NHC / NHBC 2020

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Rob2010SS

Rob2010SS

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Haven't seen anything on this years National Homebrew Competition. My wife bought me a membership to the AHA this year for Christmas so I'm able to enter the competition this year and I'm hoping to enter 2 entries.

This will be my first judged competition.

In this competition, do the judges look for the use of crazy ingredients or flavors or do they really look for examples that nail the style to a "T"? How do you guys brew for this comp?

My last brown ale I feel is a spot on example of 13B: British Brown Ale. It's delicious and quite frankly, one of the best beers I think we've made to date. So I'm thinking of entering it but while I think it's delicious and nails the style, I guess I'm just curious as to what others' experiences have been when it comes to the feedback they get in this competition.
 
Nothing like making your first one what's probably the biggest in the country ;) Anyway, competitions are always about fitting the style guidelines as close as possible.
 
BrewMan13 said:
Nothing like making your first one what's probably the biggest in the country ;) Anyway, competitions are always about fitting the style guidelines as close as possible.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks! I've been thinking about using my brown ale and questioning if I should make it more "interesting" to appeal to the judges by adding something like coffee to it or some maple flavoring or something, or keep it as a brown ale, true to style and see how it does.

Anyone know if there's a way to view previous years entries and see what made it through first round?
 
Don't think you can see what made it past the first round, but you can see the winners on the AHA website. It has to be top notch though; I've seen posts on here of people not moving to round 2 even with a 40.
 
I've not entered NHC, and in general, have not entered a lot of competitions, but I'd encourage you to enter some others, either in addition to, or instead of NHC.

Most homebrew competitions provide you with good unbiased feedback on your beer and some opinions from a certified judge on how to improve it. This is in the form of comments on the score sheet. My understanding is that NHC is different in this regard. They typically provide minimal feedback since their main goal is to identify the top beers for the homebrewer of the year and ninkasi awards.

So, you are likely to get more out of entering a smaller competition. A good place to start for regional competitions is the MWHBOY circuit:
http://midwesthomebrewer.com/Circuit.aspx

Interestingly, the Schooner isn't listed on there. That's a good one to enter.
 
BrewMan13 said:
Don't think you can see what made it past the first round, but you can see the winners on the AHA website. It has to be top notch though; I've seen posts on here of people not moving to round 2 even with a 40.
Click to expand...

Yep. Past 3 years, scored 38, 38, 40 in the regionals. My 40 was pushed to mini-BOS but didn't advance beyond that.

I'm trying again this year though.
 
TallDan said:
I've not entered NHC, and in general, have not entered a lot of competitions, but I'd encourage you to enter some others, either in addition to, or instead of NHC.

Most homebrew competitions provide you with good unbiased feedback on your beer and some opinions from a certified judge on how to improve it. This is in the form of comments on the score sheet. My understanding is that NHC is different in this regard. They typically provide minimal feedback since their main goal is to identify the top beers for the homebrewer of the year and ninkasi awards.

So, you are likely to get more out of entering a smaller competition. A good place to start for regional competitions is the MWHBOY circuit:
http://midwesthomebrewer.com/Circuit.aspx

Interestingly, the Schooner isn't listed on there. That's a good one to enter.
Click to expand...

That's good advice. I think I will enter others in addition to the NHC. I really want to enter the NHC this year since it's now open to me. However, I do want the feedback so I think I'll take your advice and enter others.
 
Rob2010SS said:
I've been thinking about using my brown ale and questioning if I should make it more "interesting" to appeal to the judges by adding something like coffee to it or some maple flavoring or something, or keep it as a brown ale, true to style and see how it does.
Click to expand...

While there is nothing wrong with adding any adjuncts to this beer, just know that if you do, it is no longer to style as a brown ale. It would be a SHV beer (Spice, Herb, Vegetal), so you'd want to pop it in that category so that it could be judged appropriately.
 
Rob2010SS said:
Valid point. That would defeat the purpose of me entering this as a brown ale so I will not do that.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

No prob! Comps are always subjective and it isn't always an exact science, but I definitely recommend checking out the BJCP guidelines to help analyze your brews. Helps give you a better idea of what category would match it best.

As for the feedback in NHC, don't expect a ton. Scoresheets are modified and use descriptors on a slider scale with minimal room for comments. Helps judges rips through beers faster since each judging center usually has 700+ entries to plow through in a weekend. Not ideal, but first round is usually for vetting beers for the finals. It's not to say that you won't get some feedback, but I've found it's much more condensed when compared to a regular comp you might enter throughout the year.

Anyway, enough of my rambling :yes: Good luck on your entries! I just logged into the site today and saw I got the 4 I requested in Minneapolis, which is great considering everything is already fermenting away. Third year entering and got one to the finals last year, so crossing my fingers for at least another one!
 
BrewMan13 said:
Nothing like making your first one what's probably the biggest in the country ;) Anyway, competitions are always about fitting the style guidelines as close as possible.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it's the biggest homebrew competition globally. Last year there were over 9,000 entries.
 
