Black Friday Comp. Who's in?

[dan125]

So yesterday I packed up and sent off my first ever homebrew competition entry in the London Amateur Brewers Black Friday comp.

I'm not holding out much hope of a high score as the oatmeal stout I've entered was already brewed when I heard about the comp and wasn't exactly brewed to style - but it will be fun to get some feedback & I might even go to the best of show judging evening as its within striking distance for me.

I was surprised to see that all 105 entry spaces were filled so quickly - there's a lot of black beer being brewed apparently. So I wondered who else on forum has entered, and would you care to share any info on your entries?
Also if anyone's been to an event like this before, is it good night out?
:

 

[GHW]

Where do you hear about these things? Other than stuff like u brew which I've seen popping up everywhere I never see much mention of homebrew stuff happening round London.

Let's hope you win!

Edit: just googled it and found that it's organised by ubrew! Doh

 

[dan125]

I think I stumbled upon it when using the LAB's favourite pub map to plan the best route to negotiate the 'Bermondsey beer mile' on a day out in the summer (some cracking beers on offer if you can stomach the £6 a pint all the breweries charge).

I think its organised by LAB who use Ubrew as a meeting place. The comps also taking place at Ubrew, so I thought there might be some good tipples to be had on t he night.

 

[MyQul]

I think I stumbled upon it when using the LAB's favourite pub map to plan the best route to negotiate the 'Bermondsey beer mile' on a day out in the summer (some cracking beers on offer if you can stomach the ��£6 a pint all the breweries charge).

I think its organised by LAB who use Ubrew as a meeting place. The comps also taking place at Ubrew, so I thought there might be some good tipples to be had on t he night.

That's a surprise.Ubrew is my LHBS -Going there later today to buy some grain in fact. Never seen/noticed any adverts for beer comps

 

[dan125]

I bet they have a good selection of grain/hops - my LHBS is all kits pretty much.
There's a link to the comp on the LAB home page:

http://londonamateurbrewers.co.uk/

 

[MyQul]

I bet they have a good selection of grain/hops - my LHBS is all kits pretty much.
There's a link to the comp on the LAB home page:

http://londonamateurbrewers.co.uk/

They probably do have a good selection of grain and hops but the frustrating thing is they don't list what they have on their website. So I just take my little shopping list with me and just give it to one of the staff in the hopes they have everything. They do crush your grains for you while you wait so you know their fresh

 

[rodabod]

We should try and notify each other when the next competition is up. I'd be well up for it.

 

[rodabod]

Could have dropped off my session black IPA!

 

[dan125]

They probably do have a good selection of grain and hops but the frustrating thing is they don't list what they have on their website. So I just take my little shopping list with me and just give it to one of the staff in the hopes they have everything. They do crush your grains for you while you wait so you know their fresh

Annoying I bet, if they're an ingredient or two short for a recipe

 

[dan125]

We should try and notify each other when the next competition is up. I'd be well up for it.

I was quite surprised not to find a thread about the comp already on the forum.
I agree - it would be good to know if other comps are coming up (sorry for not posting about this one sooner). I don't know of any others apart from the national HB comp in the summer.
I reckon they are mainly filled with entries from HB club members, so they maybe don't need to promote them to the wider world??? I'm not a club member so don't know if they get advance notice of these things.

Any club members out there?

 

[GHW]

I'd love to join a club but have no idea if there is one round my way, north end of Surrey/south west London (Wimbledon/Kingston way)

 

[dan125]

Me too, but by nearest (in Maidstone) meet on the only day of the week that 'er indoors is regularly out - and I'd still have to drive to get there :sulk:

 

[MyQul]

All the ones I know of are in SE London

 

[rodabod]

I joined a very small one in Leytonstone.

 

[dan125]

Results are in and I managed a decidedly average 24 out of 50 for my Oatmeal Stout, but for a first effort that wasn't brewed to style for the comp - I'm not too disheartened.

One of the judges said my brew was 'not at all bad', so definitely could have been worse.

I did go up to Bermondsey for the event on Friday and I could heartily recommend it.
There were lots of beers to sample and the crowd was friendly.

The next comp organised by LAB is in April and covers all the beer styles - date for the diary:-

http://londonandsoutheast.brewcompetition.com/