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Congrats! Did you hang out for the Barrel Brew Championship and get a taste of the winning Berliner?
The 2016 NHC - Results/Speculation Thread
- Thread starter TobyG
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I didn't. Once I got a peek at the winners list and got my sheets, I headed home due to the weather. And due to the fact that I didn't want to stay overnight and had been up since 4am.
My WGV Bitter also went mini-BOS and had 4th written on it so that one just missed out apparently, the other two that previously won gold medals in the last two weeks (one of getting gold TWICE including a large category in a tough comp and MCAB qualification THE SAME DAY) got sh** scores and sheets (either no comments, or completely insane ones). And the third I knew was a crapshoot since it was judged as specialty. The National judge scored it alright. The other judge (who I judged with on my afternoon flight and knew from that he was a pompous tosser) gave it a horrible score without justification, and then they just averaged them. Same judge scored one of the other beers too. So three sheets I'm not happy about. But I'm used to it at this point.
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Just noticed you're from Arlington. That's a haul. Don't blame you for leaving, but Keystone put on a great party.
Sorry about the disappointments, but good that you got at least one through. It'll make Baltimore a lot more interesting (assuming you're going).
Sorry about the disappointments, but good that you got at least one through. It'll make Baltimore a lot more interesting (assuming you're going).
One would hope. I hope I'm not blindsided with a change after verification. So I can't say with 100% certainty that I'm through. But it is what it is.
So I hear. A few friends from the club down in Fredericksburg had gotten a hotel as they did the last couple years, and stuck around for it again. Said it was worth hanging around for. But I didn't want to chance it.
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
What were your scores on your entries? Curious as to what range one has to be in to have a shot at placing.
That really doesn't influence, as at NHC it almost always comes down to mini-BOS. I've scored low to mid 40s in the past and not advanced. My Bitter scored a 35 and my advancing Mild a 39.
The Wit and Irish Stout were 28 and 29 (meh, 35-40 elsewhere), and my Brett Red was 24. I got shafted on those three. If the last one wasn't 7 points apart and thus technically allowable (I try to never have more than 5 points spread, and ideally within 3 with other judges on my flights), I would complain. The judge who gave me a sh** score didn't justify why it was so low. His comments were more positive than the National judge.
My saving grace this time was I had a GM judge on my Mild flight. Every other time I enter a Mild anywhere, I get low ranking judges who NEVER do them justice.
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
What is the deadline for submitting second round entries? Anyone rebrewing for second round?
I'm rebrewing my Mild. No choice. Don't have any left. But I anticipated it and have the stuff on hand. I was going to brew tomorrow but ended up having to work. So at some point in the next week. Not sure what the deadline is, but usually some time in early May I believe?
If it's a Baltimore shipping location I can hopefully drive up and drop off on deadline day, and my Mild only needs a week in the fermenter and then carbs in the bottle in 5 days, so I have time.
If it's a Baltimore shipping location I can hopefully drive up and drop off on deadline day, and my Mild only needs a week in the fermenter and then carbs in the bottle in 5 days, so I have time.
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
this is my third competition entered. My first was a blow out but a good learning experience. The second was more successful with a saison scoring 39 but placing 4th (out of 7 so it's still not that great) I agree with good beers going overlooked due to inexperienced judges. I have a pale ale that has some great subtle characteristics but I know it will get lost in the shuffle so I will prob stick to the beers that have more in your face characteristice for the time being. I know that judging would be a hard thing to do tho. I can do a sample flight in a bar and get palate fatigue with that so I could imagine how tuff it could be to try and pick out the little things in beer as the day goes on.
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
I saved enough bottles to resubmit but in a night of heavy drinking I sent one bottle too many of an ipa I did home with a friend so if by chance I goes through I'm going to have to try and get one back (assuming it hasn't been drank) if it has well I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I guess I could rebrew but it would really be rushed so lesson learned I guess!
Depends on what you're judging. I had dark lagers yesterday afternoon. Small flights. Not particularly intense beers. We had a disagreement at mini-BOS, but easy to tell differences.
Porters in the morning were harder.
Judging strong ales and intense flavors (wood, spice/herb/vegetable, smoked, sours, Barleywine, RIS, IIPAs, etc) make it substantially harder especially on long flights.
Porters in the morning were harder.
Judging strong ales and intense flavors (wood, spice/herb/vegetable, smoked, sours, Barleywine, RIS, IIPAs, etc) make it substantially harder especially on long flights.
If you don't think you'll have time to wait for results, rebrew just in case. That's what I've done in the past.
