YOUR GUIDE TO ENTER 2016 OC Fair Competitions HOMEBREW (AHA-BJCP Sanctioned Competition Program) Open to Adult California Residents (Ages 21 and older) Dates to Remember... Friday, April 29 Last Day to Enter Homebrew Competition Saturday, April 30 - Deliver beer entries to drop-off locations Saturday, May 7 listed on page 3 Contacts... Richard Fontes richardfontes@ocfair.com (714) 708-1554 New This Year... Limit of 5 entries per person. Professional brewers and other beer production personnel are excluded. Beer Label Competition has been discontinued.
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Do I Qualify? How to Enter How to Deliver Your Entries Tickets Rules We Need You to Read 5 How Is My Entry Judged? 6 What if I Get an Award? Ribbons Awards How to Prepare for the Show 8 Homebrew Division 601-646 9-12 OC Fair Guidelines 13-15 3 4 7 2
DO I QUALIFY? Who May Enter California residents ages 21 and older. Professional brewers and other beer production personnel are not permitted to enter. Competition staff, judges, and stewards are eligible to enter. Judges and stewards may not participate in the judging of their entries. Safeguards will be taken to prevent judges from knowing who brewed the entries they are judging. HOW TO ENTER... Really Important Date Online Entry Deadline: Friday, April 29, 2016 1. Choose from among the divisions and classes listed. 2. Review the Homebrew Rules and OC Fair Guidelines. 3. Enter online at ocfair.fairmanager.com and pay $5 processing fee (per entry). 4. Entry delivery is April 30-May 7, 2016. Hand-deliver to one of the approved locations listed on page 4. Entries Must be entered under the name of the individual who made it. Do not use business or fictitious names. Entry Confirmations You will receive an e-mail notification and confirmation immediately when your entry is received. If you do not see a confirmation in your email shortly after submitting your entry, please check your Spam/Junk folder before contacting the OC Fair. Processing Fees $5 per entry. Processing fees are paid online with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard or Amex). No refunds will be issued. Entry Limit Limit of 5 entries per entrant. Limit 1 entry per class per entrant. Entrants may submit multiple entries per division. Two people maximum per team is allowed and will count as one entry in the class for each individual (i.e. either one individual entry or one team entry per class per person). 3
HOW TO DELIVER... Really Important Delivery Dates Between April 30 - May 7, 2016 Bring your entries to one of these delivery locations. O Shea Brewing Hi-Time Cellars 28142 Camino Capistrano 250 Ogle Street Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (949) 364-4440 (949) 650-8463 Noble Ale Works Stein Fillers* 1621 S. Sinclair St. #B 4160 Norse Way Anaheim, CA 92806 Long Beach, CA 90808 Monday-Thursday 4 pm-10 pm 11 am - 6 pm, Wed Sun only Friday 4 pm-12 am (562) 425-0588 Saturday Noon-12 am *will accept shipments Sunday Noon-8 pm (714) 634-2739 TICKETS, YEA! Free OC Fair Admission Exhibitors will receive one 2016 OC Fair admission ticket each that can be picked up at the OC Fair s Blue Gate Guest Relations Booth located inside the Main Gate entrance on Fair Drive during the public hours of the 2016 OC Fair (Wednesday-Sunday). 4
RULES We Need You to Read... HOMEBREW 1. PLEASE NOTE Additional Information Required: Entries in several divisions and classes require additional information in order to be evaluated correctly. This includes meads, ciders, and beers that contain fruits, vegetables, herbs, or spices. Carefully review each Division and Class to determine what information you must provide on the online entry form. Entries not providing the required information will be disqualified. 2. Read Competition Guide: Changes are made each year. Review the Homebrew Rules and the OC Fair Guidelines at the end of this Competition Guide. 3. All Entries Must Be Homemade: Beers brewed at a brew-on-premises or at a commercial brewery or brewpub are not eligible. 4. Division and Class: Exhibitors are solely responsible for entering their items in the correct Division/ Class and reading the competition guidelines. Incomplete or invalid entries may not be judged or may be disqualified. No refunds will be issued for items incorrectly entered by the exhibitor. 5. Bottles: Submit three (3) 10-ounce to 14-ounce glass bottles per entry. Bottles may be of any color, but must be free of ink, paint or paper-labeling other than competition entry labels. Bottles with raised lettering and logos are acceptable. Grolsch-type, swing-top bottles and 22-ounce bottles will not be accepted. Obliterate any lettering or graphics on the cap with a permanent black marker. 6. Labeling: Attach a competition label (see page 8) to each bottle with a rubber band. Do not tape or glue identification forms to the bottles. 7. Beers Not Consumed: Beers not consumed during the judging may not be reclaimed. 5
