Tag Archive: Bock
Looking at Beer Competitions
I looked into a few homebrewing competitions. I think I mostly wanted to look at how big the categories are.
Data
The data I found is from the National Homebrewing Competition, the Indiana State Fair, and the Ohio State Fair. Only partial datasets were used from the state fairs, because not all the data I need is on their websites. This data is far from perfect, but I think the conclusions I make below are still valid.
Growth
Total Number of Entries per Year
As shown above, there has been a lot of growth in the National Homebrew Competition. From 2009 to 2012, it grew by 50% and by 2014 it grew even more. The states did not show any growth. We’re in a golden age of homebrewing where the Internet helps new homebrewers along, a craft beer surge that shows everyone that not all beer is a Light American Lager. I think this has helped increase the NHC.
Bud’s crack on craft brewing will likely help homebrewing as well as craft beer. After all, 44% of drinkers age 21-27 have never tasted it. Not sure if they’ve had a craft beer either, though (they could be wine or whiskey drinkers).
Styles
I visually looked through to see the top five and bottom five. I didn’t do any actual analysis other than that.
Entries by Style
Top 5: American Ale, IPA, Stout, Belgian and French, and Belgian Strong
It is probably expected that American Ales and IPAs would be big styles. I think a lot of people that ‘stick their foot in’ to craft beer start with amber or pale ales and probably soon make it to IPAs. After being in the hobby for 6 months, I’m not shocked to see strong numbers from Stout – it seems like the non-hop-head craft beer lovers gravitate towards good stouts. Also, Stout allows for some flexibility with ingredients without becoming something not-beer. I’m also not shocked to see Belgian and French, and Belgian Strong classes represented well, as many of the homebrewers I know have a profound interest in those two classes (specifically in saisons, tripels, and quadrupels).
Bottom 5: Amber Hybrid, Strong Ale, Sour Ale, Euro Amber Lager, and Dark Lager
Amber Hybrid (which includes Northern German Altbier, Dusseldorf Altbier, and California Common) is one I would have expected to be higher, although that is mostly because of the California Common style. BYO Magazine recently did a feature article on this, perhaps we’ll see some growth there. As far as altbier, I’m not sure my three local bottle shops have any altbier that would be within these styles. I don’t know about others, but I’d sure be apprehensive of brewing a style I’ve never tasted.
Strong Ale was a little shocking. I expected more people to use barleywine to show off malt selection.
I didn’t think it was shocking that sour ale was among the bottom, but maybe that’s because I find them intimidating from the brewing standpoint.
I was shocked to see both the Euro Amber Lager and Dark Lager among the bottom five. These two style groups include some of my favorites in the lager kingdom, Oktoberfest and Schwarzbier.
From my point of view on one of the hills east of Cincinnati, though, I am partially not shocked about all but one of the bottom 5 being lagers. According to the temperature on my ale pail, fermentation holds around 64-66 degrees (Fahrenheit, 18-19 Celcius) in my basement with no temperature control. Perfect for ales, not so much for lagers. I eventually will brew some lagers, but I have to have better temperature control first.
An interesting contrast in the styles is the light hybrid group. Apparently this is pretty common in the midwest, but not nationally – it’s pretty low for NHC, but pretty high for both the state fairs. This includes cream ale, blonde ale, Kolsch, and american wheat or rye. My only guess here is that we have a local soft spot for Little King’s Cream Ale.
Growth and Losses
I looked at this by looking at the slope of the trend based on the NHC data.
The biggest growth style classes are IPA, American Ale, Stout, Belgian and French Ale, and Spice, Herb, and Vegetable Beer. I don’t find any of these shocking except the spice, herb, and vegetable class.
The losing classes are all meads. I’m not sure what to think of that. On one hand, it isn’t uncommon to find a homebrewer that is at least interested in fermenting mead. On the other hand, good honey is incredibly expensive, and that may factor into things.
The not-really-growing classes are Pilsner, Specialty Cider & Perry, German Wheat & Rye, Light Lager, and Standard Cider & Perry. Regarding cider and light lager, I’m not shocked. While I don’t think the hobby is bent against ciders, perries, and light lagers, I think there is a segment of beer drinkers that look on those three groups as being inferior. I don’t agree with them (and I have a cider experiment going on in the basement now), but I think it exists.
That leaves Pilsner and German Wheat & Rye as the odd men out. I’m not sure why, as every beer geek worth his (or her) glass knows that Pilsner is different from Light Lager (and generally regarded as far better). Perhaps it has to do with the difficulty in water chemistry and fermenting. Regarding German Wheat and Rye, I don’t know. It’s not among my favorite styles, but that doesn’t really mean anything to others.
So What’s This All Mean?
Nothing. Nada. Jack Shit. I’m a data geek in real life and wanted to look into this. Awards don’t matter, your taste does. Brew what you like, because if you come in from work and look forward to opening another homebrew, you’re doin’ it right.
…but I understand if you still want to win an award (I do). It’s kinda like getting a medal at the end of a (running) race. The medal symbolizes the work that went into training for that event. Similarly, a beer award symbolizes the work put into formulating and executing a recipe.
Cheers!
New Blog: What You’ll Find Here…
…is a lot of stuff about running. And a lot of stuff about beer.
I am a runner. I became a runner at around 30 years old, so a bit late to be any sort of champion, prodigy, or coach. I may never run Boston, I’ll probably never win my age group in a race (unless I’m the only runner in my age group).
Running somewhat caused me to become a better beer drinker. For a few years, the only race I ran was a memorial run in mid-August. After some downright horrid times (by my standards), I decided to actually compete and improve in running. I had one failed attempt where I started to run 9 weeks before the August race and stopped running after the race. The second time I kept going through the winter. The following year, I branched out in terms of races (more on that in a sec). At the same memorial run, I won my class- the “Clydesdale Class” for people heavier than 220 pounds. The following year (we’re up to 2014, BTW), I was no longer eligible to defend my title because my weight had fallen to 216 pounds. I ran a 27:01 5k.
Little Kings Mile. No Cream Ale to be found at the finish, though. Had to ‘settle’ for Hudepohl Amber.
Running into Beer Drinking
When I started branching out in races, I stumbled on the Bockfest 5k. It was a cold day and I knew nothing of the sweetness of bock beer on a chilly spring morning following a great 5k. Later that day, I went out and purchased two 6-packs of Bock Beer (Yuengling Bock and Hudepohl Bock). The spiral of drinking less Yuengling Lager and Budweiser and drinking more craft beers had begun.
Beer Drinking to Beer Exploration
I had, over the course of a handful of months, went from a beer drinker – one who drinks beer – to a beer explorer. I made it a goal to unlock badges in Untappd based on how many unique beers I’ve drank. I realized that my pallet, which at one time was apprehensive of Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale because of the text on the back of the bottle, now looked forward to trying different styles of beer and different brewery’s take on those styles. I had attained the level of “I fear no beer”.
…and I’m 23 away from 200…
Fast forward to now, I’m beginning to get into brewing my own beer. I may at some time grow my own hops (growing peppers and carrots in the garden has worked well for me, and hops are much more useful 🙂 ).
“Make your own 6-pack” has quite a ring to it when the bottles in the holder are ones you’ve brewed!
So What Is This Blog About Again?
Beer brewing and running. I’m an expert at neither. I’ll be posting about my experiences – successes and mitsakes.