I’ve been brewing pretty passionately since 2019 and I think I’ve gotten pretty solid with my processes and have had good results. However, anyone I share beer with doesn’t provide much feedback other than they liked it or didn’t. And I’m trying to start a homebrew club in my town as I can’t find any homebrewers locally I can link up with without having to drive all over. I drink.
I have been honing the craft and intend to brewing big in 2027 and enter everything I brew into as many competitions I can to get as much feed back as possible.
Long story long, how do I even start to enter competitions and what goes into it? I have watched a ton of videos and looked up a ton of other info. But nothing seems direct. Help me out here.
I don’t enter competitions very much anymore – I did enter a ton about 15-20 years ago, just not anymore. Anyway, I use the link below to look for competitions nearby, and to compare entrance fees which vary widely, and just because the fee is more or less doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better or worse for feedback.
One reason that I do not enter very often anymore is… shipping costs are crazy these days. It used to be pretty cheap. Not anymore. So if you can find a nearby comp, you might be able to drop it off instead of paying for shipping. Another reason I don’t enter so much anymore is that it’s a pain filling out the paperwork and all that. But of course if your main goal is feedback, and you can tolerate the costs involved, then YES you should enter, and often! I have always said, if you want the best feedback, then each beer should be entered into at least 3 different competitions, because chances are that almost half of the judges don’t know what they are doing, and it will be obvious – and it’s easier to understand which feedback is great and which feedback sucks after you get 6 or 8 scoresheets instead of just 2. Don’t believe everything a judge says! They’re having a bad day almost half the time! This is the greatest advice I can possibly give you! Don’t necessarily take their word on anything! Also… rank does not matter! Some of the best feedback I ever got was from Recognized (the lowest level) judges, and some of the worst has come from Master level judges! Anybody can have a bad day, it happens to all of us. So… just remember that.
So that’s my 2 cents on competitions. Enter each beer multiple places and you’ll get better feedback. And… toss out the scoresheets where you just KNOW they are WRONG, and don’t be surprised about it when you see it because it happens a LOT. So don’t let any one scoresheet make you feel bad… unless you know in your heart that they were right about it, maybe your beer really DOES suck, or maybe it really IS stellar, or anywhere in between. You won’t know for sure until you enter that same beer into at least 2 if not 3 competitions. After 3, then you’ll know for sure.
Admittedly, I haven’t entered a lot of comps, so feel free to take my suggestion with a grain of salt.
I agree with much of what Dave stated. It’s hard judging, and everyone has a bad day sometimes. And there’s probably not a lot of time to provide good feedback if a comp is understaffed for judges.
However, it’s easy to be blind to certain things, especially in the amazing beer that you produced. That’s why you’re seeking feedback, right?
I’d suggest not throwing away the scoresheets that seem wrong. Don’t focus on them, but do look for patterns. Maybe there’s something that you’re blind to, and if you see it being called out regularly, it’s worth looking into.
Also keep in mind that your entries could be affected by shipping conditions. And keep a couple bottles around to compare against the scoresheets when the judging is done. Look for any flaws or other feedback in those bottles when you sample them after you get the results.
I enter two competitions per year, a local one and the National HBC. Two pieces of advice given to me when I first started were 1) Don’t have a thin skin, and 2) Don’t brew specifically for competitions. The beers that you think are great may not be true to style and you’ll get eviscerated on the score sheets. But the thing about this hobby is that you’re brewing beers you like, the way you like them.
In '24 I began entering competitions for much the same reason: feedback. I can say my beer has improved but I will also say not all competitions and not all judges are created equal. Some are better than others. I try to enter competitions so that I get results 1 every month + AL Brewer’s Cup, NHC, and Bluebonnet. Since my goal is feedback I try to enter bigger competitions that attract the best judges and contestants. I use Master Homebrewers website and Competition Homebrewing Facebook page to determine which competitions to enter. I track cost, schedule, and performance on a spreadsheet. I try to enter each beer into 2 or 3 competitions to get an average assessment on that beer. Tracking progress can give you improvements over time.
caution:
remember your goal: feedback. Not winning, not medals, not score, etc. Though those things are nice and scores will improve as you improve.
Don’t let the tail wag the dog. IOW: don’t brew for the competition, enter the beers you already plan to brew into competitions. It’s a different mindset.
^^ YES! THIS! Enter it into the style that it ended up being… which a lot of times is not necessarily the style that you intended to brew!! Miscategorization causes a great beer to be scored down.
Excellent advice. Example: I had a beer I brewed as a Hazy drop crystal clear so I entered it as a Blonde Ale. It scored an average 40, took 1st at 2024 SNAFU Winterfest and 3rd at 2024 Bluff City.
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