my beer was in a competition...

[bzwyatt]

I brewed a Belgian blond from extract/specialty grains, entered it in a BJCP competition at the Antelope Valley Fair, won first in Belgian ale category and reserve best in show!
It was the first thing I made after a few MrBeer kits... I hopefully will get the score sheets eventually, from the Fair organization. Oh my Dunkelweizen won third in rye/wheat category too. Overall did pretty good, especially for being a pretty new brewer.
Thanks for all the info from you guys, learning more every day.

 

[JackRussel]

Awesome results! Congrats.

 

[Zuljin]

 

[mpc88]

congratulations, man!!!

 

[stinkmuis]

 

[bzwyatt]

Thanks a lot!

 

[Pratzie]

Congrats dude!

 

[bzwyatt]

So I just got feedback from another competition I entered three beers in.

One was a blonde ale I made. Got a 27, did ok. I talk about it here - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/been-islands-how-do-you-clone-beer-434820/

I also entered an IPA I made that I really love. It is the second batch of a recipe I made and it was awesome. On the second batch I added a little malt, boiled for longer and added a little hops. It is a fantastic beer, IMO.

It got a 17.5! I didn't expect a really high score, but man at least in the 30s... the feedback makes me wonder if they got the right beer! But it was judged by two judges and one of them said a couple things about it that are distinctive of my beer. The other judge described a totally different beer, seems like. I don't really mind that they didn't like it, not too much... I'm not heart-broken... but the feedback is so far off that I can't really use it to make my beer better. They said it seemed infected and I've had some from the same batch and it isn't. I submitted the bottles I felt best about not having any problems too, so I don't know what happened.

Biggest lesson for me... competitions can be unpredictable.

I got a 46 with an extract brew, my first beer after 3 or 4 MrB kits, in a MrB LBK. 46!

A year later, my crowning acheivement thus far gets a 17.5.

Ouch!

 

[TheMan]

I stopped entering competitions a while ago for pretty much this reason. Ive sent in the same beer to multiple competitions and gotten such varied feedback that it felt worthless.

Even had the same thing as you, had two judges in the same competition write completely opposing critiques. One would say for example, "too hoppy, needs more balance". The other would say, "more hops would balance this out".

It was after a few times of having this happen that I decided the competitions are not providing anything to help me brew better beer.

You can email the judge. Usually they include an email address. Maybe the judge can clarify?

 

[JohnSand]

Just reading this thread. Congrats for your BOS on the first competition. Sorry about your confusing results. I recently was in my first competition, with decent results, but also some confusion. One judge said that my Irish Red had "hot alcohol flavor". Neither the other judge nor anyone else tasted that. Both judges found my Belgian cloudy or murky, which I do not. I can only attribute that to rough handling at the event. I still got good feedback, and disregarded the odd remark. I also plan to submit to other events, we'll see about consistency.
I have had some infected bottles in an otherwise good batch, even in craft beer.