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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> General Forum --> Chitchat --> A BrewUnited competition?

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chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


I don't think the hoppy/balanced/malty thing works. Part of the reason judging works with judges of all levels is that judges are assigned a flight, and they can set their minds to what they are looking for in (narrow) categories.

For the BOS, it works because it has been winnowed to the best examples already, then judged by the top-ranked judges, who can drop their focus on style/process faults and scores, and shift their focus on how the beer hits the essence of its stated style and its overall enjoyability. I don't see how you can expect to judge a whole comp like this unless you've lined up a ton of BJCP master-level judges, or it's just going to be a popularity contest. Judging at comps is uneven enough as it is.

I also think providing a Chopped TV show-style basket won't work for this reason.

It's your comp, Olan, and you should own it. Two ideas to do so (I'm repeating this):

1. Limit it to a style category or two that you like (English Ales, Amber beers, etc.); or

2. Pick some of the new styles out of the 2015 style guidelines and own those. I like four categories: Specialty IPA (white, brown, black, Belgian, etc.), Australian Sparking Ale, English Summer Ale, and historical ales (KY Common, PA Swankey, Grodziskie, Albany Ale, S. English Brown, Mumme, etc.) This may be limiting at first, but BU will be the premier place to compete in those categories.




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Thanks for the feedback, guys.  I am considering it, I am.

Incidentally... I just got confirmation for a judge to run the third (and assumed to be final) judging location.  So I'm still excited.




Posted 34 days ago.

testingapril
Charter Member
Atlanta, GA
595 Posts


You should be excited! Launching a comp with the new site is a big deal!





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Thanks, I am pretty pumped!

Sponsor #5 just signed on.




Posted 34 days ago.

Necropaw
Charter Member
Central WI
608 Posts


So charter members get to enter for free, right? :)




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Plblblblb






Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


One other thing to throw into the mix... can we limit the entries to make the first run and organization of this feasible? Strike a limit on each category - perhaps 1 entry per site or category - which means additional costs in shipping of course. I am going to have to carefully shift entries from my limited cold storage to other judges with similar capacity. Texas laws have made using a brewery difficult for this kind of thing completely segregating commercial and homebrew in a facility... so I need to find a place that will let me store cold and setup judging away from any tap room/pub/bar setting.

No cider or mead. Correct?

I think I can pull several BJCP judges and several experienced judges together. That said - dealing with 100 entries in a weekend with a small team will be very hard. When we run the Inquisition, which often sorts out into this same format - we have between 40-60 judges (assorted) and handle about 180 entries. It takes at least two long days of judging to complete. There is always a theme category - last year's was "Smell the Glove" and it ruined me for several hours - seriously difficult - but has a special award. Bluebonnet and Dixie manage about 1200+ entries but have nearly 100 judges and volunteers... not sure I can wrangle that scale.

On the style side - maybe stick with the theme, but limited to APA/IPA (hoppy), British Pales/Bitter (balanced), Scottish Ales (Malty)? You could swap out the specific styles next year with more consideration...




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by mchrispen

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