NHBC 2011

[Toast]

Dear All,

 

The SOBA National Howe Brew Competition has been announced and is to be judged at the home of many of the country’s best breweries, Christchurch. Ally McGilvary, Nathan Crabbe & James Pinamonti have gallantly stepped forward to organise the event this year.

Here is a summary of the pertinent dates and information:

• 1st - 21st October 2011 for receiving entries.
• Judging to be held 29th - 30th October 2011.
• Costs: $5 SOBA members, $10 non-members per entry.
• Location: Christchurch (and we will do everything possible to ensure Mother Nature doesn’t shake the bottles up too much!)

To reduce the postal costs, the competition organisers will accept 1 bottle (minimum 330ml) per entry but this will be at the entrants own risk. Sending two bottles is your insurance policy and neither SOBA nor the organisers accept any liability for loss.

 

The attached press release contains the same information as this post.

 

Martin Bulmer

Press Officer, SOBA

 

[James P]

Hi All

 

The website it up now (http://nhc.soba.org.nz), with most of the information available. Any issues please let me know.

 

Cheers

James

[mattd2]

Hey all, thanks to SOBA for putting this on. I'm getting ready to send my entries off soon. Being this is my first time entering what does everyone use for posting beer? Parcel post, courier, etc? And what is the best way to package the beer, in a box or wrapped up in bubble wrap?

Cheers.

[MrC]

I'd recommend individually wrapping each bottle in bubble wrap and then lots of packing around them all inside the box.  You can't over do it.  I would also recommend courier rather than standard parcel post.  I know it's more expensive but it's worth it.

 

I've heard various stories of beer being smashed in transit and the whole package being delayed as a result.  Some even missed the NHC one year due to a packing malfunction.  Not mine luckily.

[Ralph]

I would suggest courier with tracking number and a hell of a lot of padding. Couriers are not kind to packages!!

 

Check your tracking number to ensure it arrives and is signed for. If there are delays it is often when something is broken or has got lost. Chase it up immediately with the company if it is not delivered within standard stated delivery time.

 

I assume we can go around a drop them off? The address is not far around the corner from work.

[Greig McGill]

Just a note though, you *can* overdo it. Remember the poor slaves volunteers at the other end who need to extract your beer from its packaging in a timely manner, and multiply your impenetrable packing effort by roughly 300. My wife is still not speaking to me after her and Phil's fiancee volunteered for this thankless task last year! :)

Foam and a really tight fitting box is heaps better than assloads of bubble-wrap and tape inside a too-large box.

 

Summary: cushioning and zero glass-on-glass contact is great. Massive amounts of hard-to-cut-or-remove duct-tape is not so great.

[Greig McGill]

Oh yeah, and out of all the entries last year, we had one completely smashed (no idea what the couriers did to it, it was extremely well packed) and one lost in transit. Not too bad odds when packing ranged from cursory to extreme.

[mattd2]

Any chance you remember what cariers lost/smashed them? I don't know if I did something wrong but I was checking prices online and NZ courier and Courierpost were both $30+ to send 3 bottles! Fastways had a more reasonable price of $6 (minimum 20 tickets, for single tickets you had to check with the local francise).

What are all your experineces with the different couriers as $30 is pretty steep!

[Greig McGill]

I can't remember sorry. I do remember that the entry belonged to John Morawski - you could ask him.

[Ralph]

I deal with couriers a lot through work. In my experience they are all as bad as each other and it just depends on the driver you get for that route. Some of the drivers are great and take actual care, others are just rough bastards. Every company I have dealt with seems to have a few of each.

 

I have found there is a disconnect between the customer and the actual courier. Something goes wrong and you never ever get to talk to the guy who smashed your precious cargo, it is always some useless customer services person who promises to look into and never gets back to you...

 

I have had some really bad experiences with Fastways, but then sometimes they are really good... Just depends who the local guy is.

 

Find whoever will do it for a good price and send it with them. Otherwise try and find someone who sends a lot of parcels and see if you can send it on their account. It should be more like $10 than $30 if you can get it put on trade account.

 

As Greig  said. Make sure you have cushioning and may I add make sure you have a very solid cardboard box. Cushioning between bottles will be important as will cushioning between the box and bottle.

[James P]

Submission ids recieved as of 4pm today:

130

139

150

153

154

156

161

162

163

164

165

182

183

184

185

188

204

205

206

208

 

[Ralph]

Hi James,

 

Does that mean that you have received the beers for those submission ids, or that you have received payment for those ids or what?

 

If my submission ids are 132 and 133, and I have paid for entry by internet banking and sent the beers off should I be on your list?

[James P]

Hi Ralph

Yes those are the submissions confirmed as received as of today.

For anyone that has sent by courier please check with them, and confirm you sent to the following address:

 

SOBA NHC Entry Organiser
    C:\ BeerNZ Ltd
    Cranford Coolstores
    52 Birmingham Drive
    Christchurch

 

Thanks