The proposal is to split the national for this year into two competitions and have a National Brewing Championships Style Champion and a National Brewing Championships Specialty Champion.
The first competition will be judged to style (in particular the BJCP styles 1-19 & include ciders) This includes all the main categories of which medals will be awarded in all (60+ medals). This will be held in Dublin on the weekend of March 1.
The second competition will take place in April in the Franciscan Well Brewery, Cork. This competition will include the remaining BJCP categories which will really let home brewers let their hair down.
These categories include beers brewed with -
Unusual techniques (e.g., steinbier, ice/eis beers)
Unusual fermentables (e.g., maple syrup, honey, molasses, sorghum, chocolate)
Unusual adjuncts (e.g., oats, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, chocolate)
Combinations of other style categories (e.g., India Brown Ale, fruit-and-spice beers, smoked spiced beers, mint chocolate)
Out-of-style variations of existing styles (e.g., low alcohol versions of other styles, extra-hoppy beers, "imperial" strength beers, orange chocolate beers)
Historical, traditional or indigenous beers (e.g., Louvain Peetermann, Sahti, vatted Porter with Brettanomyces, Colonial Spruce or Juniper beers, Kvass, Grätzer, dark chocolate beers)
Irish-style interpretations of other styles (e.g., hoppier, stronger, or ale versions of lagers) or other variants of traditional styles
Clones of specific commercial beers that aren't good representations of existing styles
Any experimental beer that a brewer creates, including any beer that simply does not evaluate well against existing style definitions
Basically an anything goes home brew competition where the brewer gives a description of their beer to help judges appraise it. Again medals will be awarded for all categories here.
Categories will include
20. FRUIT BEER SPICE/HERB/VEGETABLE BEER
21A. Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
21B. Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
22. SMOKE-FLAVORED/WOOD-AGED BEER
22A. Classic Rauchbier
22B. Other Smoked Beer
22C. Wood-Aged Beer
23. SPECIALTY BEER
We would also be thinking of adding our own categories to this competition. These may include Black IPA, Hopfen Weiss and other emerging styles. If anyone has any suggestions please pipe up.
During this competition we will hold a 'Battle of the Barrel' competition where all clubs barrel beers will shoot it out to become 'Champion Barrelers'. This will only be for barrel project beers and will be judged by a barrel expert.
We will also award a club trophy in Cork. Details of which need to be ironed out but basically the most successful club (from both competitions) will be top dog for the year.
The cost of entering the competition will be €8 for the first beer and €5 for every other beer. Entry will open in December and close mid January. All entrants must be paid up club members. It's only a tenner so get busy.
All beers will be collected at club level and transported to a central location for re-labeling in mid February.
The judges will mainly be from our own ranks (BJCP and experienced brewers) but will also include some weighty professionals. If you feel you have a good palate, have the knowhow, can tell DMS from Acetaldehyde and how to fix them you would be heading in the right direction to partner a certified judge. Do let us know if you feel up to the job and we will take it from there.
Please read the BJCP guidelines carefully when assessing what category to put your beer in. Judges will be comparing beers against commercial examples so an out of style entry could score a dreaded 13. For example a wood aged beer goes in the wood aged category. A dry stout containing carrots and strawberries is not a dry stout in the eyes of the BJCP. Please bare this in mind and assign your entry the correct category and style. Guidelines - http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php
Commercial examples are included to illustrate examples. http://www.bjcp.org/docs/classicstyles.xls
cool... I ( and south Kildare) will be having two days out or perhaps a weekend in cork and a day in dublin :) ;) :D ;D >:(
At those prices ??? im not entering 11 this year :(
is there a bulk discount? ;D its very expensive for busy brewers like South Kildare Region to enter a dozen brews and we dont earn as much as the Dublin & Cork members :( :D
The high cost is to save the judges taste buds I'd say. And it's right too
I Know... was only takin the piss ;) I thought it was too cheap last year and this year just a little more than I thought it would / should be. Ill be enterin at least 6 maybe 7
Nice post Rossa and although it's more expensive than last year it is still cheaper than other comps here and overseas.
Also the members only bit is a sure way of accelerating our membership and follows the same approach other HB clubs with member only entries allowed.
So if like Bren we all enter 6 that will be 1,200 :)
Interesting way of taking the "Eurovision" extreme winners out.
Loving the club comp idea, however some clubs will have loads of entries and by the law of averages will do well, like them gits in NCB, who may as well collect their medals now. ::)
Oh Shit just realised that's only 12 weeks away, looks like I'm set for a divorce in Dec so!
I love the idea of splitting off the specials!
I would also suggest that we split off the other high alcohol/highly hopped beers.
E.g. Imperial Stouts/Imperial IPAs/APAs etc.
The logic is that IF a comercial brewer was going to brew the winning beer then would they really want to brew some of the above?
What's the reasons for proposing a split of the competition?
Looks good rossa
Just to clarify the proposals.
If we split this as suggested this will mean all the barrel project beers can not enter the main competition.
We also have 1 trophy which represents the yearly winner. Is the proposal for the second competition going to have the same status as the main national one.
