'm assuming the scoresheets should have been mailed by now too?

The poor judge turn out for the Indy Regional delayed the completion of scoring by 2 days. I judged 5 sessions over the course of 4 days. Its a darn shame that more judges didn't make the trip, but its a serious cost and the only thing a judge gets out of the deal is a small door prize and a single lunch. AHA has to up the support they provide to these contests and better compensate the judges and staff that put them on. That has to mean that entry fees need to go up.

I can't blame any of the judges in the midwest that did not make the trip. Its not worth it. Altruism only goes so far.

Darn, well that's a shame. I'd like to start getting in to judging soon so I can help out with these competitions too. I can't see how they'll be able to raise the cost of entering much more. Its already an expensive competition to enter compared to many of the smaller, more local contests.
Oh well, I guess I won't be holding my breath waiting for the scoresheets.

Thanks for the response

No scoresheets back here either. I've heard from several sources that there were many no-shows. Judges who signed-up but just didn't show. That puts the organizers in a bind and the entire event in jeopardy. Shame on Indiana! I dont think paying the judges is the answer though. I think holding it a larger metropolitan area, such as Chicago, would attract more judges just by population density alone.

mklawz said:

No scoresheets back here either. I've heard from several sources that there were many no-shows. Judges who signed-up but just didn't show. That puts the organizers in a bind and the entire event in jeopardy. Shame on Indiana! I dont think paying the judges is the answer though. I think holding it a larger metropolitan area, such as Chicago, would attract more judges just by population density alone.

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You would think that was the case, but the last years of the Chicago regional were judge challenged too. Some judges are not willing to make the commitment in time and money when all the reward is are a few judging points and a lunch. I would hardly refer to it as paying. In the case of the out of towners, its partial reimbursement for the expenses they incur to attend the contest. I only had to drive 15 miles, I don't think I needed to be reimbursed. But I do think that if more judges would have been willing to make the trip, my contribution to the contest would have been 3 sessions over 2 days instead of 5 sessions over 4 days.

Looks like New York (Sarasota Springs) is continued through April 30th! This is absurd. My best chance entry was a late hopped beer. I don't have plans to brew that recipe again but could have bumped another I had planned to get it done if I had advanced. There's no way to turn it around in time for the May 20th submission deadline if I wait until the results come back.

I think I'm going to give up on contests for a while again...

It's particularly absurd if you consider that results are already known from Seattle and Denver. I have a few entries I would need to re-brew as well. I guess the lesson here is dont enter something that you dont have enough set aside already. And dont count on an opportunity to rebrew.

BTW, Mabrungard, thanks for your efforts and commitment. I take my hat off to those who volunteer. I recently worked my first comp, and while I enjoyed it, it's not something I would do very often. I also just took the BJCP exam so I do plan on 'giving back' by judging when I can. It does seem pretty thankless.

Do you think its a matter of how much "beer culture" there is in each paticular region? It seems like the more active, happening beer regions are the ones that would have more judge participation. Just a thought?

Mischief_Brewing said:

Looks like New York (Sarasota Springs) is continued through April 30th! This is absurd. My best chance entry was a late hopped beer. I don't have plans to brew that recipe again but could have bumped another I had planned to get it done if I had advanced. There's no way to turn it around in time for the May 20th submission deadline if I wait until the results come back.

I think I'm going to give up on contests for a while again...

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I've heard it's a total nightmare. Super shortage of judges. There was a night that the judges got kicked out of the building they were using in the middle of the BOS round. The beers sat overnight, un-capped till the next morning.

As for the judge shortage, I've been trying for four years to take the exam. Knocking the exam participants to 12 per exam is killing prospective judges. The spots are filled out before they're even posted on the BJCP site. I've been on waiting lists for three exams now and have had no luck getting a spot. I would have showed.

smizak said:

As for the judge shortage, I've been trying for four years to take the exam. Knocking the exam participants to 12 per exam is killing prospective judges.

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I guess starting next year it's going to be an online exam. If you pass, then you go and do the tasting/judging somewhere. I dont know all the details....

mklawz said:

I guess starting next year it's going to be an online exam. If you pass, then you go and do the tasting/judging somewhere. I dont know all the details....

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All the details aren't finalized yet but some info is here: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/newexam.pdf

I wish there was some consistency/policy in place for informing entrants if they made it to the second round. Some regions have it marked on the score sheet, someone else said they received emails of people advancing, the Seattle area hasn't revealed who is advancing. I don't mind waiting for the big announcement but I think everyone should be on the same footing, either everyone finds out with the scoresheets or nobody finds out with the scoresheets.

I have one beer I was considering re-brewing and if I knew it advanced I would find time to do it but for the most part I've decided not to brew for another couple weeks till after my BJCP test. I need to be studying rather than brewing.

smizak said:

I've heard it's a total nightmare. Super shortage of judges. There was a night that the judges got kicked out of the building they were using in the middle of the BOS round. The beers sat overnight, un-capped till the next morning.

As for the judge shortage, I've been trying for four years to take the exam. Knocking the exam participants to 12 per exam is killing prospective judges. The spots are filled out before they're even posted on the BJCP site. I've been on waiting lists for three exams now and have had no luck getting a spot. I would have showed.

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I feel your pain. I have 'only' been trying for about a year and a half but you're right, all 12 spots are always already filled before it even makes the BJCP 'scheduled exams' page.

Also heard that story about the NE NHC first round cluster****. Some people need to be chased around with a stick.

Got my score sheets back from Indy. out of 6 entries only one advanced. An Alt.

Ender said:

Got my score sheets back from Indy. out of 6 entries only one advanced. An Alt.

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about 11.2% of entries advance (84/750) and about 16.67% of your entries advanced (1/6).

I think it's harder to advance this year than in many previous years as many regions used to hang out around 500-600 entries. 750 is a lot more. I like to think of the proportion of entries I advanced vs the average as the key metric to how well I did. Few people with more than a few entries will get that number much above 2.

I got 3 thru with a 4th making it to mini-BOS but not advancing. Darn, I wanted that one thru more than any other!

Got my scoresheets the other day too. Although I'm pleased with my scores, especially my IPA (37.5), none of my entries placed
The beers that placed must have had scores in the 40s I would guess?

I briefly listened to the Best of Show evaluations for the IPA's and there were a lot of beers in front of those judges. The typical rule of thumb was to advance 3 beers at the most from each flight. I know there are typically a lot of PA and IPA in any competition, and it appeared that this was the case. Given that 37.5 score, your beer was probably on that table. Still something to be proud of.

I've had a beer in competition score 42 and not even place. Competition!