SOBA National Homebrew Competition - CLOSING THIS FRIDAY!

[Brendon]

All,

Get them in quick...

Here's the fabulous prize list:

Champion brewer - The SOBA Champion brewer is sponsored by Brewcraft. The Champion brewer will win a Brewcraft keg system and a Brewcraft still system.

Best overall beer - The hopping good folk at Hallertau have once again chosen to sponsor the Best overall beer award. The winner of the Best overall beer will have their beer commercially brewed by the Hallertau team.

Hop balanced beer - New Zealand Hops does it again and have chosen to sponsor the Hop balanced beer award. The winner of the Hop balanced beer award will receive a voucher for $150 worth of hops to include in their next brew.

Malt balanced beer - The good folk at Liberty Brewing have chipped in by offering a voucher worth $150 off your next malt purchase.

Need more information? Check out the soba.org.nz website.

Important dates:
Entries start - Friday 3rd July 2009
Entries close - Friday 24th July 2009 at 18:00
Entries received before or after the entry dates will not be entered in the contest.
Judging dates - Saturday 1st August - Sunday 2nd August with a reserve judging day of Saturday 8th August if there are large number of entries
Announcement of results - tentatively scheduled for Sunday 30th August

Get involved:
A competition like this doesn't happen without the help and participation of many dedicated individuals. Volunteering to help at the beer competition is rewarding and great fun. What could be better than chatting about beer to other like minded souls! You don't have to be a homebrewer - just a beer lover.
We need Wellington based volunteer organisers, stewards and judges. If you are available to help on the dates above please let me know at [e-mail]

The beer styles will follow the BJCP 2008 style guidelines plus additional style descriptions to cover New Zealand styles:
http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_Guidelines.pdf

The New Zealand Style Guidelines to be used are:
http://soba.org.nz/files/New%20Zealand%20Styles_0.pdf

More information on last years competition can be found at the following links:
http://www.soba.org.nz/competition
http://www.soba.org.nz/node/125

If you have any questions please email me at [e-mail] . Alternatively, you can post here are I will try and get back to you as soon as possible.

Cheers,
Brendon

For results please go to http://www.soba.org.nz/competition-results

[Rusty Chch]

Something doesn't add up. Tentative award date is the 30th Aug. Isn't that the same weekend as BrewNZ?

[Brendon]

Announcement (i.e. press release / email to contestants / posting on SOBA website) of the homebrew results is 30th of August.
As Rob will attest there is quite a bit of effort between completion of the judging and collating the feedback ready for postage and confirming the awards.
There is early discussion about whether the AGM will be/not be on the weekend of Beervana. Regardless, I was going to announce the results on the Sunday and post feedback on the Monday. I didn't announce earlier due to creating confusion with BrewNZ awards and announcements which will go out on the Thursday and also the need for time to collate!

[Brendon]

Just to give a quick update on where we are at...
Head Judge - Brendon Mackenzie ([e-mail])
Sponsorship co-ordinator - Rob Owen ([e-mail])

Thanks to all the people who have volunteered to be stewards. We are still missing two critical roles though...
I am still looking for an Entrant administrator and Head steward. This can be one in the same person or two people.
The Entrant administrator is responsible for managing entries as they arrive and ensuring entry information is correct for classes and then randomly assigned entry details. The entrant administrator hands the entries across to the head steward on the day of judging.
The Head Steward is responsible for logistics on judging days, preparation of beers and sorting out a serving order with the head judge.

If there is anyone who would like to volunteer to help as either an Entrant administrator and Head steward please let me know ASAP.

SOBA needs your help!

A venue for judging is getting close to being finalised as well as the judges list.

Cheers,
Brendon

[Mike Neilson]

Hey If I brew a beer to my style that is not in the BJCP of styles can it still be entered?

[Stu McKinlay]

Yep. BJCP covers everything.

[MrC]

What about PKB?

[Mike Neilson]

OK!!! will do then!! Will they slot me into a class?

[denimglen]

http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

[Mike Neilson]

http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter/mikeneilsonrandomshit!!!!!!.php

Its telling me!! im out of order!!! I beg to differ!!

[Stu McKinlay]

At least they are apologising for the inconvenience of not having your style written up yet.

[Stu McKinlay]

No. If you're in the wrong class, no matter how good your beer is you will probably only receive silver at best. Happens all the time - at the pro and the amateur level.

[Stu McKinlay]

Yep... Off the top off my head I'd say Robust Porter is wide enough to fit it. If not, I'd think of putting it in the specialty category and say that it is a new hybrid style between a robust porter (malt character) and an American IPA (hop character). I can't really tell without tasting it and I've got none left - if you do have some, give me a call and we could taste it together ;-)

The important thing is to drink your beer and think hard about where it may or may not actually fit. The categories are usually wider than what you immediately think. Read them well. Judges ALWAYS mark beers down if they are entered in the wrong category (i.e. you enter a beer as specialty but it actually does fit in the base category). You can be sure that Brendon knows the styles better than you because I know he knows them better than me (and I know them pretty well!).