Due to the failry poor response to our NCB competion and not huge entry into the GCB comp myself and John have been thinking (Doooh - Danger)
I would like to propose a shape to the competion year so that people have an idea of whats comming up and can prepare for the comps. Also there is some logic to this!
Jan: & Feb: No comps as it the Nationals in March
March: National NHC comp
April:
May:/Early June: End of May start of Juneis the time for the summeer beers as the grass just starts growing
July:/August: Holiday time so no comps just drink!
Septemeber: RDS festival so need some beers to bring to this
October:
November:/ Early December: Winter warmers
Naturally any local club/inter club comps can be whenever but try to keep Jan/Feb free!
Also I am not saying that the summer & winter beers will take place but the above is the logical time for them
What thinks we all?
I don't think there's any problem with the timing of competitions. Folks should hold them whenever they want.
Personally, I kept away from the GCB and NCB competitions because the names confused the shite out of me and no matter how many times i looked at the threads i could never remember which was which, So i just avoided both. And drank my Red Ale.
i probably would have entered one or both of them if the names were clearer.
That's life. If something's complicated or confusing
The monochrome competition probably wouldn't have done so well either if it was simply called the 'Rebel Comp'
Liffey Brewers competition was a success
Quote from: LordEoin on August 05, 2014, 12:37:06 PM
Personally, I kept away from the GCB and NCB competitions because the names confused the shite out of me and no matter how many times i looked at the threads i could never remember which was which, So i just avoided both. And drank my Red Ale.
I am not happy to read this sort of derisory comment from a senior, respected member about two competions organised in good faith and in the spirit of the NHC
To be honest Will, I kept getting confused myself between the two competitions. And I spend a lot more time on here than most. It would definitely be clearer to name future competitions after the style. It's nothing personal. I appreciate the amount of time that goes into the competitions.
Agree names might help. We refer to ciderheads comp as the red ale comp and wills comp at cat 6 com. In general maybe a simple schedule could help as just tonite we were scouring the forum for dates on this and that. What if nhc had a first saturday approach for comps. One a month on a first sat. Maybe clubs can book their comp into a slot then.
Clubs are autonomous & should be able to run competitions when it suits their members once it doesnt clash or come within a month or more of another clubs competition. Having the Nationals as the first comp of the year is a great idea.
The monochrome comp had 18 entries. Very low I thought considering most people brew stout. I think the low numbers for the GCB & NCB comps are down to the time of year & maybe the beer styles. A lot of people are flat out during the summer doing summer things so not brewing as much & the styles of beer chosen might not be brewed by a lot of people in comparison to the usual pale ale, stout or ipa.
When it comes to comps the only one that stands out to all at first is the NHC in March. Others during the year that are announced by clubs are fine if it's described or labelled easy ie red ale, IPA or by Cat.
Time frame needs to be greater to allow everyone outside that particular club to brew for the comp as required.
Now I know that the likes of Johnrm , Will D and CH have done the utmost to organize a comp and prizes, you lot are to be commended, but sometimes it easy for entrants to pass by either by not understanding the details or not having the time to brew.
For clubs to take control, I'd like to see individual club reps to promote comps, take control of pickups/drop offs. At the moment I know that individuals are busy out side of their particular club and it's hard to organise but unless this changes it's hard to tie the NHC as a whole together
@Will & CH, wait until this competition is over. You've got a lot of time and work invested and it will pay off. I bet Johnrm was disappointed with the low entries in the monochrome comp at the time. But we had a great time on the day and you could see he was satisfied with the outcome.
I think the Liffey comp was successful for 2 main reasons; It's the second year running and last years winners are now pro-brewers. That gave the competition great exposure this year.
It will be easier to discuss canvassing ideas when the competition is over, and we won't feel like we are criticising your hard work ;)
Dodge won last year's Liffey Brewers competition
Hardly a pro brewer ::)
:-[ Opps!
I'm confusing the Liffey comp with the small beer comp!
It takes a lot of work to put on a competition and we should commend anyone who takes the time and effort to do so.
Good idea on the planning Will.As we evolve the calendar will fall into place and show there is room for everyone. At the same time Tom is right and local clubs can run a comp whenever they want. I see it that if they want to get bigger numbers in they need to give people plenty of notice and clashing with another competition won't help.
Perhaps April could be our homebrew conference month but that shouldn't put anyone off having a competition.
Anyone who gets a competition up and running with a view to holding it again next year should see this as a success and we should all role in behind them whether entering or not.
I dont think any is criticising any individuals personally. Any event takes lots of input and hats off to all organisers. As a few commenters noted a few easy tweaks re names dates and simple access to concise details e.g a poster with all u need to know may help the campaign. Im planning a lager comp with an acompaning set of hombrew events highlighting lager brewing and maby even making a kegerator workshop, however a lager comp in jan wud hav allowed brewers to ferment in sheds or utility rooms without chiller needs. Some lager yeasts wil ferment over say 6 to 16c so no excuses. Im looking fward to will and ciders comp hav entered 2 brews in each and currently lookin for digs to make an overnite of it. So thanka all organisers for ur work which helps improve brewing and judging
Quote from: Will_D on August 05, 2014, 11:12:30 PM
Quote from: LordEoin on August 05, 2014, 12:37:06 PM
Personally, I kept away from the GCB and NCB competitions because the names confused the shite out of me and no matter how many times i looked at the threads i could never remember which was which, So i just avoided both. And drank my Red Ale.
