Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition 2026
Entries
Judging
Entry Registration
Account Registration
Judge Registration
Steward Registration
Entry Drop-Off
Entry Shipping
Rules
If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Sunday, November 1, 2026 6:00 AM, CST.
HHHC is a beer-only competition. It is AHA sanctioned and open to any amateur homebrewer age 21 or older.
All mailed entries must be received at the mailing location by the entry deadline - please allow for shipping time.
All entries must be paid for with credit card / PayPal. Checks will not be accepted. There is a limit of 650 paid entries. Once 650 paid entries have been registered and paid for, the unpaid ones will be disqualified.
All entries will be picked up from drop-off locations the day of the entry deadline.
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, mailed entries that are not received by the entry deadline, or entries that arrived damaged.
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.
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 entries 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. Medals will be awarded to the top three Best of Show beers.
Entry Acceptance Rules
Each entry will consist of two 10 to 12 ounce capped bottles void of all identifying information (raised lettering on re-used commercial beer bottles is OK). Printed caps are allowed, but must be blacked out completely. Cans will be accepted.
12oz brown glass bottles are preferred; however, green and clear glass will be accepted. Larger bottles are accepted, but not encouraged. If sending a larger bottle, two bottles must still be submitted.
Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.
Entry forms need not be submitted with entries. However, bottle labels are required which can be printed out from this site.
Brewers are not limited to one entry per category or style.
Entry Info
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 2021 / 2025 / 2026 Styles Accepted
Indicates that the style's entry limit has been reached and no more entries of that style will be accepted.
| 1A American Light Lager | 1B American Lager | 1C Cream Ale |
| 1D American Wheat Beer | 2A International Pale Lager | 2B International Amber Lager |
| 2C International Dark Lager | 3A Czech Pale Lager | 3B Czech Premium Pale Lager |
| 3C Czech Amber Lager | 3D Czech Dark Lager | 4A Munich Helles |
| 4B Festbier | 4C Helles Bock | 5A German Leichtbier |
| 5B Kölsch | 5C German Helles Exportbier | 5D German Pils |
| 6A Märzen | 6B Rauchbier | 6C Dunkels Bock |
| 7A Vienna Lager | 7B Altbier | 8A Munich Dunkel |
| 8B Schwarzbier | 9A Doppelbock | 9B Eisbock |
| 9C Baltic Porter | 10A Weissbier | 10B Dunkels Weissbier |
| 10C Weizenbock | 11A Ordinary Bitter | 11B Best Bitter |
| 11C Strong Bitter | 12A British Golden Ale | 12B Australian Sparkling Ale |
| 12C English IPA | 13A Dark Mild | 13B British Brown Ale |
| 13C English Porter | 14A Scottish Light | 14B Scottish Heavy |
| 14C Scottish Export | 15A Irish Red Ale | 15B Irish Stout |
| 15C Irish Extra Stout | 16A Sweet Stout | 16B Oatmeal Stout |
| 16C Tropical Stout | 16D Foreign Extra Stout | 17A British Strong Ale |
| 17A1 Burton Ale | 17B Old Ale | 17C Wee Heavy |
| 17D English Barley Wine | 18A Blonde Ale | 18B American Pale Ale |
| 19A American Amber Ale | 19B California Common | 19C American Brown Ale |
| 20A American Porter | 20B American Stout | 20C Imperial Stout |
| 21A American IPA | 21B Specialty IPA | 21B1 Belgian IPA |
| 21B2 Black IPA | 21B3 Brown IPA | 21B4 Red IPA |
| 21B5 Rye IPA | 21B6 White IPA | 21B7 Brut IPA |
| 21C Hazy IPA | 22A Double IPA | 22B American Strong Ale |
| 22C American Barleywine | 22D Wheatwine | 23A Berliner Weisse |
| 23B Flanders Red Ale | 23C Oud Bruin | 23D Lambic |
| 23E Gueuze | 23F Fruit Lambic | 23G Gose |
| 24A Witbier | 24B Belgian Pale Ale | 24C Bière de Garde |
| 25A Belgian Blond Ale | 25B Saison | 25C Belgian Golden Strong Ale |
| 26A Belgian Single | 26B Belgian Dubbel | 26C Belgian Tripel |
| 26D Belgian Dark Strong Ale | 27A Historical Beer | 27A1 Kellerbier |
| 27A2 Kentucky Common | 27A3 Lichtenhainer | 27A4 London Brown Ale |
| 27A5 Piwo Grodziskie | 27A6 Pre-Prohibition Lager | 27A7 Pre-Prohibition Porter |
| 27A8 Roggenbier | 27A9 Sahti | 28A Brett Beer |
| 28B Mixed Fermentation Sour Beer | 28C Wild Specialty Beer | 28D Straight Sour Beer |
| 29A Fruit Beer | 29B Fruit and Spice Beer | 29C Specialty Fruit Beer |
| 29D Grape Ale | 30A Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer | 30B Autumn Seasonal Beer |
| 30C Winter Seasonal Beer | 30D Specialty Spice Beer | 31A Alternative Grain Beer |
| 31B Alternative Sugar Beer | 32A Classic Style Smoked Beer | 32B Specialty Smoked Beer |
| 33A Wood-Aged Beer | 33B Specialty Wood-Aged Beer | 34A Commercial Specialty Beer |
| 34B Mixed-Style Beer | 34C Experimental Beer | LSX1 Dorada Pampeana |
| LSX2 IPA Argenta | LSX3 Italian Grape Ale | LSX4 Catharina Sour |
| LSX5 New Zealand Pilsner |
Drop-Off Locations
Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Monday, November 23, 2026 8:00 PM, CST — Friday, December 4, 2026 5:00 PM, CST.