HOW IS MY ENTRY JUDGED? Judging Guidelines Entries will be judged according to 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines, available online at www.bjcp.org. 6 Judging Results Results can be viewed online the first day of the OC Fair at ocfair.com/results. Please do not call for competition results. WHO ARE THE JUDGES? Judges Qualified judge(s) are selected by the competition organizers to judge all entries. The decision of the jurors is final. Judging Judges and/or the competition organizers will not change the requested category of a submitted entry. Classes or divisions may be combined to create an adequate judging pool where the number of entries is insufficient to ensure adequate competition. If an entry is disqualified after judging is completed, the judge will not change the status of awards given for other entries. Based on past competitions, the competition organizers anticipate combining several Divisions to create 24 award categories, somewhat similar to the following table. DIVISIONS AWARD CATEGORY 601, 602, 603 AMERICAN, INTERNATIONAL AND CZECH LAGER 604, 606 PALE and AMBER MALTY EUROPEAN BEER 605, 607 PALE and AMBER BITTER EUROPEAN BEER 608, 609, 610 EUROPEAN DARK LAGER AND GERMAN WHEAT BEER 611, 612 BRITISH BITTER and PALE COMMONWEALTH BEER 613 BRITISH BROWN BEER 614, 615 SCOTISH ALE and IRISH BEER 616 BRITISH DARK BEER 617 BRITISH STRONG BEER 618 AMERICAN PALE BEER 619 AMERICAN AMBER AND BROWN BEER 620 AMERICAN PORTER AND STOUT 621 AMERICAN IPA 622 AMERICAN STRONG ALE 623, 628 EUROPEAN and AMERICAN SOUR ALE 624 BELGIAN ALE 625 BELGIAN STRONG ALE 626, 627 TRAPPIST ALE and HISTORICAL BEER 629 FRUIT BEER 630 SPICE BEER 631, 632, 633 SMOKED, WOOD, AND ALTERNATIVE FERMENTABLES BEER 634 SPECIALTY BEER 641, 642, 643, 644 MEAD 645, 646 CIDER and PERRY
WHAT IF I GET AN AWARD? Judging Results Participants can view the results online around the first day of the OC Fair at ocfair.com/results. Please do not call or email for competition results. Awards Ceremony for Homebrew Saturday, July 16 at 3 pm. Division Winners and Best of Show will be notified by e-mail to attend. RIBBONS, YEA! Winning beer entries and their ribbons will be on display in the OC Promenade throughout the 2016 OC Fair. Ribbons, score sheets and prizes will be mailed to participants within 30 days after the end of the Fair. AWARDS Best of Show Gift Certificate and Rosette 1 st Place Gift Certificate & Rosette 2 nd Place Rosette 3 rd Place Rosette 7
HOW TO PREPARE For the Show... Bottles Submit three (3)10- to 14-ounce glass bottles per entry. Bottles may be of any color, but must be free of ink, paint or paper-labeling other than competition entry labels. Bottles with raised lettering and logos are acceptable. Grolsch-type, swing-top bottles and 22-ounce bottles will not be accepted. Obliterate any lettering or graphics on the cap with a permanent black marker. Labeling Attach a competition label (below) to each bottle with a rubber band. Do not tape or glue identification forms to the bottles. Click the link below for a fillable form. ocfair.com/competitions/docs/2016/homemade_beer_fill_label.pdf Styles Requiring Additional Information Entries in categories 621B, 623F, 625B, and 627-634, and 641-646 require additional entry information to be evaluated properly. Please refer to the 2015 BJCP Beer, Mead, and Cider guidelines to determine what additional entry information is required. Use the Description field of the on-line entry form to provide this information. Failure to provide the required information may result in the entry being misevaluated or disqualified. For categories that don t require additional information, please leave the Description field blank. If you have special instructions for the judges (e.g., request that the judges roll a bottle of Belgian Wit before serving), these may be included in the Description section. 8
Division 601 - Standard American Beer Class A: American Light Lager Class B: American Lager Class C: Cream Ale Class D: American Wheat Beer Division 602 - International Lager Class A: International Pale Lager Class B: International Amber Lager Class C: International Dark Lager Division 603 Czech Lager Class A: Czech Pale Lager Class B: Czech Premium Pale Lager Class C: Czech Amber Lager Class D: Czech Dark Lager Division 604 Pale Malty European Lager Class A: Munich Helles Class B: Festbier Class C: Helles Bock Division 605 Pale Bitter European Beer Class A: German Leichtbier Class B: Kolsh Class C: German Helles Exportbier Class D: German Pils Division 606 Amber Malty European Lager Class A: Marzen Class B: Rauchbier Class C: Dunkles Bock Division 607 Amber Bitter European Beer Class A: Vienna Lager Class B: Altbier Class C: Kellerbier 9 Division 608 Dark European Lager Class A: Munich Dunkel Class B: Schwarzbier Division 609 Strong European Beer Class A: Doppelbock Class B: Eisbock Class C: Baltic Porter Division 610 German Wheat Beer Class A: Weissbier Class B: Dunkles Weissbier Class C: Weizenbock Division 611 British Bitter Class A: Ordinary Bitter Class B: Best Bitter Class C: Strong Bitter Division 612 Pale Commonwealth Beer Class A: British Golden Ale Class B: Australian Sparkling Ale Class C: English IPA Division 613 Brown British Beer Class A: Dark Mild Class B: British Brown Ale Class C: English Porter Division 614 Scottish Ale Class A: Scottish Light Class B: Scottish Heavy Class C: Scottish Export Division 615 Irish Beer Class A: Irish Red Ale Class B: Irish Stout Class C: Irish Extra Stout
