Re: Why no swing top bottles at contests?

Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 19:46:58 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Size: 2,645 bytes

"Brian Lundeen" <email-address-deleted> wrote in message
news:bb38lt$3pk$email-address-deleted...
> And in your own little club I could maybe buy that as a reason, even
though
> PET bottles are often permitted. So, if one guy uses PET bottles and one
guy
> uses Grolsch bottles, the judges will never guess who the PET entry is
from?
> Whatever...
My "little" club is the Urban Knaves of Grain ( http://hbd.org/ukg/ ) Our
very own homebrew competition, the Drunk Monk Challenge, is held every year
in March. In both 2001 and 2002 it attracted 400-500 entries from 24 states,
making it one of the largest competitions in the USA. Is it because we
usually only have 40-50 members attend our monthly meetings which makes us
"little" ?
What do we need to do to become medium? Or even, large?
>
> Where this becomes ridiculous is at large competitions that accept entries
> from all over the place. You simply aren't going to know whose entry it is
> just from the type of bottle.
I think it depends on overall how many are submitted in swing tops. While
not all swing top bottles may have been submitted by a certain brewer or
organization, odds could be in their favor. Some swing top bottles from
Belgium brewers come in stoneware looking vessels which are distinctive.
>It's a stupid rule and competition organizers
> really need to step back and get some perspective on this. I have yet to
> hear a good argument explaining how allowing these bottles could
jeopardize
> anonymity in a big regional comp.
>
Creating an even playing field is stupid? Well, each to their own opinion
;-) While I was explaining to the original poster one reason for excluding
swing top bottles, let me throw this out for your consideration. In many
large competitions some categories/flights contain so many entries that it
is divided between two teams of judges with a mini BOS to determine the
final flight places. The crown cap bottles are opened, sampled and the cap
is pushed back on. During the judging these crown capped entries lose some
carbonation and aromas. Not so much with the swing tops. Swing top entries
advancing to the mini BOS will have an advantage.
Some brewers I know submit 5-6 cases of beer a year to competitions. They
are not entering these beers for evaluation but to win. It would behoove
one that is entering contests, where swing tops are allowed, to enter swing
tops. Swing tops cost around 2 bucks a bottle. The cost of entry has just
gone up which can cause the overall number of entries to go down. It seems
to me that the only winner is the place selling the swing top bottles.
That's my 2 cents
Ron