[bbkf]

C)  You're not likely to get judges to volunteer for a competition that they were unable to enter.  And usually judges are the better brewers, this is true in our area at least.  So allow early NHC registration for the judges from the previous year.  This will do several things.  1. Motivate the judges to judge at a Round 1 site  2. Motivate non-judges to become judges.  3. Motivate organizer/judges to volunteer to host a Round 1 site.  This will increase the Round 1 judge pool and allow you to have an even bigger competition open to everyone.

YES!  I like this idea.  It would be hard to start but would roll nicely by the second year.  So the number of judges is a problem.  Its actually the number of GOOD judges that is a problem.  If judges got a priority into entering the competition, it may encourage a non-judge (who might make a great judge) to become a judge.  What motivation is there to becoming a judge?  I did it so that I'd understand the brewing process better and could improve the quality of my homebrew.

Fred Bonjour was on the brewing network last week and shot this idea down because the governing committee wants EVERYONE to have a fair chance.  I don't agree with that because it's unrealistic.  If there is a lack of help or judges now, then encourage AHA memebers to help/judge so that the competition can continue to grow with the AHA membership.

I really think that this is the easiest fix for a short term goal. 

on the other hand, I did sit in front of my computer at work a whole hour before the entry window was up.  I sat there reloading the page over and over for a few hours until I got my 15 entries into this years competition.  I will not do this again next year and I am sure there are more people with the same intention.

[repo]

If NHC is that important to you AND its entry window conflicted YOUR work schedule, then maybe you should have taken the day off from work!  I did because it was important to me.

on the other hand, I did sit in front of my computer at work a whole hour before the entry window was up.  I sat there reloading the page over and over for a few hours until I got my 15 entries into this years competition.  I will not do this again next year and I am sure there are more people with the same intention.

Which is it???

[bbkf]

If NHC is that important to you AND its entry window conflicted YOUR work schedule, then maybe you should have taken the day off from work!  I did because it was important to me.

on the other hand, I did sit in front of my computer at work a whole hour before the entry window was up.  I sat there reloading the page over and over for a few hours until I got my 15 entries into this years competition.  I will not do this again next year and I am sure there are more people with the same intention.

Which is it???

damn you!  busted.   
I did it at work because my job is that layed back.  I know some people who did take the day off to enter though.   I told my boss that I was not going to be doing any work after lunch and that my priority was entering my beers.  he was ok with it.

[snowtiger87]

Another complaint. Why are we limited to 50 characters for the description on the specialty categories? That is not enough. It needs to be 100. In same competitions I have seen as much as 1/2 page of description.

[Jimmy K]

[duxx]

^^^
LMAO!

I'm totally stealing this photo.  It is so appropriate for other forums as well.

[Gary Glass]

We head in to Philadelphia next week for the National Homebrewers Conference. Before the start of the conference we have the annual AHA Governing Committee meeting--the one in-person meeting for the committee (the GC holds monthly conference calls, plus additional subcommittee conference calls, and daily exchanges via email).  The National Homebrew Competition will be a major topic of discussion for the group.

I'd like to thank the many AHA members who have posted some very thoughtful ideas on how to handle the NHC's growth in this thread.  The AHA GC Competition Subcommittee has contemplated many of the ideas posted here.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Geoff Humphrey, the developer of the BrewingCompetition.com competition registration and database system we used for this year's competition. While I dropped the ball in not insisting upon a more thorough testing regime, Geoff has stuck with the AHA staff throughout and put in many hours on fixes and improvements to the software.  Thank you Geoff!

[Gary Glass]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the AHA GC Competition Subcommittee has put together a survey to gather AHA members' feedback on their priorities for the National Homebrew Competition, which will help in deciding what steps we will take for future competitions.  Look for that to be sent via email shortly after next week's National Homebrewers Conference.

[tmsnyder]

I'm looking forward to seeing some improvement in the NHC, as it stands I wouldn't consider it an accurate measure of the best homebrewers in the country.  It's only a competition between those lucky enough to get in before the spots all fill up. 