Last year we allowed non members of clubs to enter beers and pay a premium. Should we not allow this again this year and charge a higher premium for non members.
Any other thoughs :)
Looks Great Rossa,
Getting Cork into the picture will work well me thinks.
Its also splits the load as it were
Cant Wait !
Makes lots of sense to keep all the speciality beers to another day of judging.
May I suggest session IPA as a sub cat?
"Entry will open in December and close mid January" Il only be brewing my IPAs around the end of that period seeing as 2013 hop GB will be dropping then.
Do members just do up their recipes before hand & enter those. Then brew the beers after the closing date? What happens if you dont hit your numbers bang on etc?
Can you change your entry form all the way up to the comp date?
Quote from: Hop Bomb on November 14, 2013, 05:18:06 PM
Makes lots of sense to keep all the speciality beers to another day of judging.
The suggestion is to have a different competition for speciality beers, not just to judge them on a different day. At least thats how I read it. I don't agree with it though
Last years guesstimate on
Entries : 100-120 actual 334
NHC Members : 75-100, actual 200
We never get the numbers right ever!
It's gonna be massive
Me an Bren will have 12 to start with and quality this time not the shit I entered last year and got 38 points for :)
Like every global HB club we do all of this to increase the quality of beer brewed by our members not to facilitate outsiders.
Outsiders can become insiders for 10 snots in any case.
What is really critical is that all members are aware if the announcement so that they can get brewing, can a mail be sent out?
Interestingly also is there a cap?
Sent from 1 of 300,000,000
We have tastings but don't have qualified judges in our club to give impartial advice and it's impossible to tell somebody their beer was piss on a local level.
The NHC is a club with 500+ online and 200 paid members first that run a Homebrew Competition second.
UK craft brewers that run the UK nationals have a different ideology.
Is their event profit driven?
Sent from 1 of 300,000,000
From a purely selfish perspective this is fantastic as I'll probably be out of the country when the style competition is on (again :'(), but I'll just have to toddle up to the Well for the speciality competition.
Mind, having entered the speciality section last year, it was completely dominated by big hoppy black IPAs, could I suggest a third competition for Black IPAs, maybe in May? :D
Wow that's inflation for you... :(
I presume the €8 covers entry into both competitions?
Quote from: LordEoin on November 15, 2013, 06:42:28 AM
Wow that's inflation for you... :(:'(
I presume the €8 covers entry into both competitions?
Yep.
Last years prices were too low to run a competition of this magnitude. They were too low last year too and led to a loss.
Quote from: delzep on November 14, 2013, 09:36:27 AM
What's the reasons for proposing a split of the competition?
Logistics. More manageable. Higher judging standards. More BJCP points on offer. More medals. More prizes. Share the love.
Quote from: DEMPSEY on November 14, 2013, 10:19:48 AM
Looks good rossa
Just to clarify the proposals.
If we split this as suggested this will mean all the barrel project beers can not enter the main competition.
We also have 1 trophy which represents the yearly winner. Is the proposal for the second competition going to have the same status as the main national one.
Last year we allowed non members of clubs to enter beers and pay a premium. Should we not allow this again this year and charge a higher premium for non members.
Any other thoughs :)
The 'main' competition will have two 'main' winners. A style winner and a speciality winner. Two trophies. Two days out. Two things to get excited about. More judging experience so in the future we can run bigger events.
Entry for both will be at the same time with pricing of €8 getting you into both.
Quote from: Hop Bomb on November 14, 2013, 05:18:06 PM
Makes lots of sense to keep all the speciality beers to another day of judging.
May I suggest session IPA as a sub cat?
Can you change your entry form all the way up to the comp date?
Yep. I guess it is numbers dependant.
Afaik the software will let you register the number if beers you're entering and at a later date you fill in the details.
The early closing date is to give us the maximum time to get prepared. Last year I think we had two weeks or less with our final numbers. It was crazy.
Quote from: Il Tubo on November 14, 2013, 05:56:17 PM
I read it that way too.
I think overall what is proposed is quite exclusionary and will result in a much smaller competition(s) than last year.
We have 200+ paid members. If the comp encourages people to join is that not a goof thing. We are a club after after all. A club for members or are we a business?
If 200+ people submit an average of 4 beers each we are looking at over 800 entries. 1600 bottles. We will need a truck to move them. This is only going one way. Up.
Quote from: mr happy on November 14, 2013, 09:43:38 PM
From a purely selfish perspective this is fantastic as I'll probably be out of the country when the style competition is on (again :'(), but I'll just have to toddle up to the Well for the speciality competition.
Mind, having entered the speciality section last year, it was completely dominated by big hoppy black IPAs, could I suggest a third competition for Black IPAs, maybe in May? :D
We can split the speciality up into sub categories of whatever we want. Again, suggestions are welcome. Bipa and Dipa might be worth exploring as a stand alone.
You said that 8 euro will get you into both competitions, but how can the same beer be entered for both comps?
Quote from: delzep on November 15, 2013, 08:40:28 AM
You said that 8 euro will get you into both competitions, but how can the same beer be entered for both comps?
