Most Popular Beer Styles: 2012 NHC Entry Results

Two weeks ago saw thousands of homebrewers descend on Seattle, WA for the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference.  The conference, among many things, offers seminars, demonstrations, and camaraderie with amateur brewers from all over the country and beyond.  But one of the center points of the event is the culmination of the National Homebrew Competition.  The final round of the comp is held during the Conference with the venerated awards given at the banquet on the last night. 

We've explored the popularity of the different style entries in prior years (2011, 2010).  With the 2012 HNC awards in the books, it was worthwhile to revisit the results and see if the preferred beer style trends continue to be the same or if there is a shift in brewers' preferences. 

For this analysis, I’m only looking at the beer categories themselves (my apologies to the cider and mead makers out there). To normalize the data, all categories are given as the percentage of the total entry pool that they represent. From this year's NHC competition, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).

2012 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 1. Stouts (cat. 13) - 630 entries or 8.7% of total

 2. American Ales (cat. 10) - 603 entries or 8.3% of total

 3. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 553 entries or 7.6% of total

 4. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 491 entries or 6.8% of total

 5. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 454 entries or 6.2% of total

2012 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 23. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 158 entries or 2.2% of total

 22. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 162 entries or 2.2% of total

 21. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 169 entries or 2.3% of total

 20. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 174 entries or 2.4% of total

 19. Bock (cat. 5) - 195 entries or 2.7% of total

The top five beer categories have been the same five styles for the past 5 years with the only change being in the ordering.  Belgian & French Ales flip-flopped with Belgian Strong Ales, otherwise the top 5 style rankings remained the same.  As an overall percentage, the number of entries in the top 5 categories increased slightly from 2012 (37.5% vs. 35.7%) representing a slight strengthening in their overall popularity. 

On the other side of the spectrum, lagers still continue to take a beating.  Of the five lager beer style categories, three of them are in the bottom five.  Light Lagers and Pilsners experienced a surge this year, both jumping up two slots (to #15 and #17 respectively), while Bock beers tumbled hard by 5 slots down to #19.  As has been in the past, there are more than three times as many beers entered in the top five categories as compared to the bottom five categories.  

Looking at trends across the past five years (2008 – 2012), popularity has been surging or failing for some categories as the style gain favor or loses it.  Below are the top movers in the positive and negative direction across thefive year span. 

MOST POSITIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '12 / '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 8, 8, 11, 13, 16)

 2. Sour Ales - cat. 17 (Ranks: 14, 18, 19, 18, 21)

 3. Herb / Spice / Vegetable Beers - cat. 21 (Ranks: 7, 9, 10, 9, 12)

 3. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 6, 6, 7, 10, 11)

MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Bock - cat. 5 (Ranks: 19, 14, 15, 16, 14)

 2. Light Hybrid Beers - cat. 6 (Ranks: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7)

 2. Dark Lagers - cat. 4 (Ranks: 22, 20, 22, 20, 18)

 3. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 12, 13, 12, 12, 9)

 3. German Wheat Beers - cat. 15 (Ranks: 16, 16, 13, 15, 13)

The growing popularity of barrel-aged beers and sour beers have definitely played a factor in the rise in popularity of Categories 22 and 17 respectively. For our 2011 analysis, barrel-aged beers were the most positive mover as well.  However, this years tragic drop for Bock beer caused it to shoot up the leaderboard for most negative mover.  A good Maibock or Doppelbock are stable beers, but the style seems to be getting the cold shoulder from competition participants in the last half decade.  

The complete data set for how each beer style category performed is presented below.  

2012 NHC Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories

2012 Rank	Cat. #	Name	# of Entries (2010)	% of Entries (2010)	2011 Rank	2010 Rank
1	13	Stout	630	8.7%	1	2
2	10	American Ale	603	8.3%	2	1
3	14	IPA	553	7.6%	3	4
4	16	Belg & French	491	6.8%	5	3
5	18	Belgian Strong	454	6.2%	4	5
6	23	Specialty Beers	383	5.3%	6	7
7	21	Spiced / Herb	362	5.0%	9	10
8	22	Smoke / Wood	335	4.6%	8	11
9	12	Porter	326	4.5%	7	6
10	9	Scottish & Irish	308	4.2%	11	8
11	6	Light Hybrids	303	4.2%	10	9
12	19	Strong Ale	279	3.8%	13	12
13	8	English Pale Ale	265	3.6%	12	16
14	17	Sour Ale	255	3.5%	18	19
15	2	Pilsner	237	3.3%	17	17
15	15	German Wheat Beer	237	3.3%	16	13
17	1	Light Lager	200	2.7%	19	18
18	11	English Brown	198	2.7%	15	14
19	5	Bock	195	2.7%	14	15
20	7	Amber Hybrid Beer	174	2.4%	21	20
21	20	Fruit Beer	159	2.3%	22	21
22	4	Dark Lager	162	2.2%	20	22
23	3	Euro Amber Lager	158	2.2%	23	21

