Merri Mashers IPA Comp 2019

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MJHorn

Member
Joined
2/7/17
Messages
10
Reaction score
2
MerriMashers_poster_2019_WEB.png
 
The 2019 Merri Mashers IPA Comp approaches!

Entries will be judged at the Dan O'Connell Hotel, Carlton on Sunday 24th of March.

Entries will be taken online via the competition web page: merrimashers.org/ipa-comp-2019. Online entries will be accepted from late January.

The deadline for online entry and for getting bottles to drop-off points is Saturday 16th of March. Drop off entries will be accepted at the Dan O'Connell up to the day before the competition, Saturday 23rd March. Other drop-off points will be confirmed via this thread and the official web page, but will include all the usual suspects.

Please DO NOT post entries to the venue.

Postal entries can be sent (carefully packed) to:

Home Make It, Reservoir
265 Spring St, Reservoir VIC 3073


If your beer can arguably be recognised as an IPA as described in sections 21A, 21B, 22A or 12C of the BJCP 2015 Style Guidelines, you may enter it here! In addition, we will accept adequately described Specialty entries of more experimental brews still identifiable as IPA.

We will only be accepting single bottle entries, with a minimum bottle size of 500 mL. Price per entry is $10 for the first entry, and $8 for subsequent entries

Sponsors and prizes will be updated here and on the official comp page. There will be sponsored category prizes and awards for Champion Beer, Champion Brewer, Best Novice and Club of Show .

Decisions of the Head Judge and Chief Steward will be final!

Ask your questions here or head to the Merri Mashers Facebook group.
 
Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners. Full results are attached below. Scoresheets can be found at comps.merrimashers.org.

Many thanks to all our sponsors for their generous support.

Major prize sponsors: Hawkers, Keg King, Grain & Grape, Beerco, VicBrew, the Dan O'Connell.

Brewday sponsors: Tallboy and Moose, Clifton Hill Brewpub, the Craft & Co, Exit Brewing, Carwyn Cellars, Deeds Brewing, Beermash

Category sponsors: Fixation, Fury & Son, Kaiju, Bonehead, Clever Brewing, Home Make It, 3 Ravens, the Artisan's Bottega, Old Wives Ales, CoConspirators, Moon Dog.

See you next year!
 

Attachments

  • 2019 IPA Competition Results.pdf
    1 MB · Views: 205
You had/allowed 3 entries from one person in a single category (NEIPA).

That's considered a no-no.........
 
You had/allowed 3 entries from one person in a single category (NEIPA).

That's considered a no-no.........
There's no limitations as such listed for this particular comp on the competition website
 
That's as maybe. It's still considered a no-no (like entering beers in your wife's name to get past the entry limit rules & carpet-bomb a competition).

There's rules & then there's the etiquette of entering a competition. If you don't set rules as the organisers, you're opening yourself up for abuse.

Something to consider for next year, particularly as this was a Vicbrew-sanctioned competition (you might like to just copy the Vicbrew entry rules, as they've been developed over many years & are there for a multitude of reasons).

I'm not having a go at you, mate. Just trying to help you out of a potentially sticky situation before it arises.
 
Last edited:
That's as maybe. It's still considered a no-no (like entering beers in your wife's name to get past the entry limit rules & carpet-bomb a competition).

There's rules & then there's the etiquette of entering a competition. If you don't set rules as the organisers, you're opening yourself up for abuse.

Something to consider for next year, particularly as this was a Vicbrew-sanctioned competition (you might like to just copy the Vicbrew entry rules, as they've been developed over many years & are there for a multitude of reasons).

I'm not having a go at you, mate. Just trying to help you out of a potentially sticky situation before it arises.

What kind of abuse has happened in the past that required the formation of these rules? Our opinion has been if people are willing to pay the money, we're happy to judge their entry, but we're also always taking on feedback.
 
I wrote this as a PM to Moonhead, but I reckon this should be out there in the public form for clarity & understanding:

Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away.....there was this bloke called Mark Jones (hereinafter referred to as "MJ"). He was a member of the ABAV (which became the Melbourne Brewers) & was apparently a VERY good brewer.

His beers were all absolutely fantastic - rarely was one out of style & everyone raved about them & his skill as a brewer. However, he would never, EVER, reveal any of his recipes or techniques to others - never shared anything & would just sit firmly on his esky at club meetings & drink his own beer (he never tried anyone else's, just drank his own). All he would say is that he made very small batches. A bit strange, don't you think?

He entered his beers in competitions & won a swag of prizes - mainly (it was thought) because he was entering so many beers in a given category, that he was carpet-bombing them with numbers. He was raking-in the prizes hand over fist because he had so many entries in every category. Something had to change to make it fairer for everyone.

A few of us were invited to dinner at his place, but a cursory visit to his brewery told us that something was up, as he just wasn't geared-up to produce the quality he was entering in comps & didn't have a storehouse of grains that you'd expect of a dedicated & accomplished homebrewer who's passionate about it - again, something's on the nose here.....

In order to make it fairer for all (& reduce the load on the judges), it was decided to introduce the "Two entries per category, one entry per sub-category" rule for competitions. Vicbrew started it (after much discussion) & the affiliated clubs followed-suit with their own competitions. His response was to enter beers under his wife's name to boost his own entry numbers.........'sound familiar??

He was called-out for this practice, as it was considered poor etiquette & absolutely cracked-it. He resigned from the Club & went to join another, only to be met with the same disdain from their members. He tried to join another club & was rejected, as his reputation had preceded him within the community.

There was speculation that he was merely re-packaging commercial examples of great beers & passing them off as his own (there was just too much consistency & quality/perfection in what he entered in comps), but obviously, it couldn't be proven.

You'll notice that there are rules for entering Vicbrew & other affiliated competitions that restrict entry numbers & prohibit beers made by a commercial brewery. Within the Vicbrew Committee, these (& others) are collectively known as the "MJ" Rules. It was a long time ago, but even now, if you mention the guy's name at a Vicbrew meeting, you have to shout the table. His name & practices were/are considered synonymous with "cheating".

Others have tried to bypass the rules more recently & have also been named & shamed by the Community at large - I'm sure you know who I'm talking about........

With the advent of FWK's & Collaborative brews, we've tried to keep up with the changes & stay ahead of them & reckon we've got a handle on most of them, in order to reduce entry numbers & make things fairer for everyone concerned.

So, as I said in a previous post, there's RULES & then there's ETIQUETTE when entering a competition. The Vicbrew Committee has endeavoured to eliminate, as far as possible, the opportunity to exploit a loophole, but some will still try....

'Hope you understand where we're coming-from & (now you know the history), why there are certain rules in place.

It's not to stop us having fun & enjoying the beers we all make, enjoy & share with our peers, just to stop a couple of unscrupulous bastards from sticking their fingers in up to the elbow when it comes to seeking kudos/accolades/prizes/medals/peer adulation etc....etc.....

Cheers,

Martin
 
Back
Top