Just thought I'd post an update... the second round judging of the nationals is over and I didn't manage to place, although 3 of my beers went past first round (two firsts and a third). I think shipping them all the way to Florida in the middle of the heat probably didn't do them any favors. I haven't gotten the scoresheets back yet but it will be interesting to see the results. The prizes for the nationals are big and bring out the best of the best, so I'm privileged to even have gotten into the finals considering this is the first year I've competed at that level.
In case any of you are curious what a beer contest looks like, here's a picture a friend (who's involved in coordinating things like this) posted from the best of show judging round for the california state fair:
http://img446.imageshack.us/img446/1...udge3fp.th.jpg
Imagine being one of those judges and trying to choose the single best beer from all those samples in front of you... those beers were just the ones that *advanced* from their respective flights and weren't all the total entries.
-- Gary F.