Beer Judging Competitions

There are never any beer judging competitions in my area, I have checked the BJCP web site, and as of today nothing for the rest of the year. I would like to enter a beer and see how it does.

Is there any other way to be a part of a judging competition without having to be there in person?

Can I ship a beer to them for judging?

I really don't know how all of this works.

Yes, you can ship your beer to enter many competitions. Typically, a competition will have at least one location you can ship to, usually the club's LHBS. For Dixie Cup, we get MANY entries shipped in.


TL

How exactly does that process work? I mean do you ship with adequate time to allow yeast to settle in bottle conditioned brews? I haven't been able to find many resources on line on how to enter a competiton if you are out of state/area where the competition will be held.

How do you get a hold of an entry form, etc...?

I'm fairly new to this just began this past February, and I have moved on to experimenting and making recipes rather than kits, and I wnated to get some input from an unbiased source. I share with my buddies, but free beer is free beer, of course they will say it is great, and I wouldn't call many of them connoisseurs by any means. So I am very curious to enter a brew into a competition.

American Homebrewers Association Homebrewing Events
check out this website, most of the competitions have a website, and most allow you to fill out the entry forms online. It's really a piece of cake. I believe there should be a couple of links here to show good packaging techniques.

Competition Schedule

Pick a contest, the closer the better (shipping). It will state the entry deadline. They usually have a website in which you have to register and then have your entry free and entries in before the deadline. Their websites usually state the guidelines, but typically it's 2 bottles per entry, no marks on bottle or cap (or raised logos on the bottle). You have to print out bottle ID forms here: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BottleID.pdf and attach them with rubber bands (not glue or anything). Your beer gets judged, and you get sent you scoresheet and any awards. Pretty simple. I entered one locally, and just sent off my IIPA to some random comp that is this Saturday. Good luck!

Typically, you can ship your entries in at least one week before the judging begins. In larger competitions, that might be more like two or three weeks. In all the judging I've done, I've never had a problem with sediment getting into the entry. If you have a properly conditioned beer, you should only need a day or two, tops, for everything to settle back out.

You should be able to get entry forms from a competition website or by emailing the competition organizer. If you see a notice about a competition, there should be some sort of contact information there.

Yes, most competitions require only two bottles, but the larger ones usually require three. Usually, you can enter two bottles in a three bottle competition, but you waive your chances as Best of Show.

Basically, pack the bottles well, get all your paperwork in the box (and on the bottles, as mentioned above), get your check easy to find with your paperwork, cross your fingers, say a prayer, hope for the best, and wait (patiently!) to hear the results.


TL