BJCP Style Question

[waking11]

Hi,

I am considering entering my first home brew competition pretty soon. I have a session IPA just about ready to go. My question is which category is the better one to enter it into?

I'm mostly looking to get some real objective critical feedback while the fun of competition only adds to it for me. So, I'd like it to be as close to the correct style category as possible.

The event has the following categories that might apply:
American Pale Ale
American IPA
Specialty Beer

It's 4.9% abv. OG 1.054
74 IBU FG 1.017
7 SRM

12 lbs Marris Otter
.75 Columbus 60 min
.75 Mosaic 40 min
.75 Mosaic 5 min
2 oz Mosaic dry hop 5 days

Or more generally, which category would a lower abv IPA be a better fit for?

thanks

 

[thisisbeer]

Its the bare minimum, paper wise, for IPA criteria. If you want you could try Pale Ale. I hear people say they have better luck with this kind of beer in the Pale Ale category. Definitely not specialty beer. Hopefully someone has more experience and can jump in.

 

[opiate82]

My Pale Ale recipe always scores in the 40's in comps and has won me awards and it has 4.75oz of hops total. But I always get dinged for it being a little too hoppy for an APA.

But on the other hand, I just don't think it would stand out in the IPA category against all the crazy hopped beers that are in there.

I don't worry about what my ABV is for contests. All my beers are generally outside the guidelines (usually higher than guidelines). As long as it isn't noticeable in the flavor it won't affect your score. I don't think the judges usually even have access to that information.

 

[waking11]

Great, thanks guys. I was sort of thinking APA was the way to go. Thanks again.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Since a session IPA isn't yet a BJCP style, why not enter it as a specialty beer. All you're saying by putting it in category 23 is that it doesn't fit a style. In the description, indicate it has the hop balance of an IPA but with a lower abv. And hedge your bets by also putting it into either the pale or IPA categories.

 

[biereblanche]

23 is the proper fit. It's not balanced like an APA, and it's not as high ABV as an IPA, thus it should be dinged in either of those. And if it seems like either of those, then it's not a very good session IPA, is it?

At a large (300 entry) commercial competition recently a Session IPA did very well as the specialty entry on the BOS table.