I am going to be entering one, and possibly two of my Beers in the Carolina Quarterly Brew Off sponsored by Raleigh Brewing and Atlantic Brew Supply. Lap Dog Czech Pale Lager will be a definite entry, and I may possibly enter Leia’s Kiss IPA as well. I’m not expecting to win, or even place for these beers, but the feedback from BJCP certified judges will be worth the entry fee. The results of the competition will be announced October 23.
My biggest advice is to enter the beer you BREWED, not the beer you tried to brew. In other words, taste it and smell it with the style guidelines open. If you were aiming for IPA and only hit APA, then enter it as an APA. If you were aiming for Bohemian Pilsner, but only hit Helles, enter it as a Helles.
Good Luck!
Good luck in the competition. You may be surprised with your results. We all tend to be our most critical judge.
Depending on the judges experience, you could get some great feedback and use that info to rebrew.
I have had mixed experiences with competitions and enter mainly for the reasons you state. I remember being pretty upset after the first couple of competitions I entered but have learned to not have any expectations going in which has helped. When I first started entering, I thought all of my beers were good. Now I better understand which beers I brew are good and which aren’t. I recently entered a beer which did not turn out too well only because I had already paid for the entry. For as disappointing as it was there were still some positive comments which was nice.
That’s what I am hoping for. So far my only feedback is from friends that have tried my beers. While that is helpful, I do want to get feedback from people that don’t know me, and won’t pull punches when it comes to their opinion.
I started doing competitions for the same reasons. Looking for feedback on my beers and most specifically, recipes. That was an easy 12 years ago, and I still compete as often as I can. Usually just to see how a new recipe or my process stands up to others, regionally speaking.
Every so often, I will get a comment back on a scoresheet that really opens my eyes up to a style and how it is percieved by others. The last one I got was on some good feedback for my belgian blonde ale. I now have some better ideas as to how to hone in on this style even more so than before. Just helped to tighten up my recipe’s a tad which can be the difference between a good recipe and a killer recipe.
One of the most helpful things I used to do (and still do sometimes), is read over the scores sheets for that entry while drinking the same beer to see if I could pick up what the judges are identifying. Really helps you to get used to the comment feedback and ways to improve.