I am not happy to read this sort of derisory comment from a senior, respected member about two competions organised in good faith and in the spirit of the NHC
I'm sorry Will. i could have just smiled and agreed, but what good would that do?
In this case I'm just giving my honest feedback on why I stayed away from these competitions.
I never meant it as a derisory comment and I thought you'd appreciate the feedback.
My mistake. I was wrong.
I have no problems with clubs organising there own competions whenever they want.
My only point was the logic behind trying to keep the time before the nationals free - unless a club wants to test there entries.
And the logic behind the summer beers and the winter warmers.
Apologies if people got confused with our names. it was just the shorthand of refering to the 2 clubs and not the styles. Won't happen again.
So a reminder:
There is still time to enter the "RED ALE Competition" hosted by the Garden County
and the "Cat 6 Pseudo Lager" comp hosted by the NCB
Isn't there already a calendar (sticky) in this forum that shows what's coming up?
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,6411.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,6411.0.html)
Why not use this?
I disagree with no competitions before the nationals. The more competitions the better!
I think that if there is a homebrew conference in April that it would be good to have a theme and a competition along that theme? (But that's for another thread!)
I agree with Lord Eoin's point that the competition naming was a bit confusing, but it is clear in the calendar linked to above what the competitions are about.
I dont think there is much of a problem here, Im sure the registrations will pick up over the next couple of weeks.
Calling the competition after the club is grand,
GCB having a 'red ale' competition and NCB having a 'cant believe its not lager' competiton
Is that really that confusing ?
Dont get it.
Quote from: LordEoin on August 05, 2014, 12:37:06 PM
Personally, I kept away from the GCB and NCB competitions because the names confused the shite out of me and no matter how many times i looked at the threads i could never remember which was which, So i just avoided both. And drank my Red Ale.
i probably would have entered one or both of them if the names were clearer.
What posts were you reading & getting confused over. The first post for both competition states what the category was, the description was in the 2nd sentence of both posts. There were both posted in the Competition section.
GCB Irish Red
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,5865.0.htm (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,5865.0.htm)l
NCB "I can't believe it's not lager"
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,6599.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,6599.0.html)
Follow up reminders were also posted in the relevant clubs section. These first posts both had links to the competition details.
If you were confused, couldn't you have PM'ed or posted requesting further clarification on what the competitions were about or even suggested renaming the thread title to improve understanding for anyone like yourself who may have got confused.
I'm guessing that people simply get gcb and ncb mixed up
I think it's a good idea it gives you the opportunity to pick wat competitions you want to enter and then focus on brewing and dialling in the beers before the competition instead of rushing out an untried/tested beer, it also gives clubs a chance to gauge interest in a competition if people register for it at the beginning of the year.
The more competitions the better in my book.
So what if some of them only get 10 or 15 entries.
Thats still 10-15 people brewing - isnt that what we are about ?
I remember the dark time when there wasn't any competitions - I'd wouldn't be in a rush back there - let me tell ya !
+1 partrige. It helps judges and brewers improve, creates another few days out for members. Im hoping to have a lager comp with two sections e.g. 1 for those that medaled in comps (or received a prize) before and 2 for those that havnt and equal prizes for both. So a type of handicap for the likes of me, dodge, rossa and others. This i hope will motivate more to giv comps a go
Quote from: Tube on August 06, 2014, 07:33:50 PM
I would agree you don't gauge success on numbers. It's mainly about including everyone in the fun.
Just as brewers need feedback from judges, judges need feedback too. Have seen some erratic scores over the last while, e.g. one beer scoring 45 in one comp and scoring 23 in the next.
Something like that could just be a bottle infection I suppose (and hope) but my Liffey winner did pants at the nationals and I think it was judged by the same person!
We need to stay scientific here. We need to have good judges and judges need training and ongoing training to stay on top. Ive heard numerous times tha beer x scored 40 then 20. I had a stout score 13 in lucan. I dont enter undrinkable beers and i bottled that on the mornin of the comp. So clearly there may b signif judging problems. One idea is to blind test judges at comps. Giv dem 2 entries of the same entry bottled from the keg on the day and compare how dey judge dem. Are they taking a lazy approach or are they unskilled or fatigued from the previous 10 beers they judged? Clearly there are lack of concentration issues or carelessness as i had a beer judged having lost 3 points in overall impression quoting beer needs more body having just judged it as medium under mouthfeel.. The beer was a bjcp med body beer. All above shows problems with judgi g so as i stated before we shud look at the issue as raised at agm. I dont expect anything other than a fair assessment of my beers by a judge who may not be skilled or qualified but if my beer is brown and supposed to be brown i dont want a judge docking points saying its golden.
Maybe a beer judge committee would help organise some interventions. One area id like to see is seperate tables for the two judges judging the same beer. It wil ensure there is no leading by stronger personalities and also ensure each judge is accountable if scores are wide, in this case a third judge should assess perhaps
Quote from: brenmurph on August 06, 2014, 08:56:47 PM
....
in this case a third judge should assess perhaps
That is generally what happens.
Were home brewers tube we arnt bjcp prisoners...so i agree with ya...