Division 616 Dark British Beer Division 623 European Sour Ale Class A: Sweet Stout Class B: Oatmeal Stout Class C: Tropical Stout Class D: Foreign Extra Stout Division 617 Strong British Ale Class A: British Strong Ale Class B: Old Ale Class C: Wee Heavy Class D: English Barley Wine Division 618 Pale American Ale Class A: Blond Ale Class B: American Pale Ale Division 619 Amber & Brown American Beer Class A: American Amber Ale Class B: California Common Class C: American Brown Ale Division 620 American Porter & Stout Class A: American Porter Class B: American Stout Class C: Imperial Stout Division 621 IPA Class A: American IPA Class B: Specialty IPA See Class B Entry Instructions in BJCP Guidelines. Division 622 Strong American Ale Class A: Double IPA Class B: American Strong Ale Class C: American Barleywine Class D: Wheat Wine Class A: Berliner Weisse Class B: Flanders Red Ale Class C: Oud Bruin Class D: Lambic Class E: Gueuze Class F: Fruit Lambic See Class F Entry Instructions in BJCP Guidelines. Division 624 Belgian Ale Class A: Witbier Class B: Belgian Pale Ale Class C: Biere De Garde Division 625 Strong Belgian Ale Class A: Belgian Blond Ale Class B: Saison See Class B Entry Instructions in BJCP Guidelines. Class C: Belgian Golden Strong Ale Division 626 Trappist Ale Class A: Trappist Single Class B: Trappist Dubbel Class C: Trippast Tripel Class D: Belgian Dark Strong Ale Division 627 Historical Beer Class A: Historical Beer Division 628 American Wild Ale Class A: Brett Beer Class B: Mixed Fermentation Sour Beer Class C: Wild Specialty Beer 10
Division 629 Fruit Beer Division 632 - Smoked Beer Class A: Fruit Beer Class B: Fruit & Spice Beer Class C: Specialty Fruit Beer Division 630 Spiced Beer Class A: Spiced/Herb/Veg. Beer Class B: Autumn Seasonal Beer Class C: Winter Seasonal Beer Division 631 - Alternative Fermentables Beer Class A: Alternative Grain Beer Class B: Alternative Sugar Beer Class A: Classic Style Smoked Beer Class B: Specialty Smoked Beer Division 633 - Wood Beer Class A: Wood-Aged Beer Class B: Specialty Wood-Aged Beer Division 634 - Specialty Beer Class A: Clone Beer Class B: Mixed Style Beer Class C: Experimental Beer 11
Division 641 - Traditional Mead Class A: Dry Mead Class B: Semi-Sweet Mead Class C: Sweet Mead Division 642 - Fruit Mead Class A: Cyser Class B: Pyment Class C: Berry Mead Class D: Stone Fruit Mead Class E: Melomel Division 643 - Spiced Mead Class A: Fruit & Spice Mead Class B: Spice, Herb or Vegetable Mead Division 644 - Specialty Mead Class A: Braggot Class B: Historical Mead Class C: Experimental Mead Division 645 - Standard Cider & Perry Class A: New World Cider Class B: English Cider Class C: French Cider Class D: New World Perry Class E: Traditional Perry Division 646 - Specialty Cider & Perry Class A: New England Cider Class B: Cider with Other Fruit Class C: Applewine Class D: Ice Cider Class E: Cider with Herbs/Spices Class F: Specialty Cider/Perry 12
OC FAIR GUIDELINES ONLINE ENTRY Dates to Remember Please check the individual Competition Guides for entry deadlines, as well as dates and times for entry delivery and pickup. Dates and times are absolute. Late entries will not be accepted. Who May Enter Some divisions are open only to Orange County residents and some limit the number of entries and age of entrants. Check individual Competition Guides for who may enter each competition. Youth must enter the divisions and classes specified for their age group. The exhibitor s age as of July 15, 2016, determines their age group. Youth may not enter in the Adult divisions. Open Youth who turn age 19 by July 15, 2016, are considered adults. 4-H youth members in good standing may be age 19 as outlined by the 4-H Cooperative Extension Office. 4-H members who are age 19 may choose to enter as either a 4-H Young Adult or Adult - they may not enter both. This rule applies for all OC Fair 4-H Competitions. Enter Online Enter online at ocfair.fairmanager.com. Incorrect or incomplete information on online entry may disqualify the exhibit or cause delay in issuing awards. Online submission of data requires that you understand that the decision of the judge is final. You agree to abide by all rules and regulations contained in the OC Fair Competition Guides and understand that such rules and regulations are incorporated with and become a part of this agreement. You hereby release the OC Fair and the State of California from all liability of every kind and character on account of loss, damages or injury to property, which may occur on the fairgrounds. By submitting artwork I herby Grant the OC Fair & Event Center the right to reproduce accepted artwork for promotional and educational uses in both printed and electronic forms. Processing Fees OC Fair July 15-August 14 Most divisions require processing fees (check individual Competition Guides.) Fees are payable online with a credit card. No refunds will be issued. 13
