Question about homebrew competitions/associations

Hey guys,

Newbie here.. Just brewed my third all grain batch.. Anyway, I have been wanting to enter my homebrew in some competions. The way I understand it, there are homebrew competitions all over the country that I can enter from home, just by sending my beer through the mail. (FedEx). I also understand that there is an association called the American Homebrewers Association and that they sponsor seminars, meetings, and competitions. My question is, do I have to be a member of the AHA in order to enter the AHA events? Are there other events across the country that are open to anyone, even if they are not a member of the AHA? If so, where do I find out about these? I am not a member of any official homebrew club.

Thanks in advance!
Chris

You can find a list of competitions here: Competition Schedule

The AHA has multiple club only competitions a year where each club can submit an entry. The AHA also has the National Homebrew Competition which is about the biggest competition in the world (AFAIK), the 2009 info hasn't been announced yet but I suspect the first round entries will be due in early March.

For the NHC if you are an AHA member there is a discounted entry fee. I think last year it was something like $13 an entry for non-members and $9 for members. This is at the high end of the entry fees for comps, generally most competitions are $5-$7 per entry.