Better than I expected?????

So this weekend while having a few beers with friends, homebrewing came up in conversation. Quickly realizing that my Gold Ale and Honey Amber Ale were ready to drink. I shot around the corner to my house and filled up a 6 pack with three of each style.

I passed tasters around to my friends and we all sampled the beer. Being very critical of my own work, I thought it was good, but not nearly as good as everyone was raving about. They began discussing my beer, talking about the different flavors that they could taste. I didn't hear a bad comment about it.

I listened to what they had to say, and once I paid more attention to it, it became clear to me that I wasn't giving myself enough credit. I am thoroughly happy with what I have come up with. Perhaps it is pure luck, but I think this beer (Primarily the Honey Amber) is something that I should reproduce and do yet again.

Along those lines, I was thinking of perhaps entering into a competition. Whether or not I get entirely annihilated by the competition, I think it will be a fun event. If nothing else, it will be a great networking opportunity and a good chance to develop some good ideas and share my thoughts with experience brewers.

These are the things that are currently going through my mind and I'm going to look very closely into what Philadelphia has to offer along the lines of competitions. Clearly, just starting out, I don't want to jump right into the upper echelon type competitions just yet.