Yeah, I got my notification as well - glad to be able to ship within the same state.
 
ba-brewer said:
I did not see anything specific that I said I got my first choice judging location. Can I assume that I got my requested 1st choice?
Click to expand...
It says it in the e-mail. If you are logged into the profile page, click on entry info and look at the competition officials... that will show where you are at.
 
I did get an email saying I was in and that I should pay but nothing about the judging location. I do see now that there is also a little thing at the top right corner under the login status that lists the region.
 
ba-brewer said:
I did get an email saying I was in and that I should pay but nothing about the judging location. I do see now that there is also a little thing at the top right corner under the login status that lists the region.
Click to expand...

Your judging location is listed in the acceptance email:

"Your 3 entry(s) have been accepted for submission to the "Indianapolis, IN", judge center. DO NOT USE A PHONE OR TABLET."
 
treacheroustexan said:
Your judging location is listed in the acceptance email:

"Your 3 entry(s) have been accepted for submission to the "Indianapolis, IN", judge center. DO NOT USE A PHONE OR TABLET."
Click to expand...
upload_2020-2-7_8-6-3.png
 
I hate to hijack the thread, but where does a New England IPA fit? I’m thinking as 34A - Clone Beer. Thoughts?
 
I didn't get my first choice judging center so i guess i'll be shipping to Kansas, haha. Oh well, still looking forward to seeing how my beers do.
 
RGB Brew said:
Thanks. But they sent out the 2015 guidelines to follow. This is 2018’s.
Click to expand...

New England IPA continued to get way more popular after the 2015 update, and we put out that guideline to make clear where people were supposed to put it after getting the question hundreds of times.
Enter it in 21B with the Specialty Information "New England IPA" or call it New England Session IPA or New England Double IPA if it is especially low or high in alcohol. You won't do well in Clone Beer.
 
I entered once. Comments lead me to believe they either got the wrong beers or the judges were nothing short of awful. Did not detect diacetyl in a beer that I and the three judges in my club picked up on instantly. Also called centennial blonde too hoppy and not the easy drinking, approachable beer expected for the style....this after my macro drinking friends said it was fantastic (and it's a proven recipe).

I won't enter again as I have zero confidence in the results. I've done some local comps where I got great feedback (and very high scores), so I'll just stick to that. Obviously not the prestige of the national comp, but based on my experience, there's a pretty big element of luck in that one. I don't have the patience to keep entering hoping for them not to screw things up.
 
TandemTails said:
I didn't get my first choice judging center so i guess i'll be shipping to Kansas, haha. Oh well, still looking forward to seeing how my beers do.
Click to expand...
I have sent mine to Kansas a couple times - they do a nice job and are among the best with quick turn around on results, score sheets, etc. It is a good place to send. They are always my first or second preference depending on what the other locations are.
 
Hwk-I-St8 said:
I entered once. Comments lead me to believe they either got the wrong beers or the judges were nothing short of awful. Did not detect diacetyl in a beer that I and the three judges in my club picked up on instantly. Also called centennial blonde too hoppy and not the easy drinking, approachable beer expected for the style....this after my macro drinking friends said it was fantastic (and it's a proven recipe).

I won't enter again as I have zero confidence in the results. I've done some local comps where I got great feedback (and very high scores), so I'll just stick to that. Obviously not the prestige of the national comp, but based on my experience, there's a pretty big element of luck in that one. I don't have the patience to keep entering hoping for them not to screw things up.
Click to expand...

I love how when judges give you high scores, the competition is great and the judges are awesome....

And when you get low scores the judges suck and the competition is poorly run.
 
I have had a few beers at non NHC that I wondered if bottles got switched, a couple even placed.

When I first started entering contests I would bottle an extra beer to sample when I got results, but got lazy and stopped. Then I got a couple bad reviews so started up again. A few weeks in a bottle can really change some beers.
 
AZ_IPA said:
I love how when judges give you high scores, the competition is great and the judges are awesome....

And when you get low scores the judges suck and the competition is poorly run.
Click to expand...

It wasn't the scores....it was completely missing diacetyl in an IPA. It was saying a very benign blonde ale (and proven recipe) was not the easy drinking approachable beer for the style. Either the beers they scored were not mine or they were completely clueless.

I was a steward that year, at the facility where my beers were judged. I saw multiple cases of mixed up beers and I saw judges who were asked to do too much and were burned out. At least at that facility, that year, scoring well was a crapshoot. I did get to sample some amazing beers though.....

You can think it's sour grapes all you want, but my IPA that was a diacetyl bomb scored a 34 which was easily 10-15 points above what it should have been. The blonde got a 27 based on characteristics that made zero sense.
 
dort.jpg

I am sampling this weekend too..... of course, I am always sampling :)
Dortmunder is making the cut for sure :mug:

My plan is to bottle later this week/next weekend.
Pack them up a week from tomorrow and ship a week from this Monday, on March 2nd.
 
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