It can't, but in essence it is the same competition. The one competition software will be used for both. The competition is basically split with two winners.
We'll work the trophy situation out. Two trophies would be best but We can put them in a paddling pool of baby oil and they can fight it out to be champion if that's what you would like???
We have a very generous offer from Shane in the well that will easily cover any trophy expenses in Cork, if that is what is decided.
Quote from: Rossa on November 15, 2013, 08:29:01 AM
Quote from: mr happy on November 14, 2013, 09:43:38 PM
From a purely selfish perspective this is fantastic as I'll probably be out of the country when the style competition is on (again :'(), but I'll just have to toddle up to the Well for the speciality competition.
Mind, having entered the speciality section last year, it was completely dominated by big hoppy black IPAs, could I suggest a third competition for Black IPAs, maybe in May? :D
We can split the speciality up into sub categories of whatever we want. Again, suggestions are welcome. Bipa and Dipa might be worth exploring as a stand alone.
I was half joking about that. I entered a Czech dark lager in last year's competition (coz that's what I'd made) and I think that the feedback from the judges (both professional brewers) was really insightful considering how many BIPAs there was in the speciality section last year.
There was only about 4 black ipa entries last year
Quote from: delzep on November 15, 2013, 09:28:24 PM
There was only about 4 black ipa entries last year
My bad. You're absolutely right - I think my memory might have been influenced by the popularity of BIPAs amongst my rebel brethren!
Quote from: delzep on November 15, 2013, 09:28:24 PM
There was only about 4 black ipa entries last year
It would really depend on numbers of specialty entries. If we had sub categories lined up people may think of brewing for them. AusNz pale ales are another example. Very popular these days and don't fit the lake ale category 100%. In fact the U.K. had there own stand alone cat for those last year.
Its a bit early to be talking categories - I have to say the split to cork - helps us show we are not dublin orientated, it also help split the numbers a little - the B&C was jammers last year - so there are a lot of upsides logistically.
The monies are pretty spot on and it will be close to self funding, and from the membership perspective - we are growing all the time, i'm pretty sure the vast majority of last years entrants are members.
So from the memberships team perspective making people join to enter isnt a problem - if anything we will get more members.
Great Job Rossa - it aint easy - but someones gotta do it!
As its heading towards late November we should be planning a few logistic,s soon no. :)
Quote from: DEMPSEY on November 17, 2013, 01:27:21 PM
As its heading towards late November we should be planning a few logistic,s soon no. :)
Definitely. We'll not get much organised during silly season and then come January it'll only be 2 months to go.
I'm up for judging, I suspect I will also be entering a beer or two while I'm at it ;)
Is it 2 x 500ml bottles again.
C.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks shane
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
I think we should be strict on this. Last year I'd say there were at least 15-20 entries that were in larger or smaller bottles and some were quite clearly identifiable as well.
Quote from: irish_goat on December 14, 2013, 04:51:56 PM
I think we should be strict on this. Last year I'd say there were at least 15-20 entries that were in larger or smaller bottles and some were quite clearly identifiable as well.
I did enter a bottle larger than 500ml last year because I accidently drunk one of the 2 500ml that I was saving for the competition. Lucky you didn't imposed that rule last year, It was my winning Belgian in that bottle.
So when can we register and when do we have to send the bottles by?
Have a look in competition area, notice posted today
Sorry but I just can't find it the link to the competition page. Can you post it in this forum?
Quote from: akavango on January 07, 2014, 12:48:58 PM
Sorry but I just can't find it the link to the competition page. Can you post it in this forum?
General discussions - members area - competition 2014
(I can't do links in tapatalk)
This needs to be deleted
I love a poll even though I can't see them. Lock and load and blow it up.
I've been thinking about entering 21B category, but having looked at the rules, would 2 x 350ml winter specialty beers be turned away?
(I'd have no issues sending 4 of them in order to make up the volume if it was permitted)
Quote from: Ciaran on February 10, 2014, 10:21:59 PM
I've been thinking about entering 21B category, but having looked at the rules, would 2 x 350ml winter specialty beers be turned away?
(I'd have no issues sending 4 of them in order to make up the volume if it was permitted)
350ml bottles are allowed but on a members only basis. Only €10 to sign up for a year and it comes with heaps of benefits. :)
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/membership/
Great thanks. I'll get signed up and drop a few into the Vineyard ;)
Quote from: Ciaran on February 10, 2014, 10:56:29 PM
Great thanks. I'll get signed up and drop a few into the Vineyard ;)
Happy days.
See this thread for more info on the 330mls.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,5476.0.html
Who's collecting in cork?
Quote from: Simon on February 15, 2014, 10:10:23 PM
Who's collecting in cork?
All info is on the competition site.
Cheers..................... I'll go try and find that.
Quote from: Simon on February 15, 2014, 10:18:33 PM
Cheers..................... I'll go try and find that.
You could.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/competition/entry
Yep got it
There seems to be a bit of confusion in the Well. I will chase this today to see that entries are safe.