Begin Brewing!

This was my second year as a competitor in the Barley's Annual Homebrew Competition . Last year I managed to take third place, losing to the very skilled A.J. Zanyk and his very nice Baltic Porter.  It's been on my "bucket list" to see a beer of mine on tap at a brewery or bar, and winning the Barley's competition would make that happen. I entered the following beers this year, listed below in the order I liked them, from most to least: Dark Abbey Belgian Strong Dark Ale (average score: 40.7) Bluegrass State Kentucky Common v1.0  (average score: 36.5) Tripel Turbinado Belgian Tripel (average score: 35.5) Salsbury's Saison v2.0 (average score: 25) Jamaican Me Thirsty Tropical Stout v1.0 (average score: 20.6) Salsbury's ESB v1.2 (average score: 30.3) Lonely Monk Trappist Single (average score: 27) To get into the final round of the competition, a beer had to score 40 or better.  My Dark Abbey beer managed that (just barely) and made it int...

Although I've been brewing beer for several years now, I never entered any homebrewing competitions. At first, I didn't think my beer was that great. Then when it got better, I felt like I knew enough about what the flaws were that I didn't really need the feedback. This year, I decided to give it a shot.  I entered The Ohio State Fair Homebrewing Competition and Barley's 22nd Annual Homebrewing Competition, both held in May 2017. Entering the competition at the Ohio State Fair was relatively painless.  You complete an entry form for each beer you intend to submit (up to eight total), pay a $6 entry fee, and then arrange for two bottles of each entry to be delivered to the fairgrounds.  I dropped them off on a vacation day since I live in Columbus not too far from the fairgrounds. Entering Barley's competition was also relatively easy.  Fill out a BJCP recipe form for each beer and bring three bottles of each entry to their brewpub near the Greater Columbus Conv...