**let me put this first: No sour grapes. The right guy won. But let’s imagine for a minute that he did not win that Bronze medal. Imagine instead we had 23 brewers each with one Gold Medal. OK?
here are the “official rules”
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/national-homebrew-competition/rules-and-regulations/
here are the Ninkasi tiebreakers at the link:
There will only be one Ninkasi Award winner. In the event of a tie for the most points in the Final Round, the following tie-breaker criteria will apply.
a. The number of medals earned in the Final Round will be tallied, and the brewer with the most medals will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists,
b. The number of Gold medals earned in the Final Round will be tallied, and the brewer with the most Gold medals will be declared the winner. In case a tie still exists,
c. The number of entries qualifying for the Final Round will be tallied for each tying brewer, and the brewer with the fewest entries in the Final Round will be declared the winner. In case a tie still exists,
d. Points will be calculated for tying brewers’ entries that placed in the First Round of the NHC based on the same scale as used in the Final Round. The brewer with the most points in the First Round will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists,
e. The number of entries qualifying for the Final Round will be tallied for each tying brewer, and the brewer with the most entries placing in the First Round will be declared the winner. In case a tie still exists,
f. The total number of entries registered for the First Round of the competition will be tallied for each tying brewer, and the brewer with the fewest registered entries will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists,
g. The winner will be selected using a random selection method. A random method such as rock-paper-scissors, steel cage death match, or a coin flip will be applied at the discretion of the competition organizers to determine the winner.
sigh - despite being told multiple times, “c” and “e” are still the opposite of each other. “e” needs to be deleted.
Furthermore, I think “c” makes little sense in a competition with severe entry limits. The 23 gold medalists this year advanced 1, 2, or 3 to the Finals. “a” and “b” are pretty outdated too.
Here are the rankings of the top 23, using tiebreakers a thru d. Assuming the redundant “e” is deleted, if Voeltz had not won that second medal, we’d have a 6-way tie for first place, and would need to figure out who had the “fewest 1st round entries”. Considering everyone had 1,2,3 or 4, another tie is possible. The idea that we’ll never get to the coin flip is simply false in these days of entry limits.
place Brewer Final Points Final Medals Gold Medals # advancing 1st rd points
1 Voeltz 8 2 1 3 10
2 Boeke 6 1 1 1 6
2 Fish 6 1 1 1 6
2 Gladue 6 1 1 1 6
2 Hilferding 6 1 1 1 6
2 Sapp 6 1 1 1 6
2 Shibiya 6 1 1 1 6
8 Barry 6 1 1 1 4
9 Collins 6 1 1 1 2
9 Rawks 6 1 1 1 2
11 Reinholdt 6 1 1 2 12
12 Carter 6 1 1 2 10
12 Hixson 6 1 1 2 10
12 Linder 6 1 1 2 10
12 Reuter 6 1 1 2 10
16 Gutierrez 6 1 1 2 8
16 Kampshoff 6 1 1 2 8
16 Marvin 6 1 1 2 8
16 Rodammer 6 1 1 2 8
20 Schmitt 6 1 1 2 6
20 Vrabel 6 1 1 2 6
22 Wilcox 6 1 1 3 16
23 McNair 6 1 1 3 14
(I’ll format it later. basically we’ve got 6 guys with one gold medal, blue ribbon beer, that was the only thing they advanced to the Finals, and one tiebreaker left before the coin flip)
