First competition....here's hoping...

[Skagdog]

As someone has already stated, the locals probably win more because there are more local entries.

It is a bummer that your feedback wasn't comprehensive. Once you finally get some feedback it'll be neat to look at the different judge evaluations for each entry. I had one judge mark my IPA down while another judge wrote it was excellent and scored big for the super bitter hop punch to the throat.

 

[TheB]

Well, results have come in for my last 2 competitions. Seems that one thought my meads were great (it was a mead-only event and I garnered a 2nd & 3rd) whereas the other seems to be mostly locals again. I appreciate everyone's feedback but I think I'm going to limit myself to mead-only or maybe I need to join one of the local home brew clubs.

Good brews all!

 

[ktblunden]

I got my scoresheets from the competition last month and both judges gave my APA a 36, which I'm pretty happy with. Got some actual comments (some of which contradict each other between the judges) and I know what I'll be changing on the next batch.

 

[AmandaK]

I got my scoresheets from the competition last month and both judges gave my APA a 36, which I'm pretty happy with. Got some actual comments (some of which contradict each other between the judges) and I know what I'll be changing on the next batch.

Very good job! Those comments ate exactly why I send my beers off to comps.

 

[ktblunden]

Very good job! Those comments ate exactly why I send my beers off to comps.

It was interesting, though. One judge said the alcohol wasn't noticeable at all, the other one thought maybe it was closer in gravity to an IPA than a pale (OG was 1.053, somewhat close to the low of IPA, but right in the middle of APA range).

 

[AmandaK]

It was interesting, though. One judge said the alcohol wasn't noticeable at all, the other one thought maybe it was closer in gravity to an IPA than a pale (OG was 1.053, somewhat close to the low of IPA, but right in the middle of APA range).

Judging things (especially beer) is very subjective. Everyone has a slightly different palate. Some people are blind to diacetyl (crazy, right?) while some people detect alcohol (among many other compounds) at different thresholds.

At least your beer didn't come back with the descriptor "FECAL" on the score sheet with almost no hints of improvement. Happens to the best of us, I presume.