2008 SOBA National HomeBrew Championship

[Rob Owen]

Ladies and Gentlemen start your burners! Entries are now open for the 2008 SOBA National HomeBrew Championship. Entries will close on 31 July 2008. Judging will be done during August and results announced at the SOBA HomeBrewFest, which this year will be during the BrewNZ week - first week of September.

For entry forms and more information please see www.soba.org.nz

[Steve Baker]

I don't know about the dungeon, but I did see inside the crypt where all the entries are being stored.

[Kempicus]

Gimp masks provided or bring your own? ;0)

[Sparky]

Tried to open the link to the entry form tonight and am getting a message saying the file is damaged and can't be repaired.

The two other links listed work fine, any one else had this?

Cheers

[MrC]

Tested it just now and it worked fine for me.
Maybe you need a later version of PDF reader?
I have Adobe Reader 7.0.5.

[Sparky]

Thanks for that Mr C.

I'm using adobe 9, not sure what is going on as the other two work fine.

I'll try on my work pc tomorrow

Cheers

WayneO

[Dan]

Hi Sparky
What browser do you use?
If your still having problems I,ll forward you a copy via email. you could try nitro pdf, then you can edit your entries too.

[MrC]

I copied the entire pdf image, pasted it into MS Word and then added text boxes.
I can send you a copy of that if you like.

Just ignore this if you've already got it sorted.

[Sparky]

Cheers Guys and Thanks for the offers.

Got it all sorted using my work pc and got my entries off on Wednesday morning.

Good luck with your entries, hope all goes well.

Cheers

WayneO

[MrC]

I too am a home brew comp virgin and I'm interested to kow more a bout the judging & scoring process.
- How many judges are there?
- Is all tasting done in one day?
- Are the styles tasted in a specific order?
- Is it all based on the bjcp points system?
- How is the best in show determined across styles? Points? Collective opinion?
- Any other interesting facts about a homebrew comp?

I realise this is a very busy time for all involved but I would appreciate it if someone could give a little explanation or point me to some existing links.

Cheers

[Stu McKinlay]

FYI, some thoughts from last year (it may be a little different this year):

We had 5 judges and 2 stewards.

Around 150 beers, judged over two days, and that was quite a struggle. We worked pretty hard and Geoff Griggs, who was head judge, got away just in time for his flight back to Blenheim.

We ordered the beers so that the lighter categories are judged in the morning, leading to the most robust and higher alcohol ones in the afternoon. The same logic applied to the styles within the categories (e.g. ordinary bitters judged before best bitters, which are before extra special bitters).

Intent was to do BJCP points but with so many entries coming in we ended up using the following - each judge appraised the beer quietly, then they all discussed and appraised together and wrote up notes. Each one voted on Gold, Silver, Bronze or no medal. Points were awarded (3,2,1 and 0 respectively) and then a total was achieved, and averaged for a final medal colour (or not medal).

We had 3 beers out of 150 that were awarded unanimous gold medals, i.e. 15 points (a traditional bock, a mild ale and an English Barleywine - each was absolutely outstanding and I didn't get enough of a taste of them!!!). These three were re-appraised by the judges who then voted (secret ballot) for the beer that they thought was the best, second and third in show. The winner was far from unanimous but was clear, by a head. The other two a photo finish for second.

I've stewarded at BrewNZ three times (steward, chief scorer and cheif steward) and was equally as impressed with the judging here as I have been at the professional event. The lunch and tea breaks were certainly shorter!

Geoff wrote an article on it, which can be seen here.

[MrC]

Thanks Stu.

I'm really looking forward to some feedback on my all grain entries. I have my own thoughts & opinions so it will interesting to see what the experts think. I've been working on my tasting over the past year in an attempt to appreciate beer more and to brew better. I think it's working. I think the tasting has spilled over into more than just beer too and I'm enjoying some foods & wine more also.

[Stu McKinlay]

It sure does spill over. Tasting with other people, if you have the opportunity, helps a lot too - for both perception and description purposes.