National Homebrew Club Ireland

General Discussions => Brewing Communities => Capital Brewers => Topic started by: Shane Phelan on September 17, 2013, 12:28:53 PM

Title: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 17, 2013, 12:28:53 PM
This is our club competition for the "Summer Session Beer Finals (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3116.0.html)".

Location:
W J Kavanaghs, Dorset Street, Dublin 1

Date:
Tuesday 24th September

Start time:
7.00pm (Entrants should aim to have their beers registered before this time)

Protocol:
All new members welcome
If you have some brews for tasting, bring along ~1 Litre of each, as this is a competition this month, we will be tasting any "non competition" beers after the competition around 9/10pm.
To show some thanks to our hosts for allowing us to drink homebrewed beers in their pub, it is customary to buy some drinks from the house. Not difficult given the great selection on offer!

We are going to get someone who isn't entering on the night to give each of the beers a number in the fridge where they are stored, only they will know what number corresponds to which beer and who owns it. As each beer is served, they will be very gently decanted into a pitcher first to ensure that the bottles can't be identified and that no one is left with dregs of yeast either.

We will hand out a couple of score sheets to everyone there, which should be enough for all the entries. Once the flight is done the numbers will go into an excel document which will take an average score for each entrant. The top beers will be selected to go though to the next round.

In terms of entry form, the steward on the night will only need two things from entrants, name and ABV. We will talk about recipes/styles/thoughts after the initial tasting which should only take two hours max. The main thing I want to avoid is people going "Oh this is XXXXX's beer so it must be good/bad etc.." which would skew the results.

Cost:
Free

Organiser/Contact:
Shiny (Shane),  Dr. Jacoby (Peter)

Note this is not the normal beer tasting procedure and is only happening this month for the competition. We will go back to our regular format for future tastings.

Entrant Responsibilities
•   This competition is for full members only, you can become a full member by following the information in this link  (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2541.0.html)
•   Your beer must be below 4% ABV before bottling to qualify for entry
•   You need two 500ml or three 330ml bottles of beer to enter this round
•   Upon arrival find the steward and get your beer registered
•   Inform the steward of your name and the ABV of your beer(s)
•   Ensure you have an additional two 500ml or three 330ml bottles of beer should you progress to the final (Set these aside at home just in case!)

Judge Responsibilities (Further clarification on the night)
•   Record Beer number and ABV for each beer as it is distributed by pitcher
•   Consult the theme and score the beer appropriately
•   The "Fit theme" will allow the judge to express how well they feel the beer fits the theme
•   After scoring the judge should add the scores and double check their values
•   Please keep feedback constructive and don't slate anyone's pride and joy!
•   If the water is low or dregs bucket full, take the initiative and fill/empty them yourself

Steward Responsibilities
•   Assign numbers randomly, name and ABV to beers as they are received onto a laptop
•   Put all beers in fridge assigned by Kavanagh's staff
•   Gently fill pitcher with two bottles of each
•   Affix masking tape with current beer number and ABV to pitcher
•   Empty and rinse pitcher between each beer
•   Only the main steward is allowed behind the bar to get the beers [Kavanagh's will be strict about this]
•   Assistant Stewards: Your main opportunity to help will be adding up all the scores at the end


Miscellaneous Preparation
•   Empty pitcher (Supplied by Kavanagh's)
•   10 - 15 Empty glasses (Supplied by Kavanagh's)
•   2 or 3  bottles of water (Supplied by Kavanagh's)
•   Two empty mayonnaise buckets (Supplied by Kavanagh's)
•   Space in fridge for 20-30 bottles
•   Masking tape & Markers to affix "Current" number onto pitcher
•   Print outs of score sheets
•   Laptop with Excell Sheet for scoring, names, ABV and number
•   Bottle opener for steward
•   Talk to CARA about beer fridge location or if it's necessary at all
•   Crackers
•   Tables, sizes, chairs, and a final number on the amount of people attending



Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Padraic on September 17, 2013, 01:43:16 PM
Great work lads!

I'll be there on the night, I have a beer that I will taste between now and then before i decide wether I'm enterng it or not!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 17, 2013, 01:43:45 PM
If you don't end up entering it, would you like to be a Steward?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Damien M on September 17, 2013, 01:58:44 PM
As a Midlander-blow-in (from the last meet) it would be a bit cheeky for me to enter, but if all were agreeable and to keep it impartial . I don't mind stewarding. I think can even bring a co-steward!

