A few months back I brewed a Belgian dark strong ale and in order to add a bit of fruitiness at bottling time I blended in a single bottle of lindeman’s framboise. would this beer be eligible for submittal into this year’s NHC or would it be disqualified due to the blending of a commercial beer with the home brew?
Thanks!
Hi Holzbrew,
While it is O.K. to blend beers that you brewed for entry in the National Homebrew Competition (NHC), blending homebrew with a commercial beer is not allowed. If you read the 2011 NHC Rules and Regulations, on page 5 you will see the Entry Limitations which includes the statement,
“(b) Your homebrew cannot have been brewed on equipment used to brew beverages for any commercial purpose, whether for commercial research, production or any other purpose, including equipment at brew-on-premises establishments.”
While your homebrew was not brewed on equipment used to brew beverages for commercial purposes, the Lindeman’s was. If you had blended with your own homebrewed framboise, that would be another story. Sorry.
Cheers,
Janis
Janis,
Thanks for the rule interpretation. I didn’t think i’d be able to enter it. I’ve got plenty of other brews to enter this year that are 100 pct home-brewed, so no worries.
Hi Holzbrew,
I’m glad to hear that! Good luck in the competition!
Cheers,
Janis
Just stirring the pot a little, how about the folks who use bourbon to soak chips and such. They certainly were not able to make that bourbon at home 
Or the Chambourde Stout that used to win competitions in Florida years ago. Should we rescind the medals?
The AHA doesn’t set the rules for Florida competitions 
The bourbon one though, that’s a tricky one. Of course there’s “able” and then there’s “allowed”. ;D I’m looking forward to the answer
I think the answer is that plenty of beers with commercial spirits added have been entered and have won awards. In fact, the recipe for the Flanders Red that won Homebrewer of the Year last year lists the addition of commercial Calvados.
Did they grow the oak trees for the chips? Do fruit beer makers grow the fruit they use?
Adding an ingredient is fine, adding a finished commercial beer is not. This is a stupid comparison.
I think “additives other than commercial beer are okay” applies here but that’s my opinion.
According to the rules on Special Ingredients Instructions on page 6 of the 2011 NHC Rules and Regulations.
Special Ingredients Instructions
Entries in categories 6D, 16E, 17F, 20, 21A, 21B, 22B, 22C, 23, 25C, 26A, 26C, 27E, 28A, 28B, and
28D require Style and/or Special Ingredients information. As a general rule, these ingredients must
play a role in the overall flavor/aroma/mouthfeel of the homebrew. Conversely, a homebrew listed in a
category not requiring special ingredients, should not have any special ingredients listed.
All MEAD entries (categories 24, 25, 26) must include sweetness, carbonation, and strength
information.
All CIDER entries (categories 27, 28) must include sweetness, and carbonation information.
If the required information is not provided, the entry will be disqualified.
Please do not use brand names, or geographic names, or any other proper names of special ingredients.
For example, if you used Premier malt extract, Briess pale malt, Washington apples, Colorado clover
honey, or Sitka spruce tips, only enter malt extract, pale malt, apples, clover honey, or spruce tips,
respectively.
I personally having a hard time drawing the line at “a bottle of cherry lambic is not okay, but a bottle of cherry wine is”.
In fact, why don’t I enter a cherry wine back sweetened with honey in the other fruit mead category?
Hi everyone,
I appreciate your continuing questions regarding the NHC Rules & Regulations. My answer to Holzbrew still stands because it answers the specific question he asked about his entry. If any of you have specific questions about your entries for the NHC this year, I would be happy to address them individually and answer them.
The AHA does not have enough people and time (or interest) to police the NHC entry database to disqualify entries based on the special ingredients voluntarily listed. If you and your conscience are good with the product being your own homebrewed creation, then go ahead and enter it in the competition. However, be forewarned that the Judging Center site organizers make the calls on disqualifications at their sites based on their own experience with competitions and using the Rules & Regulations for guidance.
I urge those of you who are concerned about this subject to contact the AHA Governing Committee Competition Sub-committee (ahagc-competition@brewersassociation.org) to voice your concerns and the sub-committee will consider your suggestions for next year’s NHC Rules & Regulations. Thanks and good luck in the competition!
Cheers,
Janis
Actually I was trying to highlight the BOURBON…sorry I didn’t make that clear or perhaps it just wasn’t clear to you…
Understood… but this isn’t a bourbon making competition. Adding other ingredients can be okay, but adding a beer you didn’t brew is not.
I’m sorry, Mike, stupid was the wrong choice of words. I just thought you were “stirring the pot” with a bad analogy.
Cheers… no hard feelings I hope.
None at all, just making sure that was the case.
My point was the rules poo poo on adding commercial beer or brewing on commercial equipment, yet people add all sorts of spirits and it seems to pass muster. I’m not picking on the NHC, it happens with many competitions. It just seems odd to me that one beverage is acceptable and another is not…
So I’m wondering about fruit flavorings like commercially produced extracts and syrups?
My interpretation of the interpretation of the rules is that you can add anything you like, in any quantity and from any source, so long as any beer/mead/cider added was made by you (or perhaps by others in a non-commercial setting).
So commercially produced cherry extract, cherry syrup, cherry wine, cherry brandy, cherry concentrate are okay.
Commercially produced cherry beer, cherry cider, cherry mead are not okay.
I agree. Not an NHC specific thing at all. It seems like an irrational result of a literal reading of the rules that many competitions share. I can live with the rules but wanted to make a big enough fuss that some of the people making the rules consider going back to the drawing board on this issue and specifically address the addition of commercial alcoholic beverages to a home brewed beer in a consistent and reasonable way.
Very cool, Im going with it, pass or no pass that is the question!