did some stats yesterday. if the other 8 had as many empty spots as the first 4, we'd have a SMALLER competition than last year (and the year before). would be crazy to add 1500 spots over two years but not have any growth in the end.
...but I expect the others will be more full, and we'll have modest growth.
on pace for 780 IPAs. biggest category ever appears to be 630 Stouts in 2012/Seattle.
on pace for near record low numbers of meads. would expect more from some of the upcoming regions.
*random thought* - with so little interest could we maybe add some incentive to enter these? Like instead of "4 entry limit" say "3 beers/3 meads or ciders and 4 total entries is the limit" - just a thought.
In the 4 regions I found 8 people who had advanced 3 entries. One of them with just mead.
Re: Ninkasi, last year dbarber advanced 4, and 2nd and 3rd/4th place advanced 3, and 8/3 respectively. So there's still hope for multiple medal winners I guess.