Damun

Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: irish_goat on September 17, 2013, 01:59:35 PM
Quote from: shiny on September 17, 2013, 12:28:53 PM•   Your beer must be equal to or below 4% ABV after bottling to qualify for entry

I think it was decided that it had to be <4% before bottling so that people didn't need to worry about calculating extra ABV from priming.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Padraic on September 17, 2013, 02:05:21 PM
Quote from: DaMun on September 17, 2013, 01:58:44 PM
As a Midlander-blow-in (from the last meet) it would be a bit cheeky for me to enter, but if all were agreeable and to keep it impartial . I don't mind stewarding. I think can even bring a co-steward!

Damun

I say enter away, we'll have someone floating around who hasn't entered.

I have no problem stewarding if I don't enter! (Most likely won't be entering!)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 17, 2013, 02:10:36 PM
Cool thanks Tom I have now fixed it above to reflect that.

Yeah Damien, that's fine. If you are entering a beer then you wouldn't have to do any stewarding. I'm hoping to avoid the situation where a steward has also entered a beer to keep it as impartial as possible. That said, if we don't get any non entrant volunteers for the position then we could be forced to do it.  ::)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: CARA on September 17, 2013, 04:05:04 PM
I won't be entering as my beer suffered the effects of a high fermentation temp. Shiny please PM me details of organisationally duties from the pubs point of view please. I'm happy to volunteer as one of the judges on the night.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 17, 2013, 04:11:36 PM
No problem CARA, I have modified the list now to reflect that. I have tried to limit the amount of stuff we need from Kavanagh's to be the least amount of burden as possible but I will PM you either way with my concerns.

BTW I was going to suggest that anyone who wants to judge, can be a judge regardless if they have entered their own beer.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Hop Bomb on September 18, 2013, 09:59:34 AM
Quote from: shiny on September 17, 2013, 02:10:36 PM
Cool thanks Tom I have now fixed it above to reflect that.

Yeah Damien, that's fine. If you are entering a beer then you wouldn't have to do any stewarding. I'm hoping to avoid the situation where a steward has also entered a beer to keep it as impartial as possible. That said, if we don't get any non entrant volunteers for the position then we could be forced to do it.  ::)

That correction on the sub 4% never saved on your edit Shiny. Galway comp thread now has the incorrect abv guidelines on it too as it was a copy & paste.

Cheers for setting the template for the comp. It all looks great. fair play!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 18, 2013, 10:02:34 AM
It did save....."4% before bottling" is correct isn't it? Because after bottling it could technically be as high as 4.3%?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Hop Bomb on September 18, 2013, 10:04:10 AM
It still reads " Your beer must be equal to or below 4% ABV before bottling to qualify for entry"  :)
It was sub 4% I thought before bottling?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 18, 2013, 10:10:40 AM
Oh I wasn't even looking at the "equal to" to be honest. I will remove it to prevent any confusion in that case.

I want to make sure to get it right as we are going to use this as a template for any single style competitions in the future.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Hop Bomb on September 18, 2013, 10:14:48 AM
Its perfect man. Again, fair play for setting that template.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 18, 2013, 10:16:15 AM
No problem dude! Enjoyed the process to be honest.  :)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ash on September 18, 2013, 01:06:12 PM
I'll be a steward if needed. Although I probably won't be able to make it up until just before 7 I'd say.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: CARA on September 18, 2013, 06:40:56 PM
Ah go on sure ill enter something-it's defo not a winner but won't kill the judges either!!!!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Dr Jacoby on September 18, 2013, 06:57:15 PM
Nice one!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Rossa on September 18, 2013, 07:16:55 PM
I might have 3. I'll do a taste test to see. can't make the event though as I have to work.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Damien M on September 18, 2013, 10:58:03 PM
I won't be entering. So canhelp steward.. and have CentraIs Logoed glasses. Perhaps for a first use, if their owners don't mind?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 19, 2013, 09:59:13 AM
Try to add/amend your name to these lists as to whether you are attending or entering. We need to have a good idea on numbers for both the competition and number of seats overall.

Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 3 Entries
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 2 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. brenmurph - 3 Entries
09. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic
02. DaMun
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ash on September 19, 2013, 10:16:18 PM
Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 3 Entries
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 2 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. brenmurph - 3 Entries
09. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic
02. DaMun
03. Ash
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: ferg on September 21, 2013, 12:15:45 PM
Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 3 Entries
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 2 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. brenmurph - 3 Entries
09. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic
02. DaMun
03. Ash
04. Fergal
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: CARA on September 21, 2013, 10:26:48 PM

Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 3 Entries
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 2 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. brenmurph - 3 Entries
09. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic
02. DaMun
03. Ash
04. Fergal
05. CARA
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Rossa on September 22, 2013, 12:33:51 AM
Careful now.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Dr Jacoby on September 22, 2013, 09:15:14 AM
I'm not happy with any of the beers I had planned to enter, but rather than withdraw them all I'll pick the best of a bad bunch and enter that one. If nothing else I'll be able to test whether I can detect the off flavour on the night.   

Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 1 Entry
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 2 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. brenmurph - 3 Entries
09. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic
02. DaMun
03. Ash
04. Fergal
05. CARA
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: brenmurph on September 22, 2013, 08:31:44 PM
I want to send up a couple coz I cant get there on Tuesday, my busiest  evening at work and my busiest month of the year,
If anyone who is goin to the comp happens to be down around kildare, naas direction or heading back the M7 and can pick up a couple of bottles for the comp please let me know....(few nice homebrews as a thank you)
Just mentioning in case someone is passing close by.....

Also does anyone know what the car parking arrangement would be to get to kavanaghs without having to walk a mile from a city carpark?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ciderhead on September 22, 2013, 08:41:17 PM
Parking round the back or on street opposite.


Sent from my divining rod v2.0
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ciderhead on September 22, 2013, 08:55:46 PM
Bren why are you trotting your entries all the way up to Capital brewers comp? each local club has the right to submit 2-3 entries for this comp, can you not just submit yours as part of Kildares entry, assuming none of your other Kildare members have an entry?


Sent from my divining rod v2.0
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: brenmurph on September 22, 2013, 09:01:44 PM
Hiya Cider....
long story...sorta promised capitals id send one or two up but as it is the night is impossible to get to. I wanted to enter for the craic and to make up numbers and so on. i asked a while back because it seemed as liffeyers wernt having a comp whereas capital and a couple of others were.

Im aware I can send up on behalf of Kildare region. Many of the beers i have on stock as brewed on one of our many brewdays and  can be entered as a group effort I suppose.

If Capitals have enough entries to make a night of it all the better, I just feel a bit guilty as my name was down on the list and dont want to let anyone down after I promised, but gettin the brew up there is a challenge.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ciderhead on September 22, 2013, 09:30:51 PM
They have 11 before yours I'd submit it as a Kildare entry!


Sent from my divining rod v2.0
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: brenmurph on September 22, 2013, 09:39:38 PM
11 is a gud number, im sure theyll have a potential winner or two between them. Ill message shiny bout it,  :)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ciderhead on September 22, 2013, 09:41:23 PM
Actually Kildare entries might beat them in the final:)


Sent from my divining rod v2.0
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 22, 2013, 09:42:24 PM
Go for it Bren, the more clubs that enter the better.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Ciderhead on September 22, 2013, 09:55:23 PM
Go for it as a Kildare entry:)


Sent from my divining rod v2.0
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: brenmurph on September 22, 2013, 10:20:14 PM
ok Shiny...is there a date set for the finals yet? ill have to put it on my calender.. hopefully it can not be a midweek unless its handy to get to on a bus :)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 23, 2013, 08:50:15 AM
No idea when exactly the actual final is but Rossa's original thread did specify early October, he might have more precise information that hasn't been announced yet.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 23, 2013, 08:31:58 PM
Updated Rossa's entries and I think Bren is entering via Liffey/Kildare. I have enough sheets (20 judges) printed so that everyone can judge on the night regardless of whether you have entered or not.

Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 1 Entry
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 3 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 3 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic [Steward]
02. DaMun [Assistant Steward]
03. Ash [Assistant Steward]
04. Fergal
05. CARA
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Cathal O D on September 23, 2013, 10:10:29 PM
Im only going to have 2 enteries. One had to pull out after failing a last minute fitness/taste test.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 23, 2013, 10:31:55 PM
Updated. I have also added a provisional excel file for the steward to use. The idea is that once the names are entered he can generate new random numbers, sort by largest/smallest and then serve in that order. 