Wayne1
Well-Known Member
Judged in Denver yesterday. All told, a very enjoyable experience. Most of the beers were very improved on what I have judged in past competitions.
The scores I gave were all in the low/mid 30s to low 40s. In previous years most were low/mid 20s. A 40 was almost unheard of.
For whatever reasons, 6 or so entries were disqualified because of bottle size and in a couple of cases, bottles were sent in with original labels still on them. I guess some folks don't care to read the rules or think rules don't apply to them
There were roughly 50 judges on hand at all times for 3 flights. No flight had over 8 beers. Low stress for judges and well organized.
I did judge IPAs. I do have to comment on all on the IPAs I judged did not have enough hop flavor or aroma. I did specialty IPA and double IPA. I am not sure if it is the time lag between entry deadline and judging or if people are cutting back on hops. But please, turn up the late hop and dry hops if you want to medal.
I have been a BJCP judge since 1987. I do have to say I am overjoyed to see the quality level of homebrew increase to what it is today.
The scores I gave were all in the low/mid 30s to low 40s. In previous years most were low/mid 20s. A 40 was almost unheard of.
For whatever reasons, 6 or so entries were disqualified because of bottle size and in a couple of cases, bottles were sent in with original labels still on them. I guess some folks don't care to read the rules or think rules don't apply to them
There were roughly 50 judges on hand at all times for 3 flights. No flight had over 8 beers. Low stress for judges and well organized.
I did judge IPAs. I do have to comment on all on the IPAs I judged did not have enough hop flavor or aroma. I did specialty IPA and double IPA. I am not sure if it is the time lag between entry deadline and judging or if people are cutting back on hops. But please, turn up the late hop and dry hops if you want to medal.
I have been a BJCP judge since 1987. I do have to say I am overjoyed to see the quality level of homebrew increase to what it is today.
Judged in Denver yesterday. All told, a very enjoyable experience. Most of the beers were very improved on what I have judged in past competitions.
The scores I gave were all in the low/mid 30s to low 40s. In previous years most were low/mid 20s. A 40 was almost unheard of.
For whatever reasons, 6 or so entries were disqualified because of bottle size and in a couple of cases, bottles were sent in with original labels still on them. I guess some folks don't care to read the rules or think rules don't apply to them
There were roughly 50 judges on hand at all times for 3 flights. No flight had over 8 beers. Low stress for judges and well organized.
I did judge IPAs. I do have to comment on all on the IPAs I judged did not have enough hop flavor or aroma. I did specialty IPA and double IPA. I am not sure if it is the time lag between entry deadline and judging or if people are cutting back on hops. But please, turn up the late hop and dry hops if you want to medal.
I have been a BJCP judge since 1987. I do have to say I am overjoyed to see the quality level of homebrew increase to what it is today.
This was my first time judging NHC. The caliber was higher than I see at regional competitions, I'll say that. Average of low 30s instead of high 20s. More high 30s and low 40s than I'm used to seeing. But we did have to give some low 20s and teens scores.
microbusbrewery
Senior Member
From the FAQ:
Q: When are the entries due for the Final Round?
A:*Anytime between Wednesday, May 18th and Friday, May 27, 2016.
Q: What is the shipping address for the Final Round?
A:*If your First Round entry is advancing to the Final Round, information on where and when to send Final Round entries will be included with your letter and certificate on the National Homebrew Competition website beginning May 4, 2016.
I judged in Philly Saturday as well, and it looks like I got my Belgian Dubbel through to finals. Made mini-BOS on 4 out of 5 (including a 41 Bock), but only got one through. Oh well, better one than none!
The Friday flights in Denver were extremely long, but only 1 flight that evening, so whatever. The Saturday flights were indeed much shorter.
Denver finished in 4 flights, Chicago in 5. Last I heard Nashville had 3 categories to go.
Denver finished in 4 flights, Chicago in 5. Last I heard Nashville had 3 categories to go.
2005STi
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How do you know that already? Insider information from judging?
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
When did you hear about nashville? Wondering When they might get to it. Sounds like it's another week of waiting...
Late last night, and I don't know WHICH flights, so perhaps they are small.
Yes. We were able to pick up our score sheets after judging on Saturday.
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I'm guessing lag time...since entries were due everywhere by March 9th, and Denver wasn't judged until April ~9th....
That's an extra month of sitting around which can obviously hurt IPA's (were entries stored cold in Denver for a month?). Especially if people were tasting them in early March to decide what to send.....you're looking at judging IPA's in mid April that were brewed in late January or early February...
