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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> General Forum --> Chitchat --> Who's going out for National Homebrew Competion?

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AgedAardvark
SLC, UT
53 Posts


Not me!  Too new to the hobby, I'd be curious to hear what you guys are sending, and what your expectations are.  How you've done in the past, etc.



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


I signed up.

Not sure yet what I will enter, but have a few competition oriented recipes I am thinking of...

Just entered 3 beers, a blended bochet mead and a fruit cider in the Bluebonnet Brew Off as part of the Zealots. 

Beers will be a dubbel made with 'burned honey' instead of dark candy, a dark Mild, and soured saison.

Bluebonnet is notoriously difficult, so I don't expect a lot. I did very well score wise in the Dixie Cup last fall however - so encouraged that I 'might' have a shot at something.




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


When are the actual entries due?



Posted 34 days ago.

Matt
Charter Member
Normal, IL
341 Posts


Nope, not for me this year. Maybe next. My brewing calendar is filled up, and I would really want to dial in recipes for that. 



Posted 34 days ago.

tracebusta
Charter Member
Somerville, MA
155 Posts


I'm not sure when the entries are due, all I know is that the 17th of February is when they will let people know where they will be sending their beers for competition.

I won't be entering this year, though I should enter a competition at some point just to get some feedback on my brews.




Posted 34 days ago.

Matt
Charter Member
Normal, IL
341 Posts


I heard a pretty awesome blog has people doing beer reviews



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


Maybe. I haven't signed up yet, and I'm not sure if it's too late. If I get the full quota of two entries, then a Dark Mild for sure and then maybe an ordinary bitter. After last year's disaster, I might instead submit an Irish Red as the second beer instead, in an attempt at redemption.




Posted 34 days ago.

tracebusta
Charter Member
Somerville, MA
155 Posts


Matt - I know. I need to just send some beers out. I keep waiting until I get a beer that I deem worthy of sharing, but then I realized, "When will that be?" Everyone tends to be their own toughest critic and if I keep waiting for myself to make that "perfect" beer, I'll never send anything out. I do have a couple right now that might be worth sharing. The Scottish Heavy turned out pretty good, the berliner weisse with brett to eat up the butyric is pretty interesting. I used waaaay to much lime zest in the dry hop portion for my lime cream ale - no need to send that out to see where I went wrong with that. I'm hoping my coffee stout turns out good - the gravity sample was tasty, but also told me that my 090 crapped out on me. It stopped fermenting at 1.030. I threw some US-05 to try and finish it off.



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


Not trying to be snarky, but NHC is probably not a good comp for just feedback. If you have a great beer - then you should enter it, but if you want feedback, another competition may be a better choice.

I judged last year and the divide between good and great was tremendous. I personally judged 3 flights of 6 beers in one sitting... no way to provide even respectable feedback in that time allotment - this year the judging will be Queued Judging and use the Checklist scoresheets - not the usual ones. 

At least 2 beers submitted were undrinkable in the flights I judged. At least one nearly wrecked my palette for an hour. 




Posted 34 days ago.

tracebusta
Charter Member
Somerville, MA
155 Posts


Those are good points. Another reason I should hold off this year.



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


tracebusta - my brewing made a massive leap forward when I made friends with both professional brewers and accomplished homebrewers. Come at it humbly and ask for honest feedback - and don't be afraid of 'bad' comments, but also don't try to push too hard. Some of them don't want to give bad news or humiliate someone. It's best in a 1:1 situation (IMO) than at a club meeting.

I won't submit a beer unless I have had a few trusted friends take a shot at it. It takes some work and a lot of trust to get to that point.






Posted 34 days ago.

KidMoxie
Charter Member
San Elijo Hills, CA
405 Posts


I was one of the only like 80 entrants that didn't win the NHC lottery last year and didn't get to compete :( I'm guaranteed entry this year since I stewarded the comp so I hope to go big!

I've got a Schwarzbier I can enter, my German Pils, and the Vienna Lager should all be ready in time. I might enter some ciders, but we'll see :)




Posted 34 days ago.

Matt
Charter Member
Normal, IL
341 Posts


KidMoxie, award winning brewer of German Pilsner. Sounds like a good person to  be friends with



Posted 34 days ago.

AgedAardvark
SLC, UT
53 Posts


Hey Dad, here's the info page:  Registration is this week, first round shipping March 2-11.





Posted 34 days ago.

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