Current list of Entrants
01. Shiny - 1 Entry
02. Dr Jacoby - 1 Entry
03. beerfly - 1 Entry
04. Cathal O D - 2 Enteries
05. Rossa  - 3 Entries
06. Fyodor -1 Entry
07. SlugTrap - 1 Entry
08. CARA - 1 Entry


Coming on the night
01. Padraic [Steward]
02. DaMun [Assistant Steward]
03. Ash [Assistant Steward]
04. Fergal
05. CARA
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: beerfly on September 23, 2013, 11:31:55 PM
Not off work till 8.30, Plan is to drop my bottles down during my lunch.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 24, 2013, 10:42:59 AM
Thanks Ronan. I'll make sure Padraic registers them.

Edit: Will everyone bring a couple of pens with them tonight.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: ferg on September 24, 2013, 12:17:39 PM
Not sure if I'll make it down tonight after all.. best of luck to all competing!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 24, 2013, 05:26:59 PM
No worries ferg, if you don't make it down sure we will see you at the tasting next month?

I might not be responding to any more posts (maybe on TT) as I'm heading cracker shopping with Dr. Jacoby in a minute and then heading to Kavanagh's for some food. See ye all later!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Rossa on September 25, 2013, 09:31:32 AM
A good night?
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 25, 2013, 10:38:09 AM
I need a pep talk.

TT

Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 25, 2013, 12:02:38 PM
Overall a great night last night with a very high standard of beer giving the challenging constraints. Thanks to all the judges, I think there were 9 or 10 in total and our two stewards Padraic and Damien who kept the show on the road.

Top 3:

1st - Rossa (352 Points) - Bramling Cross Beer
2nd - Cathal O D (345 Points) - Wit Beer
3rd - Slugtrap (320 Points) - Weiss Beer

Judging was pretty consistent and I don't think there is any doubt that the best beers won on the night. Things were very close for 3rd place!
(http://s22.postimg.org/ezacj69jl/Capture.png)

Scores are attached if someone wants to look at or play around with them.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Hop Bomb on September 25, 2013, 12:15:22 PM
Awesome graph!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Dunkel on September 25, 2013, 12:34:42 PM
Looks like a good way of judging - the number of judges mitigated the varying scores given by each judge for the same beer. Interesting to see the same beer receiving such widely different scores! Ideally on the graph all lines should be relatively flat, and most of them are.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Rossa on September 25, 2013, 12:52:33 PM
I believe so.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 25, 2013, 01:39:47 PM
I registered all the beers and then Padraic/Damien served them in pitchers, poured behind the bar, in their own random order. The pitcher meant that no one could identify their own bottle and the lads poured it in very gently to maintain as much carbonation as possible with they did a great job of doing.

When we do the next club competition there isn't much I would change to be honest, it ran smoothly on the night and with everyone judging it worked out very fair and a bit of craic.  :)
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Dr Jacoby on September 25, 2013, 02:22:36 PM
Big thanks to Shiny for doing the bulk of the work to organize everything. It went super smoothly and as he mentioned above the best beers finished top. I don't think there's anything that needs to be changed for future comps, except maybe tailoring the scoring system to whatever theme we choose.

I have to say I was blown away by the standard last night. Some really excellent beers on display with very few off flavours. Can't wait for the next comp (winter stout anyone :)!
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 25, 2013, 02:46:52 PM
I will get the photos off Tomasz later. I think he is in work at the moment.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 26, 2013, 04:41:22 PM
Photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/99909918@N03/). (Thanks again Tomasz for taking the pics!)

Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Cathal O D on September 27, 2013, 09:53:21 AM
Good pictures Tomasz. It was a good night. Well done Rossa and Thanks to Shane for  organising the score sheets etc.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 28, 2013, 06:16:26 PM
Scores (http://www.filedropper.com/scores) from all the judges.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Rossa on September 29, 2013, 03:10:09 AM
Is that link working properly or is it just my phone....it says 0kb file size.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Shane Phelan on September 29, 2013, 12:11:08 PM
Yeah it mustn't work due to your phone, works fine on the PC.

Here is a direct link (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/569614/temp/Scores.pdf) to the file.
Title: Re: Club competition - W J Kavanagh's - September 24th
Post by: Samael on October 04, 2013, 02:04:48 AM
Quote from: shiny on September 26, 2013, 04:41:22 PM(Thanks again Tomasz for taking the pics!)
Quote from: Cathal O D on September 27, 2013, 09:53:21 AM
Good pictures Tomasz.

Your welcome lads :) it's a big pleasure for me to make photos during the meeting.So enjoy :) c[]