ENTRIES AND EXHIBITS Acceptable Entries OC FAIR GUIDELINES No entries or works with copyright or licensing infringement will be accepted. If there is any reproduction of a registered trademark item or work of another artist, the OC Fair reserves the right to disqualify the entry. The OC Fair is a family-oriented event. Any entry deemed inappropriate for family viewing will be dis-qualified prior to judging. Articles which are objectionable, stained, soiled, broken, or not ready for hanging will not be accepted for judging and will not be displayed. You will be notified for pickup. OC Fair reserves the right to refuse, accept conditionally or to cancel any entry, disqualify exhibitors, prohibit exhibition of entries or to cancel awards, without claim for damages. OC Fair will not be liable for entries made in error and will not re-open judging to accommodate such entries. Repeat Entries No items entered in a previous year s OC Fair competition will be accepted. Exhibit Sales Sale of an exhibit or any part of an exhibit for delivery during the OC Fair will not be permitted. Entry Limit The Exhibit Supervisor and/or Program Coordinator have the right to limit entries to facilities available. Entry forms will be dated as received and entry forms received first will have priority. All entries will be accepted unless the exhibitor is otherwise notified. Protection of Exhibits All cases will be locked and will not be opened while the public is in the building. Exhibits will not be allowed to leave the OC Fair & Event Center grounds unless the Program Coordinator has approved a release slip. Reasonable precaution will be taken in protection of exhibits. The exhibitor must arrange for insurance if desired. OC Fair will not be responsible for accidents or loss that may occur to any of the exhibitors or exhibits at the show and the exhibitors shall hold the management harmless and indemnify it against any legal proceedings arising from such accident or loss. Presentation of entry form shall be deemed acceptance of this rule. OC Fair July 15-August 14 14
OC FAIR GUIDELINES JUDGING AND AWARDS Judges and Judging Procedures For judging purposes, the OC Fair reserves the right to combine classes or divisions to create an adequate judging pool where numbers are insufficient to ensure adequate competition. Qualified judge(s) will be selected by the Program Coordinator to judge all exhibits. Judges have the authority to disqualify or transfer to the correct class any exhibit that does not meet the requirement of the division or class in which it is entered. Adult Divisions are placed using the American Judging System (ranking exhibits one against another). 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place and Honorable Mention may be awarded in each class if judges so determine. Young Adults and Junior Divisions are placed using the Danish Judging System where each entry is judged on how well it meets a standard rather than how it compares to other entries. Entries are judged Blue (superior), Red (very good) or White (average) Award. There may be more than one Blue, Red or White Award per class. All Blue Awards will compete, using the American Judging System, for cash awards. The decision of the jurors is final. If an entry is disqualified after judging is completed, the judge will not change the status of awards given for other entries. Judging is NOT open to the public (except Special Contests). Judging results can be viewed online around the third week of the OC Fair at ocfair.com/results. Please do not call or email for competition results. Award information will not be given by telephone. Premiums Signed judging sheets will be used as evidence for payment of premiums. Ribbons and tags will not be accepted. Checks for awards will be made payable to the exhibitor whose name is indicated on the entry form and distributed within 30 days after the close of the OC Fair. Ribbons To encourage high standards, the judge shall award 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place in each class according to merit; if without merit, the judge shall make no award under any circumstances. Ribbons and special awards must be picked-up by exhibitors at the close of the OC Fair unless otherwise noted. OC Fair July 15-August 14 15 Claiming Awards and Exhibits Exhibits and/or awards left after the official release date are not the responsibility of the OC Fair and will be discarded without exception. If you are unable to pick up your items, please arrange for someone to pick them up for you. Claim check or photo ID is required for pickup. No additional phone calls or email notifications will be made. OC Fair and State Guidelines All OC Fair and State Guidelines apply to all divisions. State Rules are online at ocfair.com/competitions.