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Structure of a BJCP competition

Northern Brewer General
#1

I was thinking about entering a couple of my beers for constructive criticism. There is a competition coming up in May that is only 20 minute drive from my house and I’m considering entering this one.

http://kotm-lmhba.us/

It says there are 2 sessions (one at 9:00 and one at 1:30). I’m not sure what this means. Do I show up at 9:00? What happens when I show up? I sit around and wait for them to judge my beer? Do I even need to show up? Is there any sort of award ceremony? Not that I expect to win any awards, I’m really just trying to get a good gauge on where I am and where I need to go to improve my beers.

I’m kinda curious how it all works. If any of you judges or entrants can shed a little light on the whole thing, that would be appreciated.

#2

The sessions are for Judging the beer. You’ll see on the link that the drop off for the bottles is May 5, 2014 through May 11, 2014. So you’ll drop off your entries in that date range at Red, Wine & Brew. Then you don’t need to do anything further. The entries will be picked up and judged at those 2 sessions you mentioned.

Now if you want to help the competition out and/or see how the whole process is done you could volunteer to steward the competition. Then you would show up for those 2 sessions where you would help the judges by bringing them beers and clearing glasses etc… If you’re interested in learning about judging beers tell the judges you are stewarding for and they will gladly let you sample some of the beers if there is something notable about them (such as a distinct off flavor or, after the medal round, the very good beers).

Some competitions do awards ceremonies and some don’t… This competition appears to have one May 17, 2014 at Red, Wine & Brew, 5pm

#3

Generally the entries are due in a few weeks in advance. Those sessions are probably the judging sessions.

Entries will be accepted May 5, 2014 through May 11, 2014. All entries must be received by our shipping location or at a drop-off location by May 11, 2014. Entries will not be accepted beyond this date. For details, see the Entry Information page.

I’d assume the early session is for paring down to the top XX entries. The later session is probably to pick the winners within each category, best of show, etc… but this is just a guess.

EDIT: BAH… mors beat me to it.

#4

Ah, OK that makes more sense :slight_smile: I was wondering if I was going to have sit around all day.

Thanks guys!

#5

just a quick plug for stewarding - I did it for a few comps prior to starting my certification process. Its really a cool thing, and if you are even remotely interested in the process, I would highly recommend offering to steward. I also had some really cool judges in my first few comps, they would always have me pour a sample and ask my opinion once they were through judging. Plus you get to listen to them deliberate and discuss, which is cool. Also, at the end, you can usually sample the remaining entries that aren’t going to a best-of-show round, which is ubercool.

Definitely enter your beers though at a minimum. It will almost certainly make you a better brewer.

#6

I’ll definitely have to look into stewarding if I eventually decide I want to work towards my BJCP cert.

Another question on this: how do they usually give the score sheets back? Do you pick them up at the award ceremony or do they mail them to you? Does it depend on the show?

#7

Yes it depends on the contest, some will scan and email them others use snail mail and if you happen to be at the comp you can usually pick them up at the end.

#8

mattnaik, just curious… are you an A.G. or an extract brewer? Which beers will you be submitting? Let us know how you do. I am also interested in submitting some beers to comps eventually so I can learn/become a better brewer. Just not sure if extract brewers stand a chance… but I have no intentions of going AG. Good Luck to you!

#9

My old club in Baltimore placed in multiple comps with multiple extract beers. Cold-side (primarily fermentation temp, time, and pitch rate) is so much more important than some sexy mash schedule/manipulation. Enter those beers and you will learn to make better beer!

#10

Sorry missed this question. I will be entering both an AG and an extract brew. My second brew ever was Bourbon Barrel Porter kit from NB. To date I would say it’s probably the best beer I’ve made so far. I saved 2 bottles to age a year and try but I figured I might as well enter them in the comp and see how they score. They will have aged about 8 months when they are judged.

The other beer I plan to enter is a Vienna Lager and this is my second AG brew. It’s going to be a bit tight as I plan to bottle this about 3 weeks before the comp so hoping there are no carbonation issues to deal with :slight_smile: I will definitely post my results to this thread. Competition date is May 17th so I have a little while.

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