First Competition!

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kingmatt

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I am submitting 3 entires to my first ever homebrew competition and am really excited about it :ban:

I am entering "Malt Madness" which is an American Homebrewers Association sanctioned competition put together by the Lehigh Valley Homebrewers http://www.lehighvalleyhomebrewers.org/competition_2010.html

I am entering my Irish Red, Raspberry Red and Grand Cru to be judged. Not expecting to win at all but am looking forward to some "professional" feedback on my beer as "its good!" from my friends and family doesn't really help much.

Anyone else entering this competion or has entered competitions in the past? Any advice or stories to share about your experience that might be helpful to a noob like myself?

:mug:
 
I'm contemplating entering that one. My brother's house is really close so I could go visit my nephew and so forth as well. However at Bube's in Mount Joy is also having one and I'd pass it on the way to the Lehigh Valley shindig. I'd probably be entering only my IIPA that I make loaded up with citra. There's a possibility of my saison I just made but I think it's out of guidelines a bit.
 
I would like to see some advice on this also?
What type of information are you required to submit with your brew?
 
You typically just have to select a style category for it to be judged against. I've only entered one, but it was cool to get the comment card with tasting notes.
 
entered my first comp this summer (iowa state fair). entered 4 beers (blonde, foreign extra stout, old ale, american IPA). got one 1st (the stout) and the blonde and IPA were both one point out of 3rd place and finished 4th. the old ale was 2 points out of third and finished 5th. very happy with the results.

as far as what to include, i'm pretty sure you just want the category and nothing much else. you should have knowledgeable judges who only need to know the category they are judging. it doesn't matter if it's outside guidelines, they will judge it as they can best determine. my foreign extra stout is technically speaking a russian imperial stout, but i knew it wasn't "big" enough to do well in the RIS category, so I entered it as FES and it scored a 39. i haven't gotten the sheets back yet, but look forward to the feedback for sure.

i would also recommend entering as many beers as you have available (as long as they're not really bad), it typically doesn't cost TOO much to enter a beer and the feedback should be very helpful. and even if you have drank too much of a specific beer and picked it totally apart, that doesn't necessarily mean a judge will agree with you and they might find your beer a good example of the style.
 
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