National Homebrew Competition 2019

[chuckthebutcher]

If you entered a beer that ages well, you can send more bottles of the same beer if you have it, otherwise would need to rebrew. When my Schwarzbier advanced two years ago, I took judge comments from other comps it was in and used that to tweak the next batch. Went from a 38 in first round to a 41, but did not place.

yeah I would rebrew most styles. 2 years ago, my IPA got 3rd in the region and my amber lager got first. I rebrewed the IPA and it placed first in the nation and I did not rebrew the lager, thinking a lager would age better, however the lager did not place at all in the finals. Good luck to everyone in this years comp and let's hope we make it past the first round!

 

[chrilr]

NYC and SF posted

 

[Birdskull]

Placed 1st in one category. *smiles stupidly*

 

[yeastseeker]

wtf. My brett saison beer entered in the 28A American wild category got dinged for not having American hop character. Per the judge "since it's entered in the American wild category it should have American hop character"
I have never heard this and its not in the style description at all....

 

[ccous]

wtf. My brett saison beer entered in the 28A American wild category got dinged for not having American hop character. Per the judge "since it's entered in the American wild category it should have American hop character"
I have never heard this and its not in the style description at all....

Yeah, that’s lame. It does not have to. Unless you describe it as a wild pale/ipa, the style has a wide interpretation

 

[treacheroustexan]

Did the judge list an email? I’d definitely reach out to them and at least clarify so they research styles a little more first...

 

[mwilcox]

wtf. My brett saison beer entered in the 28A American wild category got dinged for not having American hop character. Per the judge "since it's entered in the American wild category it should have American hop character"
I have never heard this and its not in the style description at all....

let me just say that my life got a lot less stressful when I realized the judging was a ****-show and that luck was a big part of it. I would agonize over what to enter, spend hours trying to idiot-proof them, and while mostly successful, there have been so many WTH moments in either the First Round or Finals that I've stopped caring. The best beer I ever made received the lowest score I have ever gotten, 14.5 points, in the First Round, a year after I medalled in the same style. Sometimes the judges are wrong.

Gordon Strong had some amazing results but even he assumed 1/3 of his entries would make the Finals. When I asked him how often the feedback made him roll his eyes, the answer was "99%". And Gordon never had a real entry limit, while the last 6 years it has been either 4 or 5 per year.

I know none of this makes you feel better; sorry your judges weren't better. How was the rest of the scoresheet?

 

[brewmasterbryan]

Anyone have any insight on the Minneapolis region? Still waiting for results to post, but saw SF and NY posted yesterday and held judging the same weekend as Minne. Last year, Minneapolis posted fairly quick (within 7 days from judging anyway).

I didn't make the cut last year, which was my first year entering. After brewing a ton, refining recipes, and having a decent 1st year of competing in 2018, the wait for these results is killing me this year!

 

[chuckthebutcher]

Anyone have any insight on the Minneapolis region? Still waiting for results to post, but saw SF and NY posted yesterday and held judging the same weekend as Minne. Last year, Minneapolis posted fairly quick (within 7 days from judging anyway).

I didn't make the cut last year, which was my first year entering. After brewing a ton, refining recipes, and having a decent 1st year of competing in 2018, the wait for these results is killing me this year!

I am wondering same thing. MN region has had an online status of "verifying results" since last Tuesday the 26th. However, I only got an email saying my entries had been judged 2 days ago. Maybe they had to judge a few the following weekend and thus are taking longer to get the results up? Just my thoughts.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I am wondering same thing. MN region has had an online status of "verifying results" since last Tuesday the 26th. However, I only got an email saying my entries had been judged 2 days ago. Maybe they had to judge a few the following weekend and thus are taking longer to get the results up? Just my thoughts.

My beers were judged on Saturday and I got that same email. I think it may have just been a mass email to everyone who had entries in the first two weekends.

 

[brewmasterbryan]

I got the same email on the 2nd as well, so that could be the case. I did hear they were a bit short on volunteers, but I would've thought the status would've sat at "Judging" if they were still truly judging entries, yet it changed to "Verifying Results" a day or two after the last judging date. Made me think they were actually done at that point.

Oh well - hoping they post by the end of this weekend!

 

[mwilcox]

let me just say that my life got a lot less stressful when I realized the judging was a ****-show and that luck was a big part of it. I would agonize over what to enter, spend hours trying to idiot-proof them, and while mostly successful, there have been so many WTH moments in either the First Round or Finals that I've stopped caring. The best beer I ever made received the lowest score I have ever gotten, 14.5 points, in the First Round, a year after I medalled in the same style. Sometimes the judges are wrong.

Gordon Strong had some amazing results but even he assumed 1/3 of his entries would make the Finals. When I asked him how often the feedback made him roll his eyes, the answer was "99%". And Gordon never had a real entry limit, while the last 6 years it has been either 4 or 5 per year.

