Home of the BrewNosers

Great interview with Jared Carlberg winner of Canadian Home Brewer of The Year 2012.
http://winnipegbrewbombers.ca/?p=278" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nice find!

Wow - I wonder how much he spends in entry and shipping fees.

This probably should go in a thread of its own, but I'm lazy... So The Brewnoser's earned 5 points toward Club of the Year (http://www.canadianbreweroftheyear.com/winners.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
I think we should set a goal for next year - something that is reachable, but will push us. What do you think about the Brewnoser's hosting a competition (and have it as part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year)?

akr71 wrote:Wow - I wonder how much he spends in entry and shipping fees.

This probably should go in a thread of its own, but I'm lazy... So The Brewnoser's earned 5 points toward Club of the Year (http://www.canadianbreweroftheyear.com/winners.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
I think we should set a goal for next year - something that is reachable, but will push us. What do you think about the Brewnoser's hosting a competition (and have it as part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year)?

I don't know much about this, but thought our measly five points seemed pathetic compared to the tops clubs until I saw the Toronto Club. Yet again Toronto demonstrates that it's not a beer town.

akr71 wrote:Wow - I wonder how much he spends in entry and shipping fees.

This probably should go in a thread of its own, but I'm lazy... So The Brewnoser's earned 5 points toward Club of the Year (http://www.canadianbreweroftheyear.com/winners.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
I think we should set a goal for next year - something that is reachable, but will push us. What do you think about the Brewnoser's hosting a competition (and have it as part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year)?

I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think we should shoot for 20 points or more another year. Now that I have a better idea when the competitions take place, we (Delta Force) will try and schedule things a bit better to have beer ready for comps next season.

Jayme wrote:I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think this has been discussed before, but there were a couple of times when I entered competitions that I didn't enter a club name, simply because I wasn't sure if I should put "Brewnosers" since I've never been able to make a meeting (living in Fredericton). Still not really sure if just signing up here makes you a Brewnoser, or...?

Its good enough for me. Post a bit, enter some comps with the club name, and that's enough.

Sent from my Nexus S

Jayme wrote: I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think we should shoot for 20 points or more another year. Now that I have a better idea when the competitions take place, we (Delta Force) will try and schedule things a bit better to have beer ready for comps next season.

I'm not sure its doable by next year either, but more of a long term goal. Looking at some of my score sheets, the judges marked 'Apprentice' or 'Rank Pending' - not sure what that means or even if you need to be BJCP certified in order to judge. Obviously it would be beneficial for judges and entrants to have at least one qualified judge per style.

Also, the CABA competition doesn't count toward the home brewer of the year - absolutely no idea why though.

Jayme wrote: What do you think about the Brewnoser's hosting a competition (and have it as part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year)?

I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think we should shoot for 20 points or more another year. .[/quote]

Hosting a comp is a lot of work and you need a lot of dedicated guys to pitch in to help out, especially if you are going to include it in the CHBOTY. Expect 200+ entries.
Not sure how many real judges were at the Ottawa one recently, but a lot of guys were judging that never judged a beer in their lives in that comp, and quite a few of the judges were judging for the first time with a BJCP number AFAIK. Entering comps is like a crap shoot. You pays your money and you take your chances. More often than not you get valuable feedback on your entries. Another way of looking at it is, you are helping new judges aquire the tasting skills by entering.
They have to start somewhere.

Every comp I entered this year, I put down the brewNosers as my club and I kickstarted the circuit with a bronse in Calgary. Just because you don't live in NS, don't mean you can't be an active Brewnoser. I like to think I'm an active member, engaging in forum chat and meeting with members who pass my way when I can. I like to think of myself as a PROUD Brewnoser.

The CABA points count toward their own version of the CHBOTY award and I guess it isn't active like the western Home Brewing clubs are when they started the CHBOTY award.

But yes, aiming for a higher score on the circuit means more people have to enter and enter often. I know we can do better.

berley wrote:

Jayme wrote:I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think this has been discussed before, but there were a couple of times when I entered competitions that I didn't enter a club name, simply because I wasn't sure if I should put "Brewnosers" since I've never been able to make a meeting (living in Fredericton). Still not really sure if just signing up here makes you a Brewnoser, or...?

