I’ve been following that thread for a little while now.
A couple thoughts:
Wow. Some people are naive. But, such is life on the internet.
If a region is “too busy”, maybe they shouldn’t be considered to host a regional next year.
If we know some regions are a bit slow, why are we still sending our beers to them? Somewhat local and well organized are my requirements for any competition. If I wasn’t allowed to enter my beers in KC, I would have picked either Tulsa or St. Paul because I know they can run a great competition.
Amanda, last year my region was Philly and I had my scores back in a few days. Obviously they are a little busy this year so NYC picked it up. The year prior was Saratoga Springs, and you can look back at old forum posts on that one. :
I hope Philly decides to do it again next year. Otherwise you may see my entries heading your way.
I know we’ve had a few cover sheets not marked with a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place that did advance. It happens.
What about ones marked with a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place that did not advance? Anyone seen that mistake?
I’d like to see just the top 3 on each web site the second that the last region finishes judging. But maybe it takes a long time to go through scoresheets and flight summary sheets and double check…
the reason I asked is post-Tulsa judging my name wasn’t on the list of top 3 in Cat 14. Yet my scoresheet shows up Saturday, and in addition to the 4 I knew about, my 14C says “3rd.”
Hmm…maybe I’ll hold off on draining that keg for a few more days.
I haven’t seen that at the NHC personally, but it has happened to me for one of the comps in the High Plains Circuit. I had cover sheets marked for everything from 9th to 3rd. Funny thing was that they didn’t mark my actual second place beer. So when they sent out the medals, I didn’t get a silver, I got a bronze. I emailed the organizer and she basically told me “Tough s**t”.
My Denver score sheets showed up in the mail today. On the cover sheets, some of the places were marked 1, 2, 3, etc. Some marked DNA and some with the place awarded space left blank. I’m waiting for the official AHA results to be posted before I re-brew anything.
Why can’t we have the first round judging happen earlier in the year(or even before the holidays)? If we could lengthen the time between first round results and final round shipping(to months instead of weeks), then a four-week advantage wouldn’t matter as much. This would mean that a lot more beers would have to be re-brewed(wheat beers, hoppy beers, etc.), but at least you’d have time to plan.
I had two bottle-conditioned lagers, a fresh Kolsch still clarifying and two slightly green hoppy beers. I rushed to get stuff ready, entered them in the later of the two regions available to me. I had two weeks of additional cold-conditioning in Tulsa vs if they had been judged in KC.
advantage?
some got to drop off entries vs ship them. IMO, huge advantage.
Chance to find out two weeks earlier whether I’d advanced or not? I didn’t perceive it as enough of an advantage to make it worthwhile to enter KC. YMMV.
I won a category that had only 4 entries, while just missing top 3 in one with 55. The competition level isn’t equal.
if someone has a way to run a competition where national interest level probably approaches 20,000 entries, so that no one has any advantages, I’d love to hear it.
Well, this doesn’t work for first time entrants who have no idea about the regions. It also doesn’t work because the registration process was a complete disaster. It also, also doesn’t work because once the entrant registers they are unable to register elsewhere.
This has been my first (and likely last) attempt to participate in the NHC and/or anything AHA related. Due to the size and prestige of ‘The Worlds Largest Homebrew Competition’ (and the exorbitant fees) I was expecting a certain level of professionalism and it has been anything but. I feel like I participated in a hobby group that got out of the organizers hands. Lesson learned I suppose.
Michael, I got my scores back today from Tulsa judging and I only had one beer entered, it was in the 14C cat. I scored a 36.5 and it says advanced to mini-BOS, I take that meant that it went to a second judge cause I have two score sheets. My question is that the “place awarded” box was blank, I guess that means I didn’t place or will that be announced on the 4th? This was my first competition so not sure how this all works. Thanks
In a Mini-BOS, entries are ranked, but not normally scored. Those two sheets you got back would have been from the two judges who judged your beer before the mini-BOS.
I feel a bit of the same way…This was my first time entering the NHC .I don’t know I was just expecting it to run more smoothly for the hoops I had to jump through and high fees I had to pay just to enter. Thank goodness my entries got moved to Seattle…I received my scoresheets literally within days of the competition. Of course I don’t know if my high scoring beers even went to the mini BOS since nothing was marked and there is some confusion if judges were supposed to fill them out. I don’t know if I will enter next year but either way I don’t expect the AHA to change. There is no need when demand out strips supply.
From the perspective of a long time member, the NHC has changed for the better in my memory. The Governing Committee was a positive change, as it is made up of members like you and me, who hear member voices and try to make changes for the better.
The problem is the rapid growth of the hobby, and how to respond to and manage the growth.
fyi, my friend scored 37.5 in this category and finished 2nd. I also scored 37.5 and while it said “3rd” I found out tonight that I did not advance. I’m fairly annoyed, truth be told. The only reason I wasn’t super excited is I was there when they announced someone else’s name in that spot. This is not an error we can make without people getting pissed off…
long story short - I wouldn’t trust this category in this particular region until the NHC releases official results… edit - sent you a PM to better describe queued judging and mini-BOS.
Don’t get me wrong I think the AHA does a fantastic job by and large!! I understand how homebrewing has exploded in the last few years and the problems dealing with that growth. I think that at some point the AHA “might” have to realize that they can no longer put on the NHC in its’ current form
We have already realized this and the competition committee is currently talking through the changes we are considering for next year. We are also planning to survey the membership to find out what they want/expect from the competition so that we can make sure they are positive changes. While I can’t guarantee we will fix all of the problems and make everyone happy, it won’t be because we didn’t try to anticipate the needs of the competition.