I know none of this makes you feel better; sorry your judges weren't better. How was the rest of the scoresheet?

also, when I told Gordon about the American Wild scoresheet, his tongue-in-cheek reply was that the style should have American Wild Hop character - no domesticated hops.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I sent the association a tweet just to see if they have an estimate on when more results will be posted. I’ll report back if they tell me anything.

 

[Pintabone]

Anyone know if Philly completed the judging over the weekend?

 

[brewmasterbryan]

I sent the association a tweet just to see if they have an estimate on when more results will be posted. I’ll report back if they tell me anything.

Any word from them at all? Really hoping that we'll get some news here from the Minneapolis region within the next day or two.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Any word from them at all? Really hoping that we'll get some news here from the Minneapolis region within the next day or two.

No word yet but hopeful I hear back today. It’s been what, almost 3 weeks since MN?

 

[brewmasterbryan]

No word yet but hopeful I hear back today. It’s been what, almost 3 weeks since MN?

I think we're technically on day 14 from the day judging was originally supposed to conclude (March 24th), so sitting at two weeks. The other two regions that judged the same weekend were posted a week ago though, so I was hopeful last week that Minneapolis would've been posted by the weekend.

I did read in the homebrewing sub on Reddit that I guess there was a lack of volunteers for the Minneapolis region this year and that judging went into the following week after it was supposed to conclude, so that explains the delay. Like I mentioned above though, I'd have thought the status would've still been at "Judging" if that were the case, but it seemed to switch over to verification pretty quick.

Probably getting antsy for nothing though, but eager to see where I fell so that if by the stroke of luck I did advance, then I'd have some time to brew up a few various batches before sending out to the finals

 

[surgical_ass]

Anyone have any info on Tampa? Judging was this weekend .Wonder if they got it all done?

 

[treacheroustexan]

Anyone have any info on Tampa? Judging was this weekend .Wonder if they got it all done?

I saw a few pictures of the judging in Tampa from yesterday. Looks as if they got it done

 

[mwilcox]

Tampa and Milwaukee finished, and I'm sure San Diego did.

 

[chuckthebutcher]

I think we're technically on day 14 from the day judging was originally supposed to conclude (March 24th), so sitting at two weeks. The other two regions that judged the same weekend were posted a week ago though, so I was hopeful last week that Minneapolis would've been posted by the weekend.

I did read in the homebrewing sub on Reddit that I guess there was a lack of volunteers for the Minneapolis region this year and that judging went into the following week after it was supposed to conclude, so that explains the delay. Like I mentioned above though, I'd have thought the status would've still been at "Judging" if that were the case, but it seemed to switch over to verification pretty quick.

Probably getting antsy for nothing though, but eager to see where I fell so that if by the stroke of luck I did advance, then I'd have some time to brew up a few various batches before sending out to the finals

The communication from the AHA around this event is always less than ideal. It would be nice if they could give out location specific updates so the contestants wouldn't have to refresh their emails for days on end expecting to see results. Delays happen but it is the not knowing why or when that sucks the most. I remember a few years ago, Nashville dragged on for weeks and no one had any idea on when they would see the results, and it was very frustrating. I guess we should just RDWHAHB.

 

[bob1852]

If you volunteer to judge and/or steward a regional event, you'll not only know if they finished, but you'll sometimes know the winners, too....

Keep in mind that most of this is done by volunteers who have real lives too...

 

[kingmatt]

Anyone know if Philly completed the judging over the weekend?

No, they had to schedule an additional judging session for this coming Saturday (4/13) and are hoping to have it all finished up then.

 

[pedrobot]

Anyone have any info on Tampa? Judging was this weekend .Wonder if they got it all done?

It's funny... my non-brewer friends are always saying they don't have the patience to brew and wait weeks for a beer, but that's not a problem for me (even bottle conditioning). Waiting on NHC results every year, though, is another story... I can't deal at all.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I guess we get spoiled with our homebrewing community in Cleveland. We received notification that they didn't need anymore judges/stewards and already had more than enough. Good problem to have though looking at the other cities!

 

[user 21663]

I just hope all the people that are verifying results aren't at CBC in Denver

 

[Braufessor]

A bunch of sites are now posted... I think all of them that have judged actually. My Dortmunder and British Dark Mild made it through in Milwaukee. Glad to sneak a couple in.

 

[Braufessor]

@mwilcox ..... Looks like a fine showing in Denver!

 

[brewmasterbryan]

Nice to finally see the results for Minneapolis post tonight. Took 3rd in American IPA, which I am stoked about. Here's to brewing a few batches to prep for the finals

Congrats to everyone else who made it as well!

 

[treacheroustexan]

Congrats everyone! I didn’t make it through this year, but still excited to see what my scores were.