Everyone has a list of favorite beer styles – let us know which are your favorites and how they are represented in the competition scene.

Slainte!

-JW


"In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer"
-A. J. P. Taylor

Poll: How Many Entries Did You Have for NHC '12?

Like all our prior poll posts, this post takes a moment to memorialize the results we recieved on the most recent blog poll.  The readers' responses to the question " How many entries did you place in the 2012 National Homebrewing Competition?" are presented below.

Total Votes: 11

As much as I am a supporter of the National Homebrewing Competition, I am certainly not much of a participant.  In the last 3-4 years, I believe I have sent in only one entry to be included in the first round judging.   My interest always seems to be after the fact: prior to the deadline, I find myself too distracted to get together the registration and entry.  After the first round results have been released, my interest level skyrockets, but at that point, all I can do is kick myself and mumble "next year....next year". 

What I found compelling about this month's poll is that it looks like I am not alone.  Taking aside those that made the choice not to participate, nearly twice as many folks have an interest in the competition but just can't seem to get their regstration/entries in on time.  Why is that?  Is it just the procrastinator in all of us, or something else?

With regards to the large population that do not participate in NHC, I'm sure there is a multitude of reasons behind their motivations.  Many people are not into "style-based" competitions and would rather brew unabashed by the constraints of styles.  Kudos to you folks.  Others, I am sure, believe the NHC is too large of a venue and wonder why bother.  With ~750 entries in each region, its too easy to get lossed in the crowd.

Let us know what you think, or if you did particpate in NHC, how were your first round results?  And if you are reading this, our next blog poll is up and awaiting your participation.

Slainte!

-JW


"Everybody has to believe in something.....I believe I'll have another drink."
-W.C. Fields

Most Popular Beer Styles: 2011 NHC Entry Results

Its no surprise to anyone who has entered a beer competition that some categories are incredible competitive and others barely have a pulse.  Dozens of bottles are entered in the popular styles and other less popular styles get grouped together and relegated to the 'no-one-loves-me' table in the back.

We've explored this phenomenon last year when the 2010 National Homebrewing Comp was in progress.  With the 2011 NHC complete and awarded, it was worthwhile to revisit the results and see if the preferred beer style trends continue to be the same or if there is a shift brewers preferences. 

For this analysis, I’m only looking at the beer categories themselves (my apologies to the cider and mead makers out there). To normalized the data, all categories are given as the percentage of the total entry pool that they represent. From this year's NHC competition, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).

2011 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 1. Stouts (cat. 13) - 566 entries or 8.7% of total

 2. American Ales (cat. 10) - 493 entries or 7.6% of total

 3. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 462 entries or 7.1% of total

 4. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 404 entries or 6.2% of total

 5. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 394 entries or 6.1% of total

2011 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 23. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 140 entries or 2.2% of total

 22. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 143 entries or 2.2% of total

 21. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 157 entries or 2.4% of total

 20. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 171 entries or 2.6% of total

 19. Light Lagers (cat. 1) - 191 entries or 2.9% of total

The top five beer categories have been the same five styles for the past 4 years with the only change being in the ordering.  Stouts and American Ales have flip-flopped for the number one seat each year, while IPAs and the Belgians fight for seats 3 through 5. 

One the other side of the spectrum, lagers in general are taking a beating.  Of the five lager beer styles, three of them are in the bottom five while Pilsners (#17) and Bocks (#14) aren't that much further up.  As has been in the past, there are nearly three times as many beers entered in the top five categories as compared to the bottom five categories.  

Over the past four years (2008 – 2011), there has been some have been changes in the popularity rankings as some style gain favor and others lose it.  As mentioned, the Top Five slots have really changed.  However, there have been other styles have been consistantly climbing or falling. 

