Which Contests to Enter?

[AlexKay]

So, the AHA has a list of all of their sanctioned competitions. My question is, is it good manners to only enter local competitions, or is it totally ok to ship beer across the country for evaluation and judging?

So for instance, I'm in Indiana, and obviously feel fine about competing at the Indiana State Fair. But ... what about the Wisconsin State Fair? The California Craft Brewer's Cup? Is it unfair, weird, or otherwise Not Done to enter these? It seems a little weird; what if, for instance, all of the medal winners in the New South Brew Off are Yankees? Would people get mad? Can people with experience (either entering, judging, or organizing local competitions) weigh in?

 

[shetc]

You can enter any competition you want. We just finished our Coconut Cup here in Miami. We always get a chuckle from winners who have sent entries from unexpected places.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The competition web site will have entry criteria. I would anticipate that state fair competitions would be limited to residents of that state.

 

[Sammy86]

Send them to whoever will accept them! I'm in CT and have sent them to CA, FL, VA, MN, TX, NY and NJ.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I agree with the other responses. As long as there are not specific restrictions on entry it is generally encouraged for people to submit beers from other states.

Shipping is another matter. I sent a few entries to an out of state competition at the end of 2019. I forget the shipping price, but it was something like $30 for FedEx ground plus another $30 in entry fees. I recall 2-day shipping being quite a bit more. I have to wonder how my beers riding around in the back of a truck for a few days hurts the quality.

(That said...I planned to enter beer in a sorta local competition next month and just spent $300 for 2 nights for a hotel room to go down there for weekend!)

 

[passedpawn]

You can enter any competition you want. We just finished our Coconut Cup here in Miami. We always get a chuckle from winners who have sent entries from unexpected places.

I entered beers a long time ago to that (through my local club, Dunedin Brewers Guild). Can't remember if I won anything. I used to have a pile of ribbons/medals, but sadly threw them all away during a cleaning.

I had a lot of fun entering local comps. The national ones weren't nearly as much fun (but more stressful).

 

[jdauria]

Definitely you can send anywhere...thought there are some comps that in the rules will state "for residents of X only"...for just brewers in the local state...but those are few and far between. I do a lot of comps as my club as a "medal in each state" goal, so just this year alone I have shipped beers from Mass to TX, NV, CA, LA, NJ, MO, WY, CO (Nationals, where 1 of my 2 made medal round), OK, MD, IN and just today shipped a couple out to Wisconsin for the State Fair. Besides the AHA site, this is another good link for comps...https://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_schedule/competition_schedule.php