BeerBorg

For the past three years I've entered at least one beer in Homebrew Alley, a competition sponsored by NYC Homebrewers Guild. I've gotten good feedback, and I enjoy the excitement and anticipation of a friendly competition.

This year, I was going to enter my South Ferry Steam Beer. I didn't expect to win anything, but I wanted the judges' thoughts on my recipe, especially since I entered the same recipe last year and it turned out the bottles I entered were gushers. I'm still puzzled by that, since the other bottles in the batch were just fine.

But I've been drinking this beer off and on for a couple of weeks, and I decided last night that I'm not pleased with it. It just seems "off" somehow. For one thing, it's way too dark; almost bordering on a brown ale. I don't recall the previous batches being that color. I'm not getting enough hops, either, and the carbonation and head retention are lacking.

So I'm going to sit it out, because I don't believe I'll have anything else competition-worthy to enter by the deadline. That may change, but I can't see it happening right now. Too bad, but these things happen.

It is always great to enter a comp for the feedback alone. If you're pretty sure you already know what that might be, it sounds like you're making the right decision.

Unless, you are the type that tends to be overly critical of your own beers.

I should enter my Brown that just Silvered and scored 42.5 in Son of Brewzilla, but at H.B.A. IX in Feb. was judged 19.

Pudge wrote:It is always great to enter a comp for the feedback alone. If you're pretty sure you already know what that might be, it sounds like you're making the right decision.

Unless, you are the type that tends to be overly critical of your own beers.

I think we're all a bit hypercritical of our own beers. We enjoy them, sure, and we know they're good, or we would do something to improve them. And I know I often have a taste or profile in mind, and the final result often falls short of the ideal. But I'm actually concerned that this might get disqualified for color and flavor not being to style. Very dark, not carbonated enough, and not nearly enough hops. It's actually kind of a bland beer, overall -- not what a Cali Common should be, by any means.

And I wanted to enter it not because I thought it would win anything, but because I want to have a really good Cali Common recipe in my stable. The feedback I get could really help me improve it. But this needs a lot more improvement than some of the other beers I've entered. My Copperbottom Lager scored very well -- 36.5, which thrilled me, and one of the judges commented that a little less bittering hops would turn it into a superb American Dark Lager. That's the kind of feedback I want, rather than "too dark for style, not enough hops for style, not carbonated enough for style," etc. In other words, I think the flaws in this beer would outweigh any constructive criticism.

I do want to enter it eventually, but I need to do more research, make some more batches of it, and dial in my improvements.

I'm bottling a batch of White Panama blonde ale this weekend, and if it turns out to be a good batch, I might be able to squeak that in by deadline. But if not, I'm fine with sitting out this year.

Dawg LB Steve wrote:I should enter my Brown that just Silvered and scored 42.5 in Son of Brewzilla, but at H.B.A. IX in Feb. was judged 19.

I remember that, Dawg. It was a real head-scratcher.

When I get an occasional low score (as long as I don't end up agreeing about the alleged flaws), I recall Jamil's remarks in podcasts about beers that place in National Homebrew Competition, and then get around 20 in a different competition. Judges are supposed to evaluate whether an entry is a good example of its style, not whether they like the style, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Sometimes time is the factor... Dawg's brown might have been too young in the first comp, much better with a little age for the second, and maybe better in January 2016 (or it might fall off and be too aged by then...)

Just a footnote I suppose...

@ The Hat

Good decisions overall Dave...

I slow played this year as well, not entering anything...

Figure I'll re-group and see what can be done next year...

I really want to try some of the new styles in the current guidelines although I suspect many folks will...

Ha, might be the year to enter a great Pale Ale whilst everyone else battles it out with Czech Pilsner and such...

Yeah, I may have done the best with my Dark Lagers (a third-place ribbon for one, and my best score ever for the other) because the field was so small. I beat out ten other dark lagers for my podium spot; meanwhile there were something like 76 entries in the IPA category.

I also agree with Foothiller's observation. I was disappointed in the score I got on my Pilsner, which I thought was a really good beer. I even compared it to Victory's Pilsner, and thought they were very much the same. But both judges detected diacetyl (where I detected none), and it made me wonder if they're hypersensitive to the notion that a homebrewed Pils is likely to have it, so their expectation sets them up to taste it.

These people are human, with their own likes and dislikes and prejudices. And after tasting beers all day, even mild styles, I'm sure palate fatigue sets in.