douglasbarbin
Well-Known Member
As the title states, I am trying to solicit a few opinions here.
Most of the homebrew clubs in my state have "joined forces" to create a competition circuit, with each club hosting a competition that is part of the circuit. Points are given and at the end of the year, there is a "brewer of the year" and "club of the year" given out to whoever has the highest point total. The idea is to crown the best homebrewer/club in the state each year. I think this is all great, and I am 100% for it.
What I am looking for opinions on is this: There is a certain individual who lives in an adjoining state, supposedly travels to our state fairly often on business, and has been named an honorary member (or whatever the case may be) of a local club, despite being a member of a different club in his home state. I have been told that he attends meetings for the club in our state sometimes when he is in town. This person is a top-notch homebrewer, having placed beers at NHC. He regularly wins competitions in his home state. In fact, his home state has a similar circuit, and he is in first place by a wide margin (something like a ratio of 5:1 over the 2nd place brewer). I have judged this person's beers before in competition and they are excellent, to be sure.
What bothers me is that this person enters every competition in both states (and probably others as well, if I had to guess) and he enters quite a few beers in each. For example, in our most recent competition, out of 64 total entries, he had 6 beers place (spread across 3 categories). I don't know how many beers he entered, but obviously it was at least 6. I don't think that anybody else entered nearly as many. This theme is pretty consistent across all of our circuit's competitions this year, to the point where it is almost a running gag once the awards ceremonies start (which, needless to say, he is never present at since he lives several hours away from our state's border).
So we have a guy who is an excellent homebrewer, lives out of state, enters twice as many beers as anyone else, and then walks away with half of the competition's medals. He is going to win the state's "homebrewer of the year" award by a wide margin, despite not actually living in the state. The club he is affiliated with is also going to win "club of the year" by a wide margin. To be fair, they could likely win it without his contributions, but having him as a ringer, so to speak, has effectively put the title out of reach for everyone else.
I don't have an issue with the other club letting a guy from out of state (who occasionally attends their meetings) enter their competition. I know many members of the club and they are great guys, many of whom are also excellent brewers. What rubs me the wrong way is that this brewer I am mentioning seems to be taking advantage of a somewhat loose set of rules in order to enter as many beers in as many competitions as possible, in competitions that he arguably shouldn't be entering at all. This is the first year for our circuit, so there aren't many established rules yet, but I feel like allowing this guy to do this goes against the spirit of our statewide circuit and its competitions. I don't know why he does it, because he enters the same beers in lots of other competitions and he doesn't need the feedback. It has basically become a medal-hording bonanza for this person.
To summarize all of that, I think that it's in poor taste. It hurts other brewers that might have had medal-winning beers, had this guy not taken 2/3 of the medals for multiple categories. I have considered suggesting that some of the rules be amended so that this sort of thing doesn't happen in the future. Specifically, something to prevent an out-of-state brewer from dominating our state circuit competitions. Before I do that, I would like to know what you guys think about this whole thing.
Am I just being a sore loser here? Is this guy being a jerk? Please, share your thoughts.
Most of the homebrew clubs in my state have "joined forces" to create a competition circuit, with each club hosting a competition that is part of the circuit. Points are given and at the end of the year, there is a "brewer of the year" and "club of the year" given out to whoever has the highest point total. The idea is to crown the best homebrewer/club in the state each year. I think this is all great, and I am 100% for it.
What I am looking for opinions on is this: There is a certain individual who lives in an adjoining state, supposedly travels to our state fairly often on business, and has been named an honorary member (or whatever the case may be) of a local club, despite being a member of a different club in his home state. I have been told that he attends meetings for the club in our state sometimes when he is in town. This person is a top-notch homebrewer, having placed beers at NHC. He regularly wins competitions in his home state. In fact, his home state has a similar circuit, and he is in first place by a wide margin (something like a ratio of 5:1 over the 2nd place brewer). I have judged this person's beers before in competition and they are excellent, to be sure.
What bothers me is that this person enters every competition in both states (and probably others as well, if I had to guess) and he enters quite a few beers in each. For example, in our most recent competition, out of 64 total entries, he had 6 beers place (spread across 3 categories). I don't know how many beers he entered, but obviously it was at least 6. I don't think that anybody else entered nearly as many. This theme is pretty consistent across all of our circuit's competitions this year, to the point where it is almost a running gag once the awards ceremonies start (which, needless to say, he is never present at since he lives several hours away from our state's border).
So we have a guy who is an excellent homebrewer, lives out of state, enters twice as many beers as anyone else, and then walks away with half of the competition's medals. He is going to win the state's "homebrewer of the year" award by a wide margin, despite not actually living in the state. The club he is affiliated with is also going to win "club of the year" by a wide margin. To be fair, they could likely win it without his contributions, but having him as a ringer, so to speak, has effectively put the title out of reach for everyone else.
I don't have an issue with the other club letting a guy from out of state (who occasionally attends their meetings) enter their competition. I know many members of the club and they are great guys, many of whom are also excellent brewers. What rubs me the wrong way is that this brewer I am mentioning seems to be taking advantage of a somewhat loose set of rules in order to enter as many beers in as many competitions as possible, in competitions that he arguably shouldn't be entering at all. This is the first year for our circuit, so there aren't many established rules yet, but I feel like allowing this guy to do this goes against the spirit of our statewide circuit and its competitions. I don't know why he does it, because he enters the same beers in lots of other competitions and he doesn't need the feedback. It has basically become a medal-hording bonanza for this person.
To summarize all of that, I think that it's in poor taste. It hurts other brewers that might have had medal-winning beers, had this guy not taken 2/3 of the medals for multiple categories. I have considered suggesting that some of the rules be amended so that this sort of thing doesn't happen in the future. Specifically, something to prevent an out-of-state brewer from dominating our state circuit competitions. Before I do that, I would like to know what you guys think about this whole thing.
Am I just being a sore loser here? Is this guy being a jerk? Please, share your thoughts.