SOBA National Homebrew Competition Question

[Peter Smith]

Question:   You can't enter the same beer twice, but if you say split the batch and dry hop one half does that make this 1/2 a different beer?

[Tilt]

If I understand the rules correctly the short answer is yes

You could even enter the exact same beer twice in different categories if you're not sure where it best fits.

[Peter Smith]

yeah I dont think you could do this in the same style?

ok a different question , If you had a wheat beer that was similar to three boys wheat beer, what style would that fit into?

[Greig McGill]

Yep, Tilt is correct in that you can enter a "doctored" or split-batch beer as two separate beers. You can NOT enter the same beer in multiple categories.

The simple rule is if two beers taste different, they are different. It doesn't matter where in the process they became different. Even two identically brewed batches with different age variations count as different beers. Just not two identical beers from the same batch.

Hope that helps. :)

[Tilt]

Thanks for clarifying that Greig.  I hadn't realised the "exact" same beer couldn't be entered multiple times in different categories if it met the parameters for more than one style. 

Not that I'm interested in doing that but I have heard tales on other forums of people picking up double gongs in comps overseas for the same beer in different categories.

[Greig McGill]

Interesting. Styles have many overlaps, but I'd think it would have to be an amazing beer indeed for it to get a silver or gold medal as two different styles! That or the judges were being a little too subjective! :)

[Tilt]

Yeah - you're probably onto something there.  Good to know how we're playing things here though.  Looking forward to this year's NHC - it generates a whole bunch of home brewing energy and exposure which is great.