How to enter in a comp a strong pale ale/weak ipa?

[hoboscratch]

I have a beer that I want to enter in a comp and not sure what category it should go in. Any advice would be cool. 3 of the 4 categories in Beersmith work for both APA and IPA. Here's the specs, let me know what you think.

OG: 1.052
IBU: 56
SRM: 6.8
ABV: 5.5

So it kind of overlaps into both categories. I was just wondering if anyone has entered a beer like this, and if they've had better results going for a stronger version of one style or a weaker version of another.

 

[Gduck]

I have a beer that I want to enter in a comp and not sure what category it should go in. Any advice would be cool. 3 of the 4 categories in Beersmith work for both APA and IPA. Here's the specs, let me know what you think.

OG: 1.052
IBU: 56
SRM: 6.8
ABV: 5.5

So it kind of overlaps into both categories. I was just wondering if anyone has entered a beer like this, and if they've had better results going for a stronger version of one style or a weaker version of another.

I know some comps allow you to enter the same beer in multiple catagories. If you could do that you could enter it in both and see what kind of feedback you get about how it fits in to the style. If it can only be entered in to one that is a tough call. If it has a really thick hop aroma and flavor to it I'd lean towards the IPA. If the hop presence is there, but still shows off a decent amount of the malt presence I'd submit it as a pale.

 

[hoboscratch]

Yeah, its very hop foward with a lot of late addition galaxy and simcoe. I wanted a very hoppy session beer, and its turned into a pretty tasty beverage. There's not much malt profile at the moment, its all being covered by the hops. I've done this one before and when the hops start to drop out, it becomes far more malty. But at this young stage its all hops, all the time.

10# 2row
.5# 60L
.5# Munich

 

[shelly_belly]

APA IBUs range 30-45 so I think you would lose points there.

 

[phenry]

I'd say enter it into both categories if you can. As much as we try to make it not, judging is still very personally subjective. One judge may think it's too bitter for an APA, and another may think it's perfect. If you don't mind paying for the extra entry (and losing two more bottles ) I'd say go for it.

 

[Phunhog]

+1 to entering it into both categories. It has been my experience though that unless it is really, really hoppy enter it into the Pale Ale category.

 

[TwoGunz]

Without having ever entered a competition, it seems that being "strong" is better than being "weak", no? Go big or go home!

 

[moti_mo]

The one piece of advice I stick to that I heard from a pro brewer who was helped judge lots of comps is to enter beers at the high end of the BJCP range for that particular style. His opinion was having the ABV and/or IBUs at the high end of the range makes sure your beer stands out above the other entries (assuming its a well-balanced beer of course).

Its worked for me plenty of times. My best comp result was an ~8.6% saison, way out of the BJCP range for saison. But it was well balanced and didn't taste like 8.6% so it won.

 

[hoboscratch]

My original plan was to enter it into the APA category for those reasons. Figured stronger was better than weak, and that it might stand out more being on the "big" side. In my opinion its not much of an ipa, because of the session quality, but is a great APA. Ah, how modern hop bomb DIPAs have ruined me....

I don't see anything in the rules about entering the same beer in different categories. I was planning on shipping these suckers on Monday, so I think I will just do the APA category...

 

[raptorvan]

Enter it in any category it could possibly be linked to. Ive entered beers that got awards in categories it shouldn't have been in. Porters and stouts in strong ales, miles in cream ales...the Kickers is that they got great marks in both categories...which just confirmed my suspiscion that BJCP judging is far too subjective.