Looking to be judged!

One day I will brew an outstanding beer and will want it to be judged by a BJCP judge. When that day comes how would I go about having this done.

 

Do you have any competitions or brew clubs in your area? If so you should be able to get it done fairly easy I would think.

 

Check this out - lists a lot of competitions. Find one close to you. I have entered a couple for the first time this year, and have to say that I found it quite helpful. Definitely worth doing, based on my experience.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/aha-bjcp-sanctioned-competition/calendar

 

If I decided to go this route, how do I package my brews to ship? Also can I ship a bottle conditioned brew?

 

Competitions are great. You could also maybe contact someone from this site and send them some beer for tasting.

You generally want to wrap the bottles in a bit of wadded paper and cover with a plastic bag to keep any broken bottles from leaking real bad. Then pack well in a box.

I like to use heavy cardboard tubes that I get from work. They are nearly indestructible and the bottles fit well after wrapping inside a padded envelope from UPS.

Which brings me to my most important point. NEVER use the Postal Service for shipping beer. It's illegal. However, if you ship using UPS, it's only against their policy...

Plan on about $12-15 for 2 bottles or so, depending on the distance and if the recipient has a commercial address. The price for a 6-pack is not much more though.

Comps are great because you can win prizes, but you have to know how to accept the feedback. The quality of the feedback can vary. It's usually best to enter the same beer in more than one comp and close to the same time so you can get a variety of responses and make your adjustments based on a few opinions.

 

If I ship bottle conditioned brews, won't the sediment get knocked loose? And will that affect the score?

 

Typically the beers are stored for a while- ship near the beginning of the submission window if you're shipping. Don't worry about sediment. You don't really need to ship though, you should have a few nearby competitions in your area- typically you just drop off the beers at a LHBS or other location they specify.