Australian Amateur Brewing Championship

[RdeVjun]

I'm rooted if a similar sort of thing happens at QABC as just happened at BABBs Annual. :blink: I have a couple of pre- emptive rebrews on line just in case, but knowing my luck they won't be required...

 

[Ross]

I thought the Nats were early November - according to the QABC site the Nats are " normally early November".

Many brewers in the State comps would have been under the impression that, depending on their results at State level, they could re-brew some styles such as Mild or Dry Stout that benefit from being entered fresh and young, but as the State results won't be available till only a couple of weeks before the Nats deadline this won't be possible.

Could we please have some definite dates announced a year ahead? Many brewers put in a lot of time and effort planning and brewing for the comp "circuit" - club, State then Nats and, as the standard of home brewing progresses from year to year, it would be nice if the competition schedules would enable brewers to be able to plan a little more accurately.

Edit:
As it is, I have indeed brewed a number of "shadow brews" in case I am fortunate enough to win a place in the State comp but it would be good if we didn't have to second-guess the system every year.

Where on the QABC site are you quoting from Bribie, there's no mention of " normally early November" that I can see, but maybe I've missed it? It states on the front page that it's normally around November & gives the link to the AABC site. I would assume that prospective qualifiers would check the dates if interested?

Ross

 

[vortex]

Whomever looks after the AABC site may have an issue to investigate, according to Google:


All others should be careful viewing the site.

 

[manticle]

Odd that no-one seems to have posted the results of this year's comp yet.

I know Champion Brewer, Champion State and Beer of Show have been mentioned but full results are found here: http://www.aabc.org.au/stateresults/AABC2012FullResults.pdf and are attached

(yes I know competitors probably all got emailed like I did but for those interested or those who missed it):

View attachment AABC2012_FullResults_Ver2.pdf

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Was wondering whether the judging sheets had been received by any brewers yet (post) or whether they are still to be posted out? Like every year I am interested in mine.

BYB

 

[vortex]

Was wondering whether the judging sheets had been received by any brewers yet (post) or whether they are still to be posted out? Like every year I am interested in mine.

BYB

Nothing here yet.

 

[waggastew]

I got a (very prompt) reply last night to an inquiry I placed with the organisers. They are finalising the score sheets/unclaimed trophies and will begin posting them next week. They have been slightly delayed due to a backlog from running the VICbrew comp as well.

 

[3GumsBrewing]

I got my scoresheets yesterday.
They were excellent, damn good feedback.

I am praying to the Aust Post Gods that the trophies/mugs arrive in one piece soon!!

Cheers

 

[vortex]

Same, fantastic feedback, super impressed! Great work, judges! Already planning to re-brew with the feedback and see what the result is like, probably enter that again

 

[Florian]

Received my sheets today as well.

Have to say, much better feedback than last year, very constructive and supportive. Gave me some good ideas for when I'm re-brewing.

Well done guys!

 

[DUANNE]

thanks to all the organisers and judges for a job well done. got my sheets back and what dou you know i put the wrong labels on the wrong bottles. i still got 40 points on my pilsener in the english bitter categorie though wich i thought was amazing but the enlish bitter scored a 16 and 22 as a pils. next time i will be paying a lot more attention when putting the labels on my bottles thats for sure!

 

[winkle]

Got mine today. When I sent the beer off I wasn't sure if it was from the same batch as the QABC one or the one before (since I was sure we'd drunk them all) -and I was right, clear judging notes echoing my own thought of the previous batch. Please keep up the high standard even for dodgy beers, judges - helps a lot downstream :icon_cheers:

 

[RdeVjun]

Got mine, some judges excelled with quite detailed feedback, but at least one left out remarks for entire sections but for the score (nb. yes, multiple sections) while the brevity of the remarks is astounding for what ended up being the category winning beer. So I'm disappointed- for the peak Australian amateur competition this really isn't good enough. Now, I most certainly do appreciate the efforts that all concerned, particularly those volunteering and those judges that took the time to write down appropriate descriptors, but the event was let down a little by some judges- I'm sorry but score sheets probably should have at least one word recorded in every section, regardless of the score!

