Need Help with Beer Entry for Competition

[LiquidFlame]

Hello,

I need some help with entering my beer into a competition. I brewed the Chocolate Hazelnut Porter from Brewing Classic Styles, and I plan on entering it under the Spice/Herb/Vegetable category. This is my first time entering a beer under this category, and I just wanted to make sure I filled out the entry form correctly. Would I put down that “Special Ingredients” are Hershey Unsweetened Cocoa Powder and Hazelnut? For “Base Beer”, would I select Robust Porter, or do you just put down Porter?

I also took half of this finished beer and aged it on French oak medium toast, without the hazelnut. I plan on entering this version under the Wood-Aged Beer category. Again this is my first time entering a beer under this category. Would I put down that “Special Ingredients” are Hershey Unsweetened Cocoa Powder and aged on French oak medium toast? For “Base Beer”, would I select Robust Porter, or do you just put down Porter?

Any insight and help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Darwin18]

#1 - 21A - Robust Porter (base style). Special Ingredients: Unsweetened cocoa powder and hazelnut.

#2 - 22B - Robust Porter (base Style). Unsweetened cocoa powder aged on French oak - med toast.

Here's a couple pointers:

1) Make sure both entries are distinguishable Robust Porters. If it doesn't shout "I'm a robust porter with some veg or wood ingredients!" then just state "Porter" as the base style. Sometimes it is better to be more vague with the base style in these type of categories.

2) Some comp software have a tough character limit on the entry info - just try to keep it succinct. The judges aren't going to care about the brand of cocoa powder used but they'll care about the med toast of the French oak you aged the beer on. Also remember, this is all the information that the judges will see on your beer when they go to judge it. They won't see a recipe sheet so your description needs to be profile snap shot of the beer.

 

[smizak]

1) Make sure both entries are distinguishable Robust Porters. If it doesn't shout "I'm a robust porter with some veg or wood ingredients!" then just state "Porter" as the base style. Sometimes it is better to be more vague with the base style in these type of categories.

+1 I've had to ding a lot of really good beers because the brewer put something like "carrots" or "cinnamon" on the special ingredient list and we could not discern them. If the specialty ingredient is really difficult to pick out, it's safer to leave it off the entry form.

 

[LiquidFlame]

I was wondering if the chocolate would bump the beer into the Specialty Beer category from the Wood-Aged Beer category?

 

[Simps]

Great advice so far. If you can't taste the chocolate at all and it was a higher gravity porter I would consider Wood-aged. Specialty is a safer bet. The wood-aged category is more synonymous with heavier, higher alcohol beers that may have whiskey or bourbon.

If you can taste the chocolate or even notice a tinge of difference in mouthfeel that could be related to it, go specialty. Being ambiguous is good if the flavor is very low to nonexistent, but mention it if you think it changes the character of what you are actually tasting because it may be misinterpreted as an off-flavor if the judges can't pin it down.

 

[eelpout]

If you are going strictly for feed back go ahead and tell them everything.
If you are going for score, describe what it IS not what it's supposed to be. What you can taste, not what you should taste.

 

[LiquidFlame]

Thanks for all the input. I decided to enter the beers as the following:

#1 - 21A - Porter (base style). Special Ingredients: Unsweetened cocoa powder and hazelnut.

#2 - 22B - Porter (base Style). Aged on French oak - med toast.

I'll let you guys know how they do.

 

[Darwin18]

Good luck in the competition!

 

[LiquidFlame]

Well here's the results of one of the competitions I entered. Thanks for the advice.

View attachment 1421554934763.jpg

 

[Darwin18]

Congrats!

Was that Winterfest? I sent a few entries as well. That club puts on a very good competition - I entered their Uberbrew lager competition and was very impressed.

 

[LiquidFlame]

Congrats!

Was that Winterfest? I sent a few entries as well. That club puts on a very good competition - I entered their Uberbrew lager competition and was very impressed.

Yea that was Winterfest. My Chocolate Oak Porter also took second in another competition!

 

[Darwin18]

Sounds like a solid beer. Keep sending em in and racking up those ribbons!