MOST POSITIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 8, 11, 13, 16)

 2. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 6, 7, 10, 11)

 3. Herb / Spice / Vegtable Beers - cat. 21 (Ranks: 9, 10, 9, 12)

 3. Sour Ales - cat. 17 (Ranks: 18, 19, 18, 21)

MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS (Ranks: '11 / '10 / '09 / '08)

 1. Light Lagers - cat. 1 (Ranks: 19, 18, 17, 15)

 1. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 13, 12, 12, 9)

 3. German Wheat Beers - cat. 15 (Ranks: 16, 13, 15, 13)

 3. Scottish & Irish Ales - cat. 9 (Ranks: 11, 8, 7, 8)

 3. Light Hybrid Beers - cat. 6 (Ranks: 10, 9, 8, 7)

The growing popularity of barrel-ages beers and extreme beers has definitely played a factor in the rise in popularity of Categories 22 and 23. Those two categories were also the fastest rising categories last year.  However, I was shocked to see Hefeweizens and Scottish/Irish Ales amongst the sinkings beers.  Category 9 is one of my all time favorites styles, yet entry selection has been fickle to it in the past few years.  Sad.

The complete data set for how each beer style category performed is presented below.  

2011 NHC Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories

2011 Rank	Cat. #	Name	# of Entries (2010)	% of Entries (2010)	2010 Rank	2009 Rank
1	13	Stout	566	8.7%	2	1
2	10	American Ale	493	7.6%	1	2
3	14	IPA	462	7.1%	4	4
4	18	Belgian Strong	404	6.2%	5	5
5	16	Belg & French	394	6.1%	3	3
6	23	Specialty Beers	346	5.3%	7	10
7	12	Porter	320	4.9%	6	6
8	22	Smoke / Wood	289	4.5%	11	13
9	21	Spiced/Herb	286	4.4%	10	9
10	6	Light Hybrids	272	4.2%	9	8
11	9	Scottish & Irish	257	4.0%	8	7
12	8	English Pale Ale	256	3.9%	16	11
13	19	Strong Ale	252	3.9%	12	12
14	5	Bock	230	3.5%	15	16
15	11	English Brown	227	3.5%	14	19
16	15	German Wheat Beer	216	3.3%	13	15
17	2	Pilsner	215	3.3%	17	14
18	17	Sour Ales	204	3.1%	19	18
19	1	Light Lager	191	2.9%	18	17
20	4	Dark Lager	171	2.6%	22	20
21	7	Amber Hybrid Beer	157	2.4%	20	22
22	20	Fruit Beer	143	2.2%	21	22
23	3	Euro Amber Lager	140	2.2%	21	23

Everyone has a list of favorite beer styles – let us know which are your favorites and how they are represented in the competition scene.

Slainte!

-JW


"I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer."
-Homer Simpson

Poll: Where would you like to see NHC 2012?

Similar to what has been done for all our prior blog polls, this post takes a moment to memorialize the results we received on the most recent blog poll.  The reader’s response to the question “Where would you like to see the 2012 AHA Conference Located?” are presented below.  

With this year’s AHA conference in San Diego, CA coming up rapidly, we thought it would be fitting to see where our readers would like to see next year’s conference (which will not be announced until June).  As we have lamented in prior posts,  the conference has not been on the East Coast of the US in over 5 year and is overdue – apparently, our readers believe the same thing.

A criticism of this poll is that most people will vote for locations closest to them.  Therefore, this poll is more of a survey for where our readers (at least those that respond to a poll) are located in the US.  While there maybe a few who live to travel for conferences such as this, all things being equal, the less one has to travel, the more likely they will attend.  I can certainly buy this argument, given our readership (and our content) is very East Coast-centric.

Lastly, I’ll leave everyone with a bit of a rumor that I was privy to from a BJCP judge during a recent competition.  Apparently Gary Glass (Director of the AHA) was recently seen (by this judge) in Philadelphia scouting out potential venues.  This certainly doesn’t guarantee NHC 2012 being in Philly, but it certainly indicates the city is on the short list.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

We’d love to know what you think of the results and how the information may (or may not) be used. And if you are reading this, we’ve put up our next poll, which awaits your response.

Slainte!

