2010 SOBA National Homebrewing Competition

[Greig McGill]

SOBA, New Zealand’s consumer beer advocacy group, is pleased to announce the fourth annual SOBA National Homebrewing Competition.

Full details are yet to be confirmed, but keen homebrewers can expect entries to be accepted from the first of October, closing on the 22^nd, with judging to take place on the weekend of the 30^th of October.

As in previous years, the best of show beer will be brewed commercially by Steve Plowman at Hallertau Brewbar – a glittering prize indeed, in a competition where bragging rights are often the key motivation for entry.

Other prizes are yet to be confirmed, but homebrewers often enter for the valuable experience of having their beers critiqued by world class judges, with the feedback they receive enabling them to hone their brewing skills further.

SOBA have secured the services of some serious judging talent. Graeme Mahy (head brewer of 666 Brewing, and brewing consultant) has judged at the World Beer Cup – the ultimate international beer competition. “Even though people know about me being a commercial brewer, they often can’t believe that the fantastic beer they are drinking is made at home”, says Mahy. “A national hombrewing competition is important for a number of reasons - certainly the social aspects that go with a competition but also comparing brewing notes and techniques is also important.  Of course there's also the judging of your beers against others to see how they compare, but most importantly the possibility of 'bragging rights' for the next 12 months!”

SOBA was formed in 2006 in order to increase awareness of and appreciation for flavourful crafted beers. While not a homebrewing focused organisation, SOBA has many homebrewing members and
has always supported this great hobby.

[MrC]

Results are in and as usual my prediction of how my beers would score was, for the most part, way off :-)

Thanks to Greig and everyone else involved in the organisation and judging. Sounds like a huge undertaking, I hope it was rewarding for you all in some way.

Congratulations to all prize & medal winners.

Judging seems to have been tougher this year than previous years, which can only be a good thing. I'm looking forward to the feedback, especially on my beers that scored lower than I expected as that's where I'll likely learn the most.

Cheers!

[Greig McGill]

Thanks Mr C. And yep, for those who weren't madly hitting refresh on the results website yesterday, the full list is now up at: http://nhc.soba.org.nz/results

Barb Joppa asked if it was possible to have access to the raw results by class, so I've saved that anonymised data as a CSV, and it's now linked down the bottom of the results page if anyone wants to run their own stats on it.

Thanks to all who entered, and here's to next year's competition, which I might be able to enter! ;)

Cheers,

Greig.

[Greig McGill]

I hope not! ;)

[martin w]

are those listed by beer id? is it poosible to have something similar by entrant id?

[Greig McGill]

Sorry Martin, that may allow people to figure out who brewed what, for example, it's fairly common knowledge that someone entered 30 beers. :) When you get your sheets back, you'll have the beer id on them, so you'll know which was which with regard to your beers.

[martin w]

30 beers,shit,that would take me at least 2 years to brew!

[Tilt]

My biggest thanks also to you Grieg as well as other organisers, judges, stewards and volunteers!!
While I know I haven't placed this year I suspected that'd be the case and am very keen to see feedback and use it to up my brewing game.
This comp will have provided me with the first rigourous review of my brewing attempts and I'm sure I can only get better from here.
So, from the perspective of a new AG brewer, I know the hours that go into volunteer roles like yours and I can't thank you generous folk enough for pulling the comp together to help the likes of me and the NZ HB community.
Looking forward to contributing myself in some way in the future.
Cheers

[Matthew]

Cheers to everyone involved who made this years event happened, really appreciate the work.

Congrats to all the entrants, I'm sure for most of us it's mostly about getting feedback to help with lifting our brewing standards but it's pretty nice to get something in return. Well done everyone!

[Sparky]

Have to add my 2 cents worth here.....Thanks Greig for the effort that you and your team have put in. Processing and co-ordinating close to 300 entries wouldn't be easy. You'd better watch out in case Brew NZ come knocking on your door.Job well done!!!

Cheers
WayneO

[Dale]

Yeah thanks Greig and all the people that must have worked really hard to pull this off.

[Llew Bardecki]

And yet more kudos to Greig as well as all the stewards, judges and behind-the-scenes organizers of the NHC!
I'm very impressed at how smoothly the whole event has gone, especially considering the monstrous number of entries.

Many thanks are due to the sponsors as well, for helping make this fun and exciting competition possible.

And finally, congratulations to the winners of the big prizes, to all those who won medals and, in fact, to every brewer who stepped up and entered the fruits of their labour!

[Haish]

Here is a Herald article about this years NHC.