Judge and Steward Registration is Open

If you have not registered and are willing to be a volunteer, please register.

If you have registered, log in and then choose Edit Account from the My Account menu indicated by the icon on the top menu.

Entry Registration is Open

Thanks for your interest in our homebrew competition! Please read all the information below in detail. If you have additional questions, don't hesitate to contact us.

Although this is an official AHA sanctioned competition, we really want this to be a local competition, so we are limiting it to residents of the greater-Cleveland, Ohio area. This includes people who live in the following counties: Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga, and Lake. Thank you for understanding!

Although attendance and pouring of your homebrew at the Oktoberfest party and awards ceremony on 9/26/26 is not required, it is strongly preferred! Your homebrew is what makes the party possible! If you happen to win a medal, it is much more fun for the attendees and other brewers to be able to sample the winning beers! An Oktoberfest party without beer would just be sad!

• Beers will be judged based on the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines.

• Being that this competition is based around an Oktoberfest party, eligible categories are limited to the following:
  4 Pale Malty European Lager
  5 Pale Bitter European Beer
  6 Amber Malty European Lager
  7 Amber Bitter European Beer
  8 Dark European Lager
  9 Strong European Beer
  10 German Wheat Beer

• All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers (i.e., no use of commercial facilities or Brew on Premises operations, supplies, etc.).

• The competition organizers are not responsible for mis-categorized entries, entries received after the entry deadline, or entries that arrive damaged.

• The competition organizers reserve the right to combine styles for judging and to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries.

• Qualified judging of all entries is the primary goal of our event. Judges will evaluate and score each entry. The average of the scores will rank each entry in its category. Each flight will have at least one BJCP judge.

• Brewers are not limited to one entry in each category but may only enter each subcategory once.

• The competition committee reserves the right to combine categories based on number of entries. All possible effort will be made to combine similar styles. All brews in combined categories will be judged according to the style they were originally entered in.

• The Best of Show judging will be determined by a Best of Show panel based on a second judging of the top winners.

• Bottles will not be returned to entrants.

• To register and add entries, click on 'Log In' and then 'Register' at the top right of this page.

Entry Acceptance Rules

• Entrants should submit two (2) bottles per entry.

• Each entry will consist of capped, swing-top, or corked bottles that are void of all identifying information, including labels and embossing. Caps/corks should also be void of identifying information..

• 12oz brown glass bottles are preferred; however, green and clear glass will be accepted. Swing top bottles will likewise be accepted as well as corked bottles. Growlers or other larger vessels will not be accepted.

• Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.

• Completed entry forms can be printed directly from this website. Entry forms should be attached to bottle labels by the method specified on the bottle label.

• Please fill out the entry forms completely. Be meticulous about noting any special ingredients that must be specified. Failure to note such ingredients may impact the judges' scoring of your entry.

• Brewers are not limited to one entry in each category but may only enter each subcategory once.

Entry Fees

$10.00 (USD) per entry.

Entry Limits Per Participant

Per Style Entry Limit:

1

Pay Entry Fees

After creating your account and adding your entries to the system, you must pay your entry fee(s). Accepted payment methods are:

• Credit/debit card and e-check, via PayPal

BJCP 2015 / 2021 Styles Accepted

Indicates that the style's entry limit has been reached and no more entries of that style will be accepted.

Entry Delivery

Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Tuesday, August 25, 2026 11:00 AM, EDT — Saturday, September 12, 2026 4:00 PM, EDT.

Please pay attention to the notes provided for each drop-off location. There could be earlier deadlines for some drop-off locations listed, particular hours when entries are accepted, certain individuals to leave your entries with, etc. All entrants are responsible for reading the information provided by the organizers for each drop-off location.

The Cleveland Brew Shop
4403 St Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44103
(216) 574-2271

Judging Sessions

Judging Session 1
Sunday, September 13, 2026 11:00 AM, EDT

Judging Session 2
Sunday, September 13, 2026 1:00 PM, EDT

Judging Session 3
Sunday, September 13, 2026 3:00 PM, EDT

Judging Session 4 (BoS)
Sunday, September 13, 2026 3:00 PM, EDT

Best of Show

The top seven (7) beers from the first rounds of judging (one from each category) will go on to the Best of Show round to be judged again. A single Best of Show winner will be decided.

Awards

** The awards ceremony will take place at our Oktoberfest Party on 9/26/2026. Details and tickets for the party can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/5n8x3wd7

• If you are a competitor, judge, or steward for the competition, you get free entry to the party on 9/26/26.

• Medals will be awarded 1st place in each category. 2nd and 3rd will be recognized.

• The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with a single, overall Best of Show beer selected.

• Additional prizes may be awarded to those winners present at the awards ceremony at the discretion of the competition organizers.

• Both score sheets and awards will be available for pick up at the awards ceremony. Score sheets not picked up by 10/31/26 will be discarded. Results will be posted to the competition website by COB on 9/30/26.

Awards Ceremony

The Cleveland Brew Shop
4403 St Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44103
Saturday, September 26, 2026 6:00 PM, EDT