Suwanee HomeBrew Contest 2018

Suwanee Homebrew Contest 2018 went down 3/17/18 and the results are finally in and Reinke's Revenge 2017 and Southie-12 weren't contenders. Reinke's was entered as 29A (Fruit beer) with a 20C (Imperial Stout) on raspberries. BJCP Master Judge, Phil Farrell hit me with a 27, but provided great feedback. Adding some Cara, more Dark Crystal or higher mash temp "will give the beer a closer profile". He said it was a good drinkable beer but lacked "strength". HHhhhmmm, it's 10.5%!? I will say the apprentice offered up pairing this raspberry fermentation with Nelson Sauvin worked into the base beer (not a bad idea, gotta be a dry-hop though). So Reinke's fell ultimately at 26. Southie fell into 26D, Belgian Dark Strong Ale. A double black eye of 22.5, with comments of reviewing grain bill and yeast choice. So I'll be revamping that one quite a bit. I've already looked at traditional Trappist yeasts and adding 2 pounds of turbinado to pump up the 8.5%abv to a drier 10-10.5%. My only complaint is this was a $10/beer comp and it took 3 weeks to get sheets! and I live a state over. I don't mind scans, I can print them myself and the majority of beers won't medal so they can be scanned and ready for website loading, but damn nothing for almost 3 weeks?