To Judge or Not to Judge

[AsharaDayne]

I haven't entered any beers, but I wouldn't mind to, later on, provided I can find some "good" competitions.
For now, I feel like I'm really just messing around, I haven't even attempted the same recipe twice. I haven't shared around too much, and when I have, with friends and family, feedback didn't really generate any valuable insights, for all the mentioned reasons.
I'm not completely indifferent to what people think of my brews... You could say I'm cautiosly curious.

I imagine the utility of feedback for me would be to help me brew beers that I myself enjoy more. Would be interesting too to have pointers on crowdpleasing, of course, secondarily. A competition could be one means, although a brewing club might be just as adequate.

 

[AsharaDayne]

Some brew because they can't afford commercial beer,

I'd never imagined that... then again my country may be the exception, but homebrew is definitely not cheaper than buying commercial - not significantly anyway

 

[Nosybear]

I'd never imagined that... then again my country may be the exception, but homebrew is definitely not cheaper than buying commercial - not significantly anyway

By the time I factor in the cost of equipment, ingredients and time, my homebrew is much more expensive than what I could buy in the store. And by that, I mean the good stuff in the bomber locker, not the stuff I could buy by the case.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

I have entered purely for the feedback , my local club is very honest about feedback but wonder how sensitive many are to certain off flavours since I knowingly presented flawed beer to mostly great reviews despite a background hint of DMS .
In a club i used to attend I had given a self proclaimed guru a bottle of Grolsch I delabeled and told him it was a kit based European lager ...surprise surprise he found all the flaws often found in kit based lagers .
I think the brewers at Grolsch would be concerned that there is classic extract twang , chlorophenols , signs of yeast stress from under pitching in one of the leading examples of its style

 

[jeffpn]

Mark, that’s not a bad reason not to have my beers judged! It can be hard to know who really knows what he’s talking about. I have never lied to myself about liking or not liking one of my own beers!!! I’m as knowledgeable of a beer connoisseur that I need to have around.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

We all have our blind spots and different sensitivity to off flavours .
Judges are human and therefore fallible , you can brew to win or brew what YOU want to drink and maybe the judges like it too .
They did enjoy my house XPA when called a Rye IPA with comments stating it needs more bitterness and more hop presence....challenge accepted

 

[Gledison]

Is there any competition which one could send the samples by mail? or you always have to be present?

 

[GFHomebrew]

Is there any competition which one could send the samples by mail? or you always have to be present?

The local comp here I entered this year you could either attend in person or mail your beers I chose to deliver them in person.

 

[J A]

Is there any competition which one could send the samples by mail? or you always have to be present?

Most competitions will accept entries mailed in. You really have to be on your game, though. Bottling - whether you prime or fill from a keg - and subjecting the beer to who knows what sort of conditions in transit can allow even the slightest hint of infection to cause problems.

 

[Nosybear]

Is there any competition which one could send the samples by mail? or you always have to be present?

The National Homebrew Competition accepts mail-in entries, most competitions do as well. But as JA said, there are certain risks of doing so: Breakage, mishandling, etc. There are special bottle mailers made for wine bottles, styrofoam "cozies" for the bottles, but none that I know of for a 12-ounce beer bottle.

 

[GFHomebrew]

One way around it is mail your bottles at least a week prior to comp day that way they can have time to settle in the fridge. All beer entries were stored in a comercial drinks fridge I've never seen so many homebrews all waiting neatly categorised for consumption I was champing at the bit to try them.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

we had drop off points at a few lhbs and brewer friendly pubs / bottle shops or could mail entries in .
all were stored with care until judging
300 different beers was an impressive sight

 

[Nosybear]

we had drop off points at a few lhbs and brewer friendly pubs / bottle shops or could mail entries in .
all were stored with care until judging
300 different beers was an impressive sight

That's the way most of the competitions here work, at least the local ones. I helped sort 260 or so entries on Thursday - you're right, it's impressive!