I submitted my Hippoportamus to the Western New York homebrew competition, the Amber Waves of Grain, and it won 2nd in it's category (smoked or wood aged beers). The main detraction listed by the judges seemed to be that the oak character was too subtle. I agree that it is subtle, but I made it that way because I wanted the oak to blend nicely in with the big brown ale flavors and not dominate the beer.
I only have 6 bottles of it left, and every one has been really enjoyable.
I also entered a brown ale in the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery quarterly homebrew competition. It's on the bitter / hoppy end of the spectrum for a medium gravity brown ale. I brewed it as a continuing test of my new process, most of the hops were added at the end of the boil and then the wort was added to the fermenting bucket near boiling, so that it cools slowly without any effort from me.
It turned out clean, uninfected, hoppy, crisp and I liked it - which is the most important part when you are a homebrewer. So far the no-chill process does everything I need it to do.
I will post the Pearl Street Results when they come out.
