THE WCFA IS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO ENCOURAGE MORE WOMEN & NON BINARY FOLKS TO ENTER HOMEBREW COMPS AND WE NEED YOUR HELP TO DO IT!
Hey all, my name is Michele Wonder and I am an avid homebrewer of 4 years, the co-founder of the Women’s Intl Beer Summit and Media Director for the Women’s Craft Fermentation Alliance.
I am in the midst of creating a brewing initiative to help educate, encourage and enable women and non binary homebrewers to enter, compete and win in more homebrew comps. Last year when the NHC list of winners came out I quickly scanned through and not a single female sounding name was on that list. I really want to change that!
I have created a brief survey to help identify why folks do or do not enter comps; what tools they need or roadblocks they have to overcome in order to participate. https://tinyurl.com/3ppa6n6y It is brief and should take no more than 2-3 minutes to fill out.
Please note that this survey is NOT restricted to just women or non-binary folks, it is essential that we learn from men who homebrew as well.
There is a question about gender identity that is not required to fill out but we find most folks have chosen to do so. We will be able to split up the data and see who’s who in the answers. It will be 100% anonymous on the distribution and discussion of the data gleaned from this survey, we do ask for an email at the end ONLY if you’d like to be considered to win a free registration to WIBS 23.
We would very much appreciate if you all would consider contributing to this data set. Finding out why people do or do not enter comps will go along way towards encouraging those who may be intimidated or feel they aren’t valued or their beer isn’t good enough (HAHAHA, every judged a homebrew comp?) the knowledge, tools and confidence to participate!
Thanks ya’ll and hope to see some of you at WIBS 23: A Craft Fermentation Summit held online in Fall 2023. If you are curious about the types of content WIBS provides check out some of our past sessions at our YouTube page. https://tinyurl.com/37kkuw2b
I’ve entered several homebrew competitions since I began brewing. Why? To become a better brewer.
I stopped entering homebrew competitions. Why? IMO, they are an absolute waste of time and, often, money.
Ask for judge clarification/feedback. Get none. Can’t be bothered. Or, don’t remember why they rated something the way they rated, even if they have another taste.
Ask judge style clarification/feedback. Get none. Or, I got “What was your beer?”
One comment was “too much black patent”. I informed the judge I used zero black patent in the brew. I showed the judge the recipe. Proved there was zero black patent used. I get a blank stare.
Best judge. Yourself, family and friends.
If really, truly, needed, buy some medals and award yourself.
Competitions are expensive. And I’m a Certified judge and my own worst critic. If my beer is good, I know it. If it’s bad, I kick myself, don’t need to pay someone else to s*** on it.
If one newer to home brewing and is “in it to win it”, there are numerous HomeBrew Con presentations and BJCP content that will get one off to a good start. Beyond the flawless execution of the “5 priorities”, one needs control 1) water quality, 2) wort mineral content (both good minerals and bad minerals), and 3) oxygen. Bottling, shipping, and storage are part of the competition process as well.
The cost of equipment to compete at this level may be a consideration (I haven’t priced equipment for a couple of years).
Beyond that, there are additional things that one can learn about the competition process by being part of a home brew club that participates in regional (200+ bottle) events. There are insights from 1) bottle sort, 2) competition day (as a steward or judge), and 3) the club meeting after the competition that I haven’t see in other content.
Brew a beer to a 35-40 score, enter it often, eventually it may win.
I have zero confidence that you will get any more participation of women or LGBTQA+ by taking a survey. It appears to be more of an exercise in virtue signalling than actual problem solving.
Past general surveys by the AHA ad others have shown a consistent demographic breakdown of people who participate in the hobby of homebrewing. There are sections of those demographics that are small. You can expect that same demographic breakdown to follow all aspects of the hobby including competitions. You will not increase the latter until you increase the former and getting those small demographic groups to participate in the hobby in the first place is going to be the tougher get.
I believe that certain hobbies attract certain types of folks and that there is little you can do to attract those who are simply not interested. How do you attract more women to participate in hunting? People have been trying to figure that out for several decades now. How do you attract more males to participate in the female/non binary dominated theatre world? Tell me please because I am on the production committee at our community theatre and would like to know how to get men to audition for shows.
Figure out why your target demographic is not participating and take steps to address those concerns at the bottom rung of the ladder rather than concern yourself with competitions which is several steps higher. You gotta get them to step on the ladder first before you encourage them to climb up it.
I haven’t yet participated in competitions but had been planning to, primarily for the critical feedback. It’s disheartening that I hear a lot of stories regarding the lack of helpful feedback from these competition judges.
I have never entered a home-brew competition, and probably never will. I am cheap, so that may be a reason. I also brew for myself and don’t need positive reinforcement. If my beer is not great, I know, and drink it anyway. Sometimes it gets better with age, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, I learn something. I think those that enter competitions do so for their reasons, and that works for them, which is great. It’s just not for me.
lol, i was writing a reply, and i understand where youre coming from but i have a lot of reasoning for my question, it both as a rhetorical point and as a serious question, but i see the one big comment was deleted or removed, so i wont post it here. if you want to know you can PM me or not, either way.