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Glassware rocked up today. SWMBO just sent me a photo of them all.

The Champ beer of Show glass looks bloody huge!

Great stuff guys, well organised and my prayers to the Aust Post gods payed off.

Cheers and beers.

 

[drmush]

I received my scoresheets last week too...I was a bit disappointed since my wheat beer had come 1st in the NSW Comp but was placed last at the AABC...However it was understandable as I had brewed the batch at the end of June for the NSW Comp in August but as I suspected it didn't last until October as a sip of a remaining bottle last week revealed exactly what the judges said that the beer had lost freshness and flavour...Unfortunately as I was overseas until the end of September there was no time to brew a fresh batch in time...Ah well at least the beer got to the AABC...Thanks to the judges for their constructive comments...

Cheers
Geoff

 

[Florian]

I received my scoresheets last week too...I was a bit disappointed since my wheat beer had come 1st in the NSW Comp but was placed last at the AABC...However it was understandable as I had brewed the batch at the end of June for the NSW Comp in August but as I suspected it didn't last until October as a sip of a remaining bottle last week revealed exactly what the judges said that the beer had lost freshness and flavour...Unfortunately as I was overseas until the end of September there was no time to brew a fresh batch in time...Ah well at least the beer got to the AABC...Thanks to the judges for their constructive comments...

Cheers
Geoff

You also have to take into consideration that, although your beer came 1st in NSW, all other beers it's competing against on national level also became either 1st, 2nd or 3rd at state level.

So your beer now plays in a different league, so to say, with 'stronger opponents' (in theory) than on a single state level.

 

[dr K]

It is always important to remember that you really are competing against the best beers in Australia, they have already been through one filter.
Possibly that is why the tables were reduced to two judges each.

K

 

[drmush]

You also have to take into consideration that, although your beer came 1st in NSW, all other beers it's competing against on national level also became either 1st, 2nd or 3rd at state level.

So your beer now plays in a different league, so to say, with 'stronger opponents' (in theory) than on a single state level.

Hi Florian...

Please don't think I'm whinging about this...but the wheat was second at ANAWBS too...If anything maybe the time between when the wheat was brewed in late June and judged in October was too long...Also remember that the beers which were second and third in NSW ended higher than mine. Point is maybe the NSW Comp needs to be closer to the AABC..

Cheers
Geoff

 

[waggastew]

Time between comps definitely is a factor. In the case of my beer it worked in its favour. My AIPA had detectable levels of diacetyl at NSWAHC and got a third place. By the time it hit the Nats the diacetyl dropped to background/undetectable and the beer got a 1st place. I had no time/plans to rebrew as I didn't expect the beer to even get a place at NSW but it all worked out for the best. In fact the beer was originally placed 4th at NSW due to an admin error so it was a close call even getting the entry to Melbourne in time.

As you say something like a wheat beer really needs that freshness to shine.

Stew

 

[tallie]

Please don't think I'm whinging about this...but the wheat was second at ANAWBS too...If anything maybe the time between when the wheat was brewed in late June and judged in October was too long...Also remember that the beers which were second and third in NSW ended higher than mine.

You also need to take into account that different judges perceive different things at different times, and you shouldn't assume that a single competition result is representative of the beer. The more results you get, the better the consensus will be.

It is always important to remember that you really are competing against the best beers in Australia, they have already been through one filter.
Possibly that is why the tables were reduced to two judges each.

Taking dr K's first comment further, one of those entries has to come last. Obviously it would be ideal for the entries to appear in the order they qualified in (assuming the same beers in the same conditions), but there is always going to be some variability between competitions. I'm fairly certain there was no decision made to reduce the number of judges (in fact some categories did have three) - it would have been more to do with getting the competition done on time and the number of judges available on the day.

By the way, I judged that category at the AABC; let me know if you can't read any of my scrawl

Cheers,
tallie