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.
225 E Main St, Belleville, IL 62220
(618) 277-2550
*See website or call for hours
2275 Cassens Drive #126 Fenton, MO 63026
(314) 779-6258
*See website or call for hours
Shipping Info
Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location Monday, November 23, 2026 8:00 PM, CST — Friday, December 4, 2026 5:00 PM, CST.
Ship entries to:
Alpha Brewing Company c/o HHHC
4324 Fyler Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63116
Packing and Shipping
Carefully pack your entries in a sturdy box. Line the inside of your carton with a plastic trash bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Please do not over pack!
Write clearly: Fragile. This Side Up. on the package. Please only use bubble wrap or foam pads as your packing material.
Enclose each of your bottle labels in a small zip-top bag before attaching to their respective bottles. This way it makes it possible for the organizer to identify specifically which entry has broken if there is damage during shipment.
Every reasonable effort will be made to contact entrants whose bottles have broken to make arrangements for sending replacement bottles.
Judging Sessions
Post-Sort (TBD if needed)
Saturday, December 5, 2026 4:00 PM, CST
Sunday Afternoon (TBD if needed)
Sunday, December 6, 2026 12:30 PM, CST
Monday Evening
Monday, December 7, 2026 6:00 PM, CST
Wednesday Evening
Wednesday, December 9, 2026 6:00 PM, CST
Thursday Evening
Thursday, December 10, 2026 6:00 PM, CST
Friday Evening
Friday, December 11, 2026 6:00 PM, CST
Saturday Morning
Saturday, December 12, 2026 9:00 AM, CST
Saturday Afternoon
Saturday, December 12, 2026 1:00 PM, CST
Best of Show
Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category/table. The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with first, second, and third place Best of Show beers selected.
Best of Show winners will also receive a separate award in addition to their category 1st place medal.
Awards
Medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each category/table. The 1st place entry in each category will advance to the Best of Show (BOS) round with first, second, and third place Best of Show beers selected.
Electronic judging will be performed, which allows scores and scoresheets to be available immediately upon posting of results. It is possible (although not very likely), that a judge will prefer to use paper scoresheets. In that case, the scoresheet will be scanned and available likely the day after awards.
Awards Ceremony
Kirkwood Community Center
111 S Geyer Rd, Kirkwood, MO 63122
Saturday, December 12, 2026 7:00 PM, CST
Circuit Qualification
We are proud to be included on the the following circuits:
- Midwest Homebrewer of the Year (MWHBOY) - http://midwesthomebrewer.com/
- Circuit of America - https://www.masterhomebrewerprogram.com/circuit-of-america/
Volunteers
Judges and Stewards
If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Sunday, November 1, 2026 6:00 AM, CST.
Staff
If you would like to volunteer to be a competition staff member, please register or update your account to indicate that you wish to be a part of the competition staff.
Staff can indicate their availability for the following non-judging sessions:
- Entry Sorting – Saturday, December 5, 2026 1:00 PM, CST
Other Volunteer Info
Please sign up to judge and help us out!
Ranked beer judges are highly sought-after for this competition. However, if you are not yet ranked, we will pair you with an experienced, certified or higher judge.
If you have never judged before, sign up to be a steward and learn the ropes!
Sponsors
Contact
Use the links below to contact individuals involved with coordinating this competition:
- – Organizer
- – Head Judge(s)