How this beer to enter in competition

[reinstone]

I have a highly hopped rye based beer that is at double ipa alc levels and its good. I am entering a few other beers in a competition and want to know how I should categorize this. It's 8 percent hoppy and great. How do I enter it? Amber ale, imperial, misc category.? It's the drunk monk challenge.

 

[reinstone]

Bumb. Impatient

 

[Brewrifle]

Is there a BAMF category that you could enter it into?

 

[roxbob]

Since it's rye based and doesn't come close to an American Rye or a Roggenbier, I think you're limited to Category 23 - Specialty Beer to have any hope of placing. From the BJCP style guidelines:

American-style rye beers should be entered in the American Rye category (6D). Other traditional beer styles with enough rye added to give a noticeable rye character should be entered in the Specialty Beer category (23).

 

[TopherM]

Definitely 23.

"It's good" and "hoppy and great" are not BJCP criteria. They judge TO STYLE. If your beer doesn't 100% fit a style, it will lose points and score low.

23 is the only category where they judge the beer based solely on it's individual merits. 23 is also one of the only categories where you want to give the judges as much detail as possible, from your entire recipe to mash temps, hop schedule, etc. That's the only way to get good feedback, if the judges know what you were aiming for.

Just don't set the expectation that beers are scored on how they taste. I'm a very experimental brewer who has won a handful of "people's choice" awards in large beer competitions for how my beer tastes, but scored very meagerly in the BJCP judging. I have an award-winning midnight wheat/rye that's hopped to IPA levels that I just entered under 23 in a FL BJCP competition. In my opinion, it would score in the mid to high 20s under either the wheat or rye categories, but I would bet it will be in the 30s in category 23.

There is always going to be a bit of subjectivity in beer judging, just due to human nature, but the goal is to objectively judge the beers based on the defined criteria.

Good luck!

 

[reinstone]

Definitely 23.

"It's good" and "hoppy and great" are not BJCP criteria. They judge TO STYLE. If your beer doesn't 100% fit a style, it will lose points and score low.

23 is the only category where they judge the beer based solely on it's individual merits. 23 is also one of the only categories where you want to give the judges as much detail as possible, from your entire recipe to mash temps, hop schedule, etc. That's the only way to get good feedback, if the judges know what you were aiming for.

Just don't set the expectation that beers are scored on how they taste. I'm a very experimental brewer who has won a handful of "people's choice" awards in large beer competitions for how my beer tastes, but scored very meagerly in the BJCP judging. I have an award-winning midnight wheat/rye that's hopped to IPA levels that I just entered under 23 in a FL BJCP competition. In my opinion, it would score in the mid to high 20s under either the wheat or rye categories, but I would bet it will be in the 30s in category 23.

There is always going to be a bit of subjectivity in beer judging, just due to human nature, but the goal is to objectively judge the beers based on the defined criteria.

Good luck!

. How much info should I give for a classic style beer? Thanks

 

[TopherM]

If you are entering your Double IPA Rye in 23, give them as much detail as possible.

Anything you enter in the other pre-defined categories, you don't want to give any info at all, you just want them to judge it against the defined criteria.

Category 23 doesn't have defined criteria, so for that one, you really want to tell them everything you can so they can judge it against what you were going for.