This was confirmed Thursday morning when I judged German Wheats and Ryes and was seriously underwhelmed by the beers.  A few were in the upper 30's, NONE in the 40s.  One I wanted to give a 19, it was flawed, but for the purposes of the NHC there's no point in that so I managed to get it up to 20 or 21. 

I would expect that if the competition were actually representing the best beers from everyone that wanted to enter it, that the beers would all be upper 30's, with some in the 40's and maybe even a 50 occasionally. 

This is, in fact, what I observe when judging the NYS Homebrewer of the Year, which is judged as a BOS competition and is entered, for free, by invitation only, based on wins at the regional competitions around the state. For each of every 5 wins during the year, and the brewer is invited to send one beer to represent him or herself.  The beers sent in are almost 100% excellent and picking the best example of style is a long, hard process.  I'm not saying that the NHC should be an invitational, although that is an option, I'm just saying that IF the NHC were an open competition, there would be better beer at the table when you get it down to what are supposed to be the 33 best examples of the style from around the country.

Hopefully Janis and Fred and all those guys can figure it out, I know it's not an easy situation to be in.  But for the level of work that goes into running the competition, it ought to be open to everyone that wants to enter.  If not, what's the point? 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the AHA GC Competition Subcommittee has put together a survey to gather AHA members' feedback on their priorities for the National Homebrew Competition, which will help in deciding what steps we will take for future competitions.  Look for that to be sent via email shortly after next week's National Homebrewers Conference.

[dbeechum]

I would expect that if the competition were actually representing the best beers from everyone that wanted to enter it, that the beers would all be upper 30's, with some in the 40's and maybe even a 50 occasionally. 

I'll just say that in all my years of judging the second round of the NHC, this has never happened to me. I usually end up with at least one beer in the teens, a few in the 20's, most hovering around 30-34 and 1-2 above that.

[jeffy]

I would expect that if the competition were actually representing the best beers from everyone that wanted to enter it, that the beers would all be upper 30's, with some in the 40's and maybe even a 50 occasionally. 

I'll just say that in all my years of judging the second round of the NHC, this has never happened to me. I usually end up with at least one beer in the teens, a few in the 20's, most hovering around 30-34 and 1-2 above that.

This year I had one or two in the upper 20's and two in the lower 40's.  All the rest were somewhere in the mid to upper 30's.  We didn't have any bad ones of the twelve (of 33) our panel judged.

[tmsnyder]

Hi Gary,

Where do we go to see the minutes of the Governing Committee meeting?  Is it available to the membership?

Todd

We head in to Philadelphia next week for the National Homebrewers Conference. Before the start of the conference we have the annual AHA Governing Committee meeting--the one in-person meeting for the committee (the GC holds monthly conference calls, plus additional subcommittee conference calls, and daily exchanges via email).  The National Homebrew Competition will be a major topic of discussion for the group.

I'd like to thank the many AHA members who have posted some very thoughtful ideas on how to handle the NHC's growth in this thread.  The AHA GC Competition Subcommittee has contemplated many of the ideas posted here.

I'd also like to take a moment to thank Geoff Humphrey, the developer of the BrewingCompetition.com competition registration and database system we used for this year's competition. While I dropped the ball in not insisting upon a more thorough testing regime, Geoff has stuck with the AHA staff throughout and put in many hours on fixes and improvements to the software.  Thank you Geoff!

[Gary Glass]

Where do we go to see the minutes of the Governing Committee meeting?  Is it available to the membership?

That hasn't happened in the past, but I know that GC chair Jake Keeler is interested in putting together a GC report for the membership that we'd probably post to a members-only page on HomebrewersAssociation.org.

[davidgzach]

Where do we go to see the minutes of the Governing Committee meeting?  Is it available to the membership?

That hasn't happened in the past, but I know that GC chair Jake Keeler is interested in putting together a GC report for the membership that we'd probably post to a members-only page on HomebrewersAssociation.org.

I think this is a good idea.  Can we count on it?

[denny]

I think this is a good idea.  Can we count on it?

I hope so.  I'll see if I can get comments from Jake.