HB Competitions

So, I finally decided to enter a beer in the NHC this year and I was accepted.  Just wondering where it goes from here?  The judging will be on April 11, 2014.  If I understand correctly, say the beer does well, will I receive an email notification?  If the beer doesn’t do well, I’m guessing I will receive the score sheets via USPS?  I have  read the rules on the AHA website, but am just wondering how the process goes from those of you that have experience.
Thanks!

Either way you’ll get scoresheets by mail. The top 3 beers in each category from each region go to the final round in June. If you are one of those winners you get instructions to submit the next set of bottles.

Yes they are suppose to notify everyone at the same time as to rather they advance to the 2nd round or not.  Either way you’ll get the scoresheets back in the mail.

top 3, and have to score minimum of 30.

to the OP, you could actually volunteer in Denver and at the end hear whether you advanced or not.  Some regions are faster than others, but generally they don’t take too long to be mailed.  KC mailed yesterday or today.

Unfortunately I have a previous agreement.

So, 30 is a solid score?  Honestly asking, as I have no idea.

Entered my first comp about a month ago so my frame of reference is limited.

I know 13 is B.A.D. but 30 sounds like it’s more middle of the road than outstanding.

Minimum to advance is 30.

A solid score, to me at least, is 38 and above. 40s is real solid.

Edit -to Stevenb, good luck!

Thanks.  That fits in about where I would expect.

KC mailed yesterday.

Thank you hopfenundmalz!  I’m anxious to see how it does.

And Thanks everyone for the feedback!  You all are awesome!

I’d go a bit lower for Solid and Real Solid when evaluating how entries did.  probably 33 for Solid. 
35 for Good.  38 often wins a category.  I’d like to see people judge a little higher, but I know I’ve done it too.

That is more like it judging, and in general for sure. I just know that my beers are “solid” when they are >38. Not always there, of course.

I hate to start this argument again, but is this true?  I know someone that volunteered in Nashville and they wouldn’t give him his scores, scoresheets, or even tell him if he advanced.  All my 4 entries this year cannot be rebrewed so I really don’t care and in previous years didn’t care about the perceived advantage of people finding out sooner.  However, we all know we are going to hear about it for the next month.

Is the AHA stance on this the same as previous years?

To the OP…good luck in the competition.

Udubdawg…advance any ciders?  :stuck_out_tongue:

haha I was thinking the same thing “oh boy, here we go again!”

Amanda,

Do you know if the scoresheets sent out from KC indicated a place or whether or not they advanced?  A couple years ago, I got my scoresheets back early but they didn’t have any mark in the place awarded box so I thought they didn’t advance.  It wasn’t until Janis released the final results that I saw it did advance.  Thankfully, I didn’t drink the rest.

So if you get your sheets back before the final results, you may want to hold off drinking the rest of your beer until the official results are in.

I was not nearly as involved with this NHC as I was with last year’s KC NHC or this year’s KCBM XXXI. Last year at KC NHC, I was the head of the ‘cover sheet gestapo’. I made sure that the stewards knew how important correctly marking the 1, 2, 3 on the cover sheet was to the entrants at the NHC Regionals. AFAIK, every person that advanced had it marked on the cover sheet.

This year, I advanced a lambic that did not have anything marked on the cover sheet. So if you entered KC this year, I cannot be confident that the cover sheet will be marked correctly. However, I have heard rumor that the AHA will be trying to release regional information a bit sooner than normal this year - so there’s that.

As to the ‘Nashville didn’t allow anyone to know anything’ quip, that decision is left to the site organizer, which is why some sites are different.

I will say what I said last year:

Janis was IN THE ROOM last year when they announced the results in KC.

…Does it get more legitimate than that?

They announced the results in Tulsa last year too.  You have to be there, or know someone who heard your name, or wait for the scoresheets to be mailed if you are not there (I grabbed most of the Wichita scoresheets and handed them out Monday).

anyone who was at a regional where they refused to announce the winners was volunteering at a region where they did not know the rules.  I suspect Janis will show up again to confirm that they are supposed to announce.  It is posting online that they are not supposed to do.

tDS - yes, both my ciders advanced.

cheers–
–Michael

P.S. - a few top 3 placings were missed on the cover sheet even in KC last year.  I had a couple stewards annoyed at me because I was doing it myself this year, so for the final flight I let them handle everything.  When it came time to sort the scoresheets, guess which flight the steward had neglected to put the top 3 on?  ::slight_smile:

Dang. Can’t catch 'em all! :slight_smile:

In 2011 in Denver I heard the results read at the competition and Janis was standing right there. In 2013 in Kansas City I heard the results read at the competition and Janis was standing right there.

Is it possible that the person in Nashville was trying to get results/scoresheets before the competition was completed? That’s a bad idea in general, regardless of any AHA rules on the matter.