-Jeff


"Everybody has to believe in something.....I believe I'll have another drink."
-W.C. Fields

National Homebrewers Conference: Locations Over the Years

Something got me thinking the other day about the history of where the National Homebrewers Conference (NHC) has been located over the last decade or so.  Mostly for curiousity, I dug up the information and plotted it out on a map of the US for the fun of it.  To add a little more informtion to it, I swapped out the geographical map out for a population density map of the US.
 

NHC Conference Location vs. US Population Density

While there are many homebrewers who are willing to fly around the country to attend the NHC conference, I would argue that there are many more that would attend if the conference is within driving distance.  So the above map gives an idea of whether the yearly conferences doing a good job covering the US population as well as if there are highly populated areas that are being left out. 

Of course, the above logic is based on the assumption that the general US population distribution is equivalent to the population distribution of US homebrewers (which may or may not be a valid assumption).  And while I may also be a bit biased (being a New Englander), it seems that much of the Eastern Seaboard and the Pacific Northwest have not been getting a lot of love from the national conference. 

Obviously a lot more goes into the conference site selection, including a well organized hosting homebrew club, affordable accomodations, and a thriving beer scene.  This map was just another way to look at where the conferences have been located and how it relates to population densities.  I am sure I am not alone when I say that I am very interested to see where NHC 2012 will be hosted.

Slainte!

-JW


"An honest brew makes its own friends."
-John Molson

Most Popular Beer Style Categories: 2010 NHC First Round

Anyone who has entered a beer into competition knows that for some reason, some beer styles always outweigh others in terms of popularity. Year after year, competition after competition, the “darling” styles always receive a good deal of attention, while some of the more interesting categories are left out in the cold.

Given this notion in mind, I figured it might be interesting, and a bit entertaining, to identify the most popular style categories (as defined by the BJCP) and see if there have been any trends in that popularity over the past few years. With the 2010 National Homebrewing Competition Finals is just around the corner, the 5,759 beer entries that made up the first round are the ideal pool of data to examine. 

For this analysis, I’m only looking at the beer categories themselves (my apologies to the cider and mead makers out there). To normalized the data, all categories are given as the percentage of the total entry pool that they represent. From this year's NHC first round, the most popular and the least popular styles are as follows (with the full dataset given below).

2010 MOST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 1. American Ales (cat. 10) - 509 entries or 8.8% of total

 2. Stouts (cat. 13) - 476 entries or 8.3% of total

 3. Belgian and French Ales (cat. 16) - 410 entries or 7.1% of total

 4. India Pale Ales (cat. 14) - 386 entries or 6.7% of total

 5. Belgian Strong Ales (cat. 18) - 362 entries or 6.3% of total

2010 LEAST POPULAR BEER STYLE CATEGORIES

 23. Fruit Beers (cat. 20) - 130 entries or 2.3% of total

 22. Dark Lagers (cat. 4) - 144 entries or 2.5% of total

 21. Euro Amber Lagers (cat. 3) - 145 entries or 2.5% of total

 20. Amber Hybrid Beers (cat. 7) - 152 entries or 2.6% of total

 19. Sour Ales (cat. 17) - 163 entries or 2.8% of total

It’s not hard to imaging why Sour Ales trend toward the bottom of the list.  While they have a popularity amongst craft beer fanatics, sour beers take a good deal of effort to perfect and they can take years to finish properly.  But, what about the other four least popular beer styles – they are fantastic beer styles, but seem to get the cold shoulder from the homebrewing community.  There are nearly three times as many beers in the Top Five group as there are in the Bottom Five.

Over the past three years (2008 – 2010), there has been some have been changes in the popularity rankings as some style gain favor and others lose it.  The Top Five slots have been consistent all three years, with the same five beer styles always being represented (although with some jockeying back and forth in position). Listed below are the beer styles that have seen the most amount of movement, either positively or negatively, in the rankings.

