Homebrew Competitions

When I first started brewing I was very hesitant to enter homebrew competitions.  I finally summoned up the courage to enter a local competition with a few extract brews that I thought were decent.  The beers scored well, not award winning by any stretch, but respectable.  I was much more focused on the overall score than the comments.  As my brewing knowledge expanded, the reverse has now occurred.  I am much more interested in the comments than the overall score.

That first score sheet had so many technical terms that it all went over my head.  Now that I know what the judges are talking about, the comments are extremely helpful.  Thankfully, I have kept all of my score sheets over the years and it is really interesting to go back and see flaws in your beer that you can now correct with better process.  I try to enter at least one competition a year.  BJCP judges are very good critics, much more so than your friends who come over and don't want to offend you by telling you your beer isn't that great.








I entered my Dale's Pale Ale, Chocolate Stout and English Cider into the 30th Annual Kansas City Bier Meisters Competition and all scored well, with the English Cider taking 2nd place in the cider category.  I am still awaiting the score sheets so I am anxious to see the comments.  The beers were the best beers I have produced, in my humble opinion.  The 2nd place cider award is "my" first winner.  I put "my" in quotes because the history of the cider is somewhat comical.  My sister actually brewed this batch back on December 30, 2011.  I racked it after a month and put it in the secondary as usual.  However, we ended up selling our house and moving a month later so I had to decide whether to throw it out or throw it in a keg.  I chose to put it in a keg and that keg ended up sitting in a storage locker for 6 months.  A few months later I decided to put the keg in my kegerator and carb it up, not expecting it to be any good.  Much to my surprise, the cider was excellent.  So after almost 14 months of ageing, I entered the cider into the competition and took that 2nd place award.  Funny how things turn out.