What’s the average # of entries per person? Just wondering. I’d be fine with 4 or 5.
I entered a lot more because of a side competition at the Canadian competition but after this year, I don’t see myself entering anything but my absolute best efforts, if at all.
if you cap the number of entries…then the ninkasi award will just become pointless. Even with the “shotgun” approach there are ties for ninkasi every year. Plus, the best homebrew you ever make can score 23 in one competition and 45 in another.
If you want to be competitive for the NHC, then you have to show up to the game.
I think that capping entries at such a ridiculously low number like 4 will hurt the competitiveness of NHC. You might as well just assign everyone a lottery number and just do a drawing for the metals.
now for a better idea…
most competitions are registered with the AHA. What if to enter NHC, you must win a gold in your category of that registered competition? How this might work is if a competition gets 500+ entries, then the AHA will give them 28 tickets to nationals. The competition organizers hand out those tickets to the first place. That way, the less experienced homebrewer gets feedback from the smaller competitions and the more competitive homebrewer needs to win first before “shotgunning” the first round.
you had 2 days to enter before all regions closed. I don’t know many people that work for 2 consecutive days but maybe you do.
I didn’t mean to direct the non-volunteering comment to you…its just that in general, most people that complain about competitions don’t volunteer.
It took me 6 minutes to enter my 18 beers into the first round. I told my boss I was going to do it. IF he didn’t agree, I’d take the day off!
See the MCAB
And see Denny’s response to that suggestion in the other thread…
Maybe it should be set up like the Miss America pageant. Each state will have a qualifiy competition and the winners will go on to compete in the Nationals.
AARGGGHH!!! I just pictured the Swimsuit competition 
Comps are registered with the BJCP, not the AHA.
I kind of like the idea of capping the number of entries per brewer. It would level the field and show which brewers consistently make the best beer. If you capped it at say 10 and nobody cheated (entered more in the name of the significant other or the dog), then those people who had 10 advance must be some pretty awesome brewers.
entries were open for 3 days, if you didn’t get in you either only have yourself to blame or have something far more pressing than a homebrew competition going on
that’s a little harsh, considering registration was set up to last until March 28th.
I mean, everyone knew it would fill up before then, but maybe some people would like to compete but needed some of those extra 24 days to figure out what they had that was ready/worth sending…maybe some people were brewing to be ready for Nationals in late March/early April, not March 1st…whatever the reason, there is clearly unmet demand, and “you have only yourself to blame” really misses the point IMO.
cheers–
–Michael
sorry Michael I couldn’t disagree more
I read a lot of homebrewing forums, I saw threads everywhere about “Wow the NHC is almost full!”, I didn’t see a single thread about how bad it is that things are filling up … until they finally filled and it’s “WE NEED TO CHANGE the RULES”
same as last year, and the year before and the year… etc… well except now no one can blame the bogeymen Gordon or Jamil
Registration opened on time (ok, it opened a day or 2 late!) it wasn’t a secret that this was happening. An additional region was created.
If someone didn’t get in, they either didn’t take it serious enough, or have something going on far more serious than a homebrew comp to worry about. And if someone reading this did have a more serious issue going on, like being hospitalized or their flight home from Bagram was delayed then please let the AHA know and I’d bet they’d find some spots for someone that couldn’t control their circumstances
simple question marty:
was there room for everyone to enter? Being full in 2.5 days says there wasn’t.
(no, no, no, this is not a criticism of Janis at all! )
There was room for everyone whom it was important enough to spend a few minutes over the course of three days to enter
cool, we’ll agree to disagree on this one.
have a great evening–
–Michael
Good grief… So contentious.
An idea that might help spread things out a bit:
Have the online registration site only accept a portion of the total registrations available per day. Once the total for the day has been reached registration closes until the next scheduled registration day. Spread the registration days over a few weeks so that everyone has a chance. Put a calendar of registration days and times up on the registration site so there is no doubt when to register.
I was reading Keith’s thread about tornados in Alabama and it occured to me that some people may have been a bit preoccupied with other things when the registration window opened (and closed).
i submitted one beer. and it is not because it is one of my best but because it was different and i want to know what other people think. worth the 10 bucks for me.
similar. how about limit it to four entries (or such) per brewer per day. if it is important enough to get all 18 (good grief) entries in then it is important enough to get on your computer 5 days
An interesting discussion, and some interesting solutions posted. I think a limit of 4 entries is way too low. However a limit of say 10 or 12 may be more reasonable. We have competitions in WA putting 12 beer limits in this year. This would at least allow a few more people in. The only problem is any upcoming brewer with the goal of beating the point totals of Jamil or Gordon some day would find that task near impossible.
I sort of like the idea of having a pre-qualifier like the MCAB does. I’m not sure I would say 1st place only however. Maybe anyone who ribboned a 1st, 2nd or 3rd in an AHA sanctioned competition gets an entry for each one. This would require some thought as the NHC registration is late Feb/ early March. You would have to make the window to place in an AHA conference back at least 6 or 12 months.
I’m sure the AHA is painfully aware that the conference is not coming close to capturing the amount of attendees who wish to attend and compete in it. The problem there is simply how many regions of the US are capable of hosting the conference and supplying a large enough support pool of judges and events for conference attendees. Then how may regions can host the qualifier competition with 750 or more entries. We already saw last year that some regions were strapped and sluggish in their processing of the entries and results.
There are some smart people on the governing board working through these issues, and I’m sure we’ll see modifications in the future as they become feasible.
Cheers
Somehow I think this is a good problem to have. Every year it seems the competition has more and more entries and/or fills up faster. It means that brewing is alive, well, vibrant, and growing.
That said it is still a problem. More options to consider:
- raise price (even more) to limit demand (and maybe limit shotgunning)
- Move from fewer (9-10) large centers to many more (25? 35? more?) smaller centers to reduce logistical constraints and allow more judges and clubs to get involved - obviously math needs to work so total entries can increase
- require AHA membership for entry - if nothing else, perhaps more membership dues can subsidize paying judges
- if you do go to a “prequalification” type event I like the idea of placing in a local competition to qualify for NHC, rather than placing first–makes the competition somewhat more exclusive but also limits lower-quality shotgun entries
- develop a capping system that takes into account the history of a brewer’s performance in NHC - start at a cap of 3 entries for brewers who have never made it past round 1; bump up to 6 if brewer has made it past round 1 but not placed; unlimited if you have placed (or some variant). Probably would require some type of database system to manage that could possibly be subsidized by higher fees and requiring AHA membership. Or cap entries for non-members first, then graduate it up for members based on their history.
Apologies for being trivial, but there already is a maximum limit of entries per brewer - 80 in the beer category (or however many BJCP substyles there are), and probably a similar limit in Mead and Cider. So we shouldn’t be arguing about whether a limit is acceptable, but rather what the acceptable limit should be. And I think it should be 80.
Then again, I got all 9 of my entries in before it filled up, and I’d probably feel different if I hadn’t.
Also, I’m probably lucky in that I live in Bermuda - I have no “regional” entry center, and could just as easily have picked any of them (DHL, if you’re reading this, I promise it’s soda I’m shipping).