If you participate, you're a Brewnoser.

jeffsmith wrote:

berley wrote:

Jayme wrote:I like this idea. Although I'm not sure how easy it will be to host a competition yet - how many certified judges do we even have? Once a few more of us take the exam it might be more feasible. Certainly should shoot for more points - Gavin and I earned 3 of the 5 according to the chart but I was pretty sure a bunch of guys won medals as well this year... Or did they not put the club name down?

I think this has been discussed before, but there were a couple of times when I entered competitions that I didn't enter a club name, simply because I wasn't sure if I should put "Brewnosers" since I've never been able to make a meeting (living in Fredericton). Still not really sure if just signing up here makes you a Brewnoser, or...?

If you participate, you're a Brewnoser.

In that case, if I continue to enter the odd competition, I'll put down Brewnosers as my club!

jeffsmith wrote:If you participate, you're a Brewnoser.

Totally - even if you're pretense is only online. Look at the Brewing Network. They won club of the year at NHC in 2011 & 2012 and they are considered an online club. I realize we're talking CABA and not NHC, but I don't see why it should be any different - and we're obviously not only based online.

Let's rack up some more points next year guys!

akr71 wrote:Wow - I wonder how much he spends in entry and shipping fees.

This probably should go in a thread of its own, but I'm lazy... So The Brewnoser's earned 5 points toward Club of the Year (http://www.canadianbreweroftheyear.com/winners.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
I think we should set a goal for next year - something that is reachable, but will push us. What do you think about the Brewnoser's hosting a competition (and have it as part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year)?

Am I right in reading that Jared counted for 66.5 of the 67 points the bombers got?

Jayme wrote:

jeffsmith wrote:If you participate, you're a Brewnoser.

Totally - even if you're pretense is only online. Look at the Brewing Network. They won club of the year at NHC in 2011 & 2012 and they are considered an online club. I realize we're talking CABA and not NHC, but I don't see why it should be any different - and we're obviously not only based online.

Let's rack up some more points next year guys!

Totally! We have cards, clothing, glassware, a kick-ass hoptoberfest, and even a tap in a local brew-pub. We are well beyond online only, even if some of us are still trying to make our first club event.

We were "well beyond online only" for many, many years before even being on-line.

That reminds me, I need to sign up for the list-serve. Even if it invokes X's wrath.

mgc wrote:That reminds me, I need to sign up for the list-serve. Even if it invokes X's wrath.

I haven't gotten a single email in a couple months - I think it is dead.

akr71 wrote:I haven't gotten a single email in a couple months - I think it is dead.

That's the way it's supposed to work: so infrequent that when you do get something you know it's important.

So how do the rules for entering a competition work? Can the club submit a box with entries from various members? If we can, it would probably be a more enticing way to get people to enter...

I've never submitted anything for 2 reasons:

1) I don't feel anything I brew is competition worthy
2) I'm too lazy to deal with the submission process

I'm guessing these would be 2 of the most common reasons for people not submitting, so if we had a solution to these problems we may have better success.

Jimmy wrote:So how do the rules for entering a competition work? Can the club submit a box with entries from various members? If we can, it would probably be a more enticing way to get people to enter...

I've never submitted anything for 2 reasons:

1) I don't feel anything I brew is competition worthy
2) I'm too lazy to deal with the submission process

I'm guessing these would be 2 of the most common reasons for people not submitting, so if we had a solution to these problems we may have better success.

Generally, there'd be no problem with getting together to send a box of entries. And it should save money. The only entry I submitted last year was almost $40 shipping for 4 bottles.

I expect as time goes on, we'll find specific competitions that are worth entering, or not, for the judges comments. Ideally, you shouldn't care if there's a chance you'll win, because the judges should be able to tell you how to make it better. It's obvious from some of the comments people have got over the past year, that the judging hasn't been that good. I really expect that some competitions ensure better commenting than others, though.

But the lazy thing is solvable. The one contest I had bottles ready, I didn't hear about in time to organize anything other than my own entries. If I'd known earlier, I'd have preferred to collect a few bottles from other people to share the shipping costs.

For the Toronto Beer Week comp last year (I believe), I sent a box of beer from 4 of us, no issues.