I’ve been at this all of two months, but both the KC Biermeisters event and now the Drunk Monk Challenge are both getting record numbers of entries (DMC is supposed to be close to 800). Is this reflecting a new interest in homebrewing, in comps or both? Or have they seen steady growth over the last few years? Just curious.
Based on a dramatic increase in AHA membership, I’d say the overall hobby is up.
I could see the increase in microbreweries helping to educate the consumer, and the price of commercial craft beer causing them to want to make their own.
Entries in our competitions jumped last year and the trend is continuing this year. We’re on our some-teenth annual comp and we never broke ~220 before. Last year hit ~350, this year 424. I don’t know why exactly, but it wasn’t a slow and steady gain.
Homebrewing at the World Expo of Beer certainly took a leap in entries this year. Nearly 900 a year after having just over 450. Crazy growth in brewing, home and commercial, in Michigan.
I know I brew partially (Very partially) because I can have good beer when I want it for .5 or less of the prices in the store. With the economy in the shape it has been in of late perhaps people are getting frugal like their grandparents were back in the 20s.
Our Florida only homebrew competition (Best Florida Beer Championships) had a record 480 entries this year. We also had 102 entries in the Pro Comp side of BFBC, all from little breweries in Florida.
I doubt that any of these folks entered to save money though.
That could explain increased interest in homebrewing, but not comp entries. And I’m not sure it is really a driving force behind the increase in homebrewing, though it could be a factor.
One thing, it makes getting invited to be a judge easier! But I’m not sure I’d want to be a comp organizer. Wow, how do you deal with double the entries on relatively short notice? Yikes.
I have entered this one each year. It has become a big one. Maybe the second largest east of the Mississippi. Hats off to the Cass River Club for pulling it off.
Then I’ll blame it on reality TV. everybody wants to be in a contest. Ahh I’m just talking out my a$$
We’ve been working hard to increase the number of judges in the area. In the past we took two days to get through < 200 entries, last weekend we got through almost 400 in just two sessions (~25 or 30 were taken care of Friday night). If you have enough judges you can really get a lot done quickly.
That’s kind of what I was thinking. Incomes may go down but alcohol consumption remains relatively stable. hic… ;D
As Denny said the hobby is up. It has become very popular with the people in their 20’s and early 30’s.
My first NHC was Chicago, 2003. At the last 2, I have been impressed with the influx of young people at the conference. On the other hand, I have gotten a little older. 
How many beers do you have a judge evaluate in a session? I did ten each of porters and Irish/Scottish ales (in a 2hr period), that can be tough slogging. Not that I’m complaining mind you, just challenging to find those subtle nuances of flavor in entry #10.
20 beers in 2 hours?! Nothing that fast, we had 7 in the first session, then a mini BOS. 9 in the second session (after lunch). About 2 hours per session, some people took longer (had more beers, started late, whatever). It was a very relaxed pace, and I wasn’t too swilly to drive home after.
Same here, mostly through the efforts of one of our members (“christo” here on the AHA forum)
He now has us in mead classes to prep for taking the mead judge exam on Mead day in August…we’ve been doing a mead only comp for 13 years; interestingly, the entries for it have not “jumped” like folks have described for beer comps.
Ugh, the mead exam. I’m taking it in the morning and haven’t studied at all. No chance of passing, but I’m not backing out either. I’ll study tonight and maybe learn my lesson and start studying earlier next time.
Who am I kidding? ;D
Good Luck on the exam Tom.
The NHC had a record number of entries last year and it’s shaping up to be another great year this year as well. This coupled with the dramatic increase in AHA membership shows an increasing interest in our hobby.
It’s be a Personal Best, though, right?
Judging in the morning. The contest grew by 30%! Up to 35 from 24 last year!
Got my reminder of the schedule tonight at 6:30. Hadn’t heard anything since early February…
Another factor is money. The cost is dropping for the smaller comps and the prizes are getting crazy. WEB was $1000 from NB for Beer BoS and $500 from Adventures in Homebrewing for Cider/Mead BoS. AND they have prizes for each category winner. I think entries averaged out to less than $4 if you entered 4 (#4 was free), so a $1000 payout is attractive. Just for two golds last year I got $45 in gift certificates. Easily made my entry worth it.
This issue with increasing competition entries is a real problem for me. As a BJCP national judge, competitions are interested in my participation and I’m happy to do it…to a point.
The problem is that the number of judges at competitions sometimes doesn’t keep pace with the number of entries. Judges are overloaded and in a hobby with alcohol, that is a problem. There needs to be a better solution.
The ranks of BJCP judges keeps growing and there should be sufficient judges to staff these competitions, but the reward for participating as a judge (beside the comradery) typically amounts to getting a free lunch and a trinket. The judge is left to foot the bill for the overnight stay and travel costs. It just doesn’t make sense. Judges need to be better compensated by these competitions for their services.
The Indiana State Fair runs a home and craft brewing competition that is probably one of the best run and compensated competitions in the nation. They are paying judges on the order of $100 if they live over a couple hundred miles from Indy to cover their travel costs. Even the local judges get a minor stipend and all judges get several meals during the course of the competition. That is a model that needs to be implimented across the nation.
To provide that stipend, competitions need to start increasing their entry fees. Entry fees are clearly too low and too many entrants see great benefit from their entry. That is great, but the cost for EVERYONE to participate needs to be spread around. Right now, judges are the ones paying and that needs to change. The side benefit of the competition covering more of the judge’s cost is that more judges will be willing to make the trek to participate and that means that the quality of judge and judging will improve. Fewer beer entries per judge is a very desirable outcome for everyone.
The National Homebrew Competition has addressed some of my concern by limiting the number of entries at the regionals to 750 per site. That is a good start, but they also need to let the market help winnow the entries down and pay for judge participation. Entry fees need to go up a lot and NHC needs to better compensate the judging staff.
Let’s get more good judges at all of these competitions. I’m sure that many of you that have entered a competition, have experienced poor feedback from a inexperienced judge. Wouldn’t it be worth a few extra dollars to get better judges interested in participating in the contest and getting that better feedback?