2017 National Homebrew Competition

So there are a few things about the National Competition that make it different from a normal, homebrew competition. 

The first is that if you are mainly looking for good, objective feedback, this is not the competition for you. The NHC uses "check-box" style scoresheets in attempts to streamline the judging process and make it move quicker. Therefore, the actual amount of detail and feedback on the sheets is less than the normal BJCP-style judging form.

The second thing is that if you truly believe you have a great beer, be advised that they may not (and probably won't, if in the Chicago region) get judged until about 1 month after you have sent them in. Obviously for some styles this isn't an issue, but for fresher/hoppier styles, you really must be on-point in your brewing, conditioning/packaging timeline for the best results. Chicago judging has historically been around the second week of April. Looking ahead, I would anticipate judging to take place the weekend of the 8th for 2017.

The third is the cost. You must be an AHA member to register (~$38/year) and then each entry is something like $15. It's expensive and even more so if you are needing to ship your beers.

The fourth is that if you place 1-3 in your category, you will have to re-submit entries for the final round in MN this next year. That means that if your exceptional hoppy beer places, then you will probably want to rebrew it to ensure it's at its peak for the final round. Conversely, if you entered your perfectly aged Barleywine that placed, you better have 3 more bottles a) lying around and b) you're willing to part with to send off to the final round. 

All of that said, the Chicago region is an extremely well-run competition. Joe Formanek (2-time Ninkasi winner, Sam Adams Longshot winner, BJCP National judge, and all around awesome dude) has run the competition for as long as I've been in the Chicago area (~5 years) and has a great organizational system down. Here in Chicago the judging pool is robust with higher level judges, and it attracts even more higher level judges that travel in for the competition. Depite the limited room for feedback on the sheets, you should be confident that what you receive back is of high quality. 

And of course, even if you don't enter and have the time, volunteers are always needed either to steward (helping organize and bring out the entries to the judges, and organize the scoresheets/coversheets/flight summary sheets) or judge, if you're so inclined. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!