Searching for the line between "hobby" and "obsession"

2012 National Homebrew Competition entries

Just as I did a year ago, I’ve again entered some of my beers into the National Homebrew Competition. Minneapolis is fortunate this year to be the judging site for one of the nine regions in the U.S. Last year, I had to make sure my first round entries got to Madison, WI to be judged (and later shipped one that got first place at regionals to nationals to San Diego, CA). With the help from a member of the St. Paul Homebrewers Club, fortunately that wasn’t a problem. Easy peasy this year. Just need to drop them off at Northern Brewer.

This year, I’m entering my In the name of doG Belgian honey ale in category 16e (Belgian Specialty ale) and 18d (Belgian Strong ale) to see where it does best, also entering CUJO SPICE v2.1 pumpkin rye ale in category 21 (spice/herb/vegetabel beer) and Snot Snout Stout, my chocolate cherry stout in category 20 (fruit beer). This will be the first competition for Snot, the second for CUJO v2.1 and the third for doG. The feedback I’m getting in competition is very informative, so I’m trying to enter my favorite batches in multiple competitions to help me refine recipes before I re-brew.

From L to R: Snot Snout chocolate cherry stout, CUJO SPICE v2.1 pumpkin rye ale, In the name of doG Belgian honey ale (x2)

First round judging will occur between March 30th and April 22nd with results posted online by May 4th. Last year, my Scottish ale competed at finals in early/mid-June if my memory serves me.

Excited to see how my brews do and get some useful feedback!

This entry was posted on March 6, 2012. It was filed under Homebrew Competitions.

2 Responses

  1. Beer Opinion

    This is my first year entering into the NHC, I entered into the St Paul region as well, so first of all good luck to you. In year’s past, did you get your judging sheets back before the formal announcement or can I expect to have to wait until May 4 to hear anything?

    April 17, 2012 at 9:59 am

  2. Grant

    Thanks! Good luck to you too. The first thing we’ll see is the posting on the AHA’s site on May 4th with those who placed: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/national-homebrew-competition

    and scoresheets will probably come sometime later in May based on my experience last year. What beers did you enter?

    April 17, 2012 at 9:06 pm