I know the Philly entries were ICE cold. To the point that we had to let everything warm significantly before judging it. I assume they were stored cold.
Yes they were COLD, as was pulling them! Apparently the wine stored in that cooler needed to be super cold.
Looks like the comps over the weekend have all switched over to "Verifying".
Past experience says it will take at least a week for the results to be "verified" and posted, probably longer.
I also judged at the Philly competition on Saturday but was one of the lucky few who didn't get into my first (and only) competition site so I had to ship my beers to St. Louis to be judged.
The extra $30 in shipping costs made my "honorable mention" Rye IPA with 41 score even more of a kick in the nuts
Yea terrible, same deal here in California except round 1 judging is this weekend ugh. For the biggest best competition it has pretty terrible timelines for flavor/aroma hoppy beers. Makes more sense to enter anything but flavor/aroma hop beers into NHC.
Curious to see how my IPA does as it placed Second in the World Cup of Beer competition in California. It didn't sit for 5 weeks though like NHC.
This was posted on Facebook today:
I feel sorry for the organizers and the entrants. Hopefully AHA will prevent this from happening next year.
EDIT - these are the categories yet to be judged, Strong Ale, Belgian Strong, Spice/Herb/Veg
I feel sorry for the organizers and the entrants. Hopefully AHA will prevent this from happening next year.
EDIT - these are the categories yet to be judged, Strong Ale, Belgian Strong, Spice/Herb/Veg
surgical_ass
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that sucks. Sounds like some real issues there. Assuming this could be the last straw for nashville.
Cytorunner
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I doubt it, they have had these issues for several years. I am sure that the organizers and volunteers work very hard but they are the only site that consistently takes 2-3 weeks to complete.
surgical_ass
Well-Known Member
Well I guess I will learn to live w it since its so convienent to drop off. Best thing they could do is push the judge date to the first group to allow time for rebrews when things like this happen.
I guess the one thing I would say is (and this is my guess) that even though Nashville has had problems the last couple years finishing up, it seems to me that perhaps no one else is volunteering to host. It has to be a tremendous amount of work and organization. I would be curious if the AHA gets much of a list of clubs eager to take on the job. It is too bad that they struggle each year, but if no one else is volunteering to fill the role...... it is what it is.
Also from what I heard on the AHA forum, they farmed out the Mead and cider entries to Indy.
I'm sure the organizers and volunteers are working as hard as they can but it seems like they don't have the support locally to pull this off. My hope is next year they will chose a different site in the same region, Asheville or Florida/Georgia, maybe. There may be the same issues there but we won't know until it is tried.
I bet they'll be posted on Friday. The results this year have been posted on the Friday following the judging. Janis is training a replacement so there's an extra pair of eyes helping with the verification. Granted there were 4 regions this past weekend, but the one with 3 regions will still posted on the following Friday.
With the change of the COTY rules, I think those dicks who boo during the banquet will get their wish and not have the BN win it.
I will laugh if they still do though!
mbbransc
Well-Known Member
So far, the most heavily entered category is 25 (Specialty) averaging 62.8 entries.
1. Cat 25 - Specialty (62.8)
2. Cat 17 - IPA (35.2)
3. Cat 21 - Belgian Strong (33.6)
4. Cat 16 - American IPA (32.2)
5. Cat 24 - Spice/Herb/Veggie (29.8)
6t.Cat 19 - Belgian & French (29.0)
6t.Cat 15 - Strong Stout (29.0)
8. Cat 10 - American Pale Ale (26.6)
9t.Cat 13 - Porter (25.4)
9t.Cat 14 - Stout (25.4)
1. Cat 25 - Specialty (62.8)
2. Cat 17 - IPA (35.2)
3. Cat 21 - Belgian Strong (33.6)
4. Cat 16 - American IPA (32.2)
5. Cat 24 - Spice/Herb/Veggie (29.8)
6t.Cat 19 - Belgian & French (29.0)
6t.Cat 15 - Strong Stout (29.0)
8. Cat 10 - American Pale Ale (26.6)
9t.Cat 13 - Porter (25.4)
9t.Cat 14 - Stout (25.4)
I had one beer go through, but I wont be re-brewing, its a Lager, just wouldn't make sense. Luckily, the last 3 bottles in existence are in my fridge waiting to go to Baltimore. We are also hoping the location is close enough to drive the entries up rather than shipping them, as long as it is anywhere near Baltimore, it should be OK...
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