First hombrew comp question

So I'm entering my first beer an English brown ale into a local homebrew competition. Only problem is I added a small amount of rum soaked oak chips into secondary. I only left them in for about 4 days to get a slight smoked aftertaste. All in all the beer is pretty good but I'm worried that I will lose points by placing it into a brown ale category instead of an Oakes category

 

What do you guys think just enter it in brown ale or go for the Oaked? I'm just afraid it's not exactly Oaked enough to have a shot. Help out this newbie

 

It will get dinged if you enter it as an English Brown. You might also get dinged for not having enough oak, but it would be much more fitting. In the future, don't brew then try to figure out a category to compete in. Pick your category first, and then brew for competition.

 

Fair enough I just found out somewhat late about the competition so I was forced into choosing a beer I already brewed. Thanks for the advice ill probably just enter it to at least get feedback

 

Well the BJCP guide for Wood-Aged Beer states:

"Beers made using either limited wood aging or products that only provide a subtle background character may be entered in the base beer style categories as long as the wood character isn't prominently featured"


...I think you could enter it into the base style and be fine.

 

This approach will lead to better competition results. It may or may not lead to a beer the brewer really likes, especially if the brewer likes something outside the style guidelines.

 

Oh, I agree. If I'm brewing for personal consumption, I don't worry about style guidelines. However, if it's for a competition, I brew to style.