Need help with a homebrew competition

Hey Everyone, I have a dilemma. I am throwing a small local homebrew competition at my buddies pub and I need some ideas. I don't think there is going to be a lot of entrants since the brewing scene in my area is pretty small, maybe 10 brewers. I figured it would probably be a good idea to limit the catagories to light/pale ales, dark ales, and specialty beers just to keep it simple. Beers will be judged according to their specific style but there will only be 3 main catagories plus a crowd favorite award. My hope is that this will draw some people out of the woodwork and we will have a larger competition down the road. what do you guys think, how should I approach this?

Maybe not exactly what your looking for but it might provide you with a little helpful info..

AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competition Program

Just keep it real. Don't be too simplistic as to drive off more experienced / dedicated brewers...and don't be so complicated as to drive off the little guy...and your judges.
Who is judging?
you might keep a separate class for IPA's if they are popular in your area. I'd hate to have a good ipa up against a good pale and have a judge that's not much of a fan of hops! You end up with some inherent subjectivity in the judging if your categories are too broad.

Sounds like fun though...want some mail in entries?

my problem is I've only had a few people commit so far and so I'm afraid if I have to many catagories there wont be enough entrants. I like the idea of a separate IPA category.I checked out the BJCP rules, I am concerned about making it too complicated, being that it's probably going to be a small competition. I have a couple microbrewery distributors and Commercial brewers that are going to judge as well as the pub patrons.

You should post the area you're doing this in. Maybe there are some HBT'ers in the area.

thats a good Idea, i didn't know I could do that.

I think he means for you to tell us where you are to get the word out....your location is not in your profile.

oh,gotcha. It will be in Redding, CA

onejdn said:

my problem is I've only had a few people commit so far and so I'm afraid if I have to many catagories there wont be enough entrants. I like the idea of a separate IPA category.I checked out the BJCP rules, I am concerned about making it too complicated, being that it's probably going to be a small competition. I have a couple microbrewery distributors and Commercial brewers that are going to judge as well as the pub patrons.

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Well, I think you should allow ALL categories, but combine them for judging. What I mean is this- If I brew a killer American Light Lager, but you're looking for pale ales, I won't enter. So allow ALL recognized BCJP categories. Judge them to style. Then award a medal for the places, but group them in American, English, Special, etc.

For example, I won second place in a contest in Green Bay, WI for my California Common. The first place was an American lager. Not even the same category! But it made sense- he got like a 41, I got a 37. Different style, but combined since it was few entries. If they would have only allowed American lagers, I wouldn't have even entered the contest.

Judge each beer against it's exact style (like Yoop said), but group them more generally and let the top scores win. Here's what we did this past spring.

Light Ales
6A. Cream Ale
6B. Blonde Ale
6C. Kölsch
6D. American Wheat or Rye Beer
8A. Standard/Ordinary Bitter
8B. Special/Best/Premium Bitter
8C. Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
10A. American Pale Ale
10B. American Amber Ale*
14A. English IPA
14B. American IPA
14C. Imperial IPA
15D. Roggenbier (German Rye Beer)
16A. Witbier
16B. Belgian Pale Ale
16C. Saison
16D. Bière de Garde
16E. Belgian Specialty Ale*
17B. Flanders Red Ale
18A. Belgian Blond Ale
18C. Belgian Tripel
18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale
19A. Old Ale*
21A. Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer*


Dark Ales
9A. Scottish Light 60/-*
9B. Scottish Heavy 70/-*
9C. Scottish Export 80/-*
9D. Irish Red Ale*
9E. Strong Scotch Ale
10C. American Brown Ale
11A. Mild*
11B. Southern English Brown
11C. Northern English Brown Ale
12A. Brown Porter
12B. Robust Porter
12C. Baltic Porter
13A. Dry Stout
13B. Sweet Stout
13C. Oatmeal Stout
13D. Foreign Extra Stout
13E. American Stout
13F. Russian Imperial Stout
15A. Weizen/Weissbier
15B. Dunkelweizen
15C. Weizenbock*
17A. Berliner Weisse
17C. Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
17D. Straight (Unblended) Lambic
17E. Gueuze
17F. Fruit Lambic
18B. Belgian Dubbel
18E. Belgian Dark Strong Ale
19B. English Barleywine*
19C. American Barleywine*
21B. Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer*


Light Lagers
1A. Lite American Lager
1B. Standard American Lager
1C. Premium American Lager
1D. Munich Helles
1E. Dortmunder Export
2A. German Pilsner (Pils)
2B. Bohemian Pilsener
2C. Classic American Pilsner
3B. Oktoberfest/Märzen
5A. Maibock/Helles Bock
7B. California Common Beer
22A. Classic Rauchbier*
22B. Other Smoked Beer*
22C. Wood-Aged Beer*


Dark Lagers
3A. Vienna Lager*
4A. Dark American Lager
4B. Munich Dunkel
4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer)
5B. Traditional Bock
5C. Doppelbock
5D. Eisbock
7A. Northern German Altbier
7C. Düsseldorf Altbier

thats kind of what I was thinking. each beer can be judged on its own merit according to the bjcp guidelines, I just dont know how to break up the awards catagories. I like the idea of american, english, and specialty. Or should I go light, dark, and specialty?

onejdn said:

thats kind of what I was thinking. each beer can be judged on its own merit according to the bjcp guidelines, I just dont know how to break up the awards catagories. I like the idea of american, english, and specialty. Or should I go light, dark, and specialty?

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When you put together a poster/ad for the competition just say that you will group categories together as needed. Then when you've received all the entries you can group them whichever way would work best.

It really depends on how many entries you have and what styles they are. I saw one small competition that had 3 categories: light, dark, and IPA

You are getting some good advice, here. Don't make it too elaborate to begin with, and that means keep your medal categories to a minimum. As others have mentioned, you can group the BJCP categories into broader medal categories.

Group the categories however you would like and then see how the entries roll in. You'll never know until you actually see it. Talk to your core guys and get an idea what they might enter. At least, maybe, they can give you an approximate number. That will give you some idea about how to form the medal categories. For example, if it looks like you are going to have a bunch of wood-aged beers, you might want to split that off on it's own or into a smaller grouping with something complementary.

I do not agree with moving the categories around after you get all the entries in. To entrants (and potential entrants), that smacks of manipulation to provide someone some sort of advantage. You may have the best of intentions and practices, but just the appearance of impropriety can torpedo a competition of any size. Set your categories, publish them, and then take what you get. If your categories wind up out of whack, that's just a lesson to apply next year.

The trickiest part might be getting judges. Do put out the word. I bet there are some good judges in your area, and someone might be quite happy to come out and help out with a new, small competition. After serving as the Head Judge for an 800+ entry competition, that sort of thing almost sounds like a vacation!


TL

you guys are awesome thanks for all the advice. this is going to be fun. I hope to have more of these in the near future.