MOST POSITIVE MOVERS ('10 Rank / '09 Rank / '08 Rank)

 1. Smoke / Wood-Aged Beer - cat. 22 (Ranks: 11, 13, 16)

 2. Specialty Beers - cat. 23 (Ranks: 7, 10, 11)

 3. English Brown Ales - cat. 11 (Ranks: 14, 19, 17)

MOST NEGATIVE MOVERS ('10 Rank / '09 Rank / '08 Rank)

 1. English Pale Ale - cat. 8 (Ranks: 16, 11, 10)

 2. Dark Lagers - cat. 4 (Ranks: 22, 20, 18)

 3. Light Lagers - cat. 1 (Ranks: 18, 17, 15)

 4. Strong Ales - cat. 19 (Ranks: 12, 12, 9)

The growing popularity of barrel-ages beers and extreme beers has definitely played a factor in the rise in popularity of Categories 22 and 23. However, I was very shocked to see how English Pale Ales have been falling like a rock in popularity.  I personally find this trend very disappointing, as EPA’s (and other session beers) would certainly be on my list of favorite beer styles.  Someday, hopefully soon, this style will see a resurgence back to the limelight.

Without any further lamenting or analyzing, here is the complete data how each beer style category was presented this year…

NHC First Round Entry Rankings by Beer Style Categories

2010 Rank	Cat. #	Name	# of Entries (2010)	% of Entries (2010)	2009 Rank	2008 Rank
1	10	American Ale	509	8.8%	2	1
2	13	Stout	476	8.3%	1	2
3	16	Belg & French	410	7.1%	3	5
4	14	IPA	386	6.7%	4	4
5	18	Belgian Strong	362	6.3%	5	3
6	12	Porter	292	5.1%	6	6
7	23	Specialty Beers	275	4.8%	10	11
8	9	Scottish & Irish	247	4.3%	7	8
9	6	Light Hybrids	245	4.3%	8	7
10	21	Spiced/Herb	244	4.2%	9	12
11	22	Smoke/Wood-Aged	226	3.9%	13	16
12	19	Strong Ales	215	3.7%	12	9
13	15	German Wheat Beers	206	3.6%	15	13
14	11	English Brown	199	3.5%	19	17
15	5	Bock	190	3.3%	16	14
16	8	English Pale Ale	186	3.2%	11	10
17	2	Pilsner	183	3.2%	14	19
19	17	Sour Ales	163	2.8%	18	21
20	7	Amber Hybrids	152	2.6%	22	20
21	3	European Amber Lager	145	2.5%	23	23
22	4	Dark Lager	144	2.5%	20	18
23	20	Fruit Beer	130	2.3%	21	22

Everyone has a list of favorite beer styles – let us know which are your favorites and how they are represented in the competition scene.

Slainte!

-JW


"Mmmmm.....Beer."
-Homer Simpson

National Homebrew Competition - First Round Results

The National Homebrew Competition (NHC) is the “world’s largest international beer competition recognizing the most outstanding homebrewed beer, mead, and cider produced by amateur(s)”.  The NHC has been conducted by the American Homebrewers Association every year since 1979, when 34 entries competed in the inaugural event in Boulder, Colorado.  Last year, 5,166 beers were entered by 1,310 homebrewers competing for 84 medals and other prizes.

Given the size of the event, it is divided into two rounds.  The first round is conducted on a regional basis, with homebrewers sending entries to 10 regional contests, which includes Canada.  The figure below shows the layout of the regions and where the actual competitions were held.

2010 NHC Regions and Competition Locations

The top three entries in each of the 28 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style categories advance onto the second and final round.  The finals are held in conjunction with the National Homebrewers Conference, which for this year, is being held in Minneapolis from June 17-19.  The second round judging is typically performed by some of the best beer judges in the world who evaluate the top ~30 beers in each category and award the respective winners.  In addition to style awards, the one homebrewer who wins the most medals in the NHC is presented with the coveted Ninkasi Award, which includes a number of prizes and fabulous bragging rights.  The 2009 Ninkasi winner was Gordon Strong, who also happens to be the current president of the BJCP board.  Gordon is a repeat winner, who had 16 entries go onto the 2009 second round resulting in seven medals.  With the 2010 first round already completed, Gordon again has 16 entries passing on to this year’s finals.  Will anyone be able to unseat him?

Here at Lug Wrench Brewing, we submitted two entries to the NHC.  Tom sent in a black raspberry and blueberry standard melomel (fruit mead) that scored a 35 out of 50 points, but the judges thought it a bit too acidic and alcoholic.  He also sent in a dry English cider that scored 32 out of 50 points, with the general feedback that it had too much “farmhouse” character and not enough apple essence.  Let us know how you did?

For complete information on the 2010 NHC, see the official rules and regulations.

Cheers,

TW