First competition disappointment

I did a re-brew of one of my favorite beers, a lemon lime hefeweizen. Unfortunately, I messed with the recipe by upping the lime zest and adding fresh squeezed lime juice with two minutes left in the boil. I submitted the bottles 15 days after bottling, and tasted one last night for the first time so I could have an idea of what the judges would be tasting.

Well, I knew right off I was in trouble. While it's very tasty and refreshing, the lime taste is overpowering. It might mellow in a week or two, but certainly not in time for today's competition.

So I came in with very low expectations, which were well founded. I scored a 16, a 17, and an18. Ok, fine. I'm bummed, but not surprised. However, there was zero helpful feedback. I wasn't really in it to win, I was more excited to receive unbiased feedback and advice. Instead, there were comments like "so it's lime, huh?" and "a shandy?", and "not up to par." I got very good scores on aroma and appearance, but killed on everything else. All three gave me 1 out of 5 for mouthfeel, but no comments.

I understand it was out of style, and that I screwed up, but it's really discouraging to not receive any advice or suggestions. I'd heard that judges will offer that, especially to more poorly scored beers.

Am I expecting too much or did I just hit a lackluster set of judges for my first competition?

Did you enter this in the spice/vegetable or the fruit beer category? Or in the regular hefeweisen category?

If you entered it correctly, you should have received feedback on the balance of the fruit/beer and how that worked.

If you entered it as a hefeweizen, it still would have scored very poorly but they would have mentioned the lime as being the reason for the low scores.

This forum is where you'll receive constructive criticism, not from the judges table. Try not to be too disappointed. There are a LOT of very well crafted beers from many experienced brewers, so view this as a stepping stone, not a slippery rock. Haha! Now that you know what they DON'T want, fix it, and submit it to the next competition. When it wins first place, you can rub it in their faces with extreme gratification. Godspeed good sir, and happy brewing!

Oh, and post the recipe and see what people say. I've only ever used Ginger in beer, so I'd like to see your recipe with Lime. I've played with the idea, but never made the plunge.

Hey Yooper. There were only four categories: oktoberfest, dunkel weiss, pilsner, and hefeweizen. I entered it into the hefeweizen category. They all mentioned lemon flavors, actually, instead of lime, but regardless I do understand this was why I got low scores. I guess I was just expecting a little more in the way of suggestions and also more comments on things like mouthfeel and flavor, which is where I really got killed.

I'm entering another competition in November, hoping to submit four different beers and I'll be sure they're in the proper category.

Just regretting my recipe alterations. I know my process was good, but now I'm doubting all my beers, in a way. I need a can to kick down the road, shucks.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement, mrphillips! I really appreciate that. I'm just in the post failure gloom. It's not going to keep me from being just as excited as ever for my next brew!

The recipe is actually SD-SLIM'S lemon lime hefeweizen over in the wheat beer section of the recipe forum on this site. It's a very popular recipe that's won numerous awards, and it turned out great when I brewed it in May. What I did different was increase the zest and add lime juice, and I guess it was just overkill.

Comps are all about style and being spot on in the style entered.

You knew you entered an out of style beer and as a result you got dinged big.

That being said, you could still send an email to the organizer and let them know that that you received no constructive criticism from any judge as that is really not right. You should still get valuable feedback regardless of the outcome!

Chalk it up to learning and move on with more knowledge about comps. As long as you like your beer that's what matters chin up!