World Cup of Beer
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 Tuesday, December 15, 2026 9:00 AM, PST.
This competition is AHA sanctioned and open to any amateur homebrewer age 21 or older.
We will be accepting beer, cider, and mead entries this year
All shipped entries must be received at the shipping location by the entry deadline - please allow for shipping time. Late entries will not be judged nor returned to the sender.
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.
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, (and most cases there wil be two or three.) The top scoring beers from categories where therer are 7 or more entries will advance to a Mini Best of Show round where the the top three finishers will be identified by the most senior BJCP judges we have available.
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 who will judge the first place winners from each category
Bottles will not be returned to entrants.
Entry Acceptance Rules
Each entry will consist of three capped or corked bottles that are void of all identifying information, including labels and embossing. Cans will also be accepted. Printed caps are allowed, but must be blacked out completely.
12oz brown glass bottles are preferred; however, green and clear glass will be accepted. 12 and 16 ounce cans will also be accepted. Large format bottles and swingtop bottles will not be accepted. Bottles will not be returned to contest entrants.
Completed entry forms must be submitted with all entries, and can be printed directly from this website. Entry forms should be attached to bottle labels by rubber bands only. DO NOT tape or glue entry forms to bottles.
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.
Entries which were registered and paid for, but were not shipped in time to be sorted, will neither be judged or returned nor will payment be refunded. Payment must be made using this website via the online payment method. If the entrant tries to pay for an entry through another means (e.g. a paper check, a random PayPal transfer, etc), the entry will not be judged or returned and payment may be refunded at the discretion of the competition coordinator.
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 2015 / 2021 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 | LSX3 Italian Grape Ale |
| LSX5 New Zealand Pilsner | C1A New World Cider | C1B English Cider |
| C1C French Cider | C1D New World Perry | C1E Traditional Perry |
| C2A New England Cider | C2B Cider with Other Fruit | C2C Applewine |
| C2D Ice Cider | C2E Cider with Herbs/Spices | C2F Specialty Cider/Perry |
| M1A Dry Mead | M1B Semi-Sweet Mead | M1C Sweet Mead |
| M2A Cyser | M2B Pyment | M2C Berry Mead |
| M2D Stone Fruit Mead | M2E Melomel | M3A Fruit and Spice Mead |
| M3B Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Mead | M4A Braggot | M4B Historical Mead |
| M4C Experimental Mead |
Drop-Off Locations
Entry bottles accepted at our drop-off locations Saturday, January 23, 2027 10:00 AM, PST — Thursday, March 4, 2027 12:00 PM, PST.
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.
More Beer & More Wine
995 Detroit Ave, Concord CA, 94518
925-771-7107
Oak Barrel Winecraft
1443 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley CA 94702
510-849-0400
Shipping Info
Entry bottles accepted at our shipping location Saturday, January 23, 2027 10:00 AM, PST — Thursday, February 4, 2027 12:00 PM, PST.
Ship entries to:
Oak Barrel Winecraft
1443 San Pablo Avenue , Berkeley, CA 94702
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 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
Preliminary Session 1
Saturday, February 13, 2027 9:00 AM, PST
Preliminary Session 2
Saturday, February 13, 2027 1:00 PM, PST
Preliminary Session 3
Saturday, February 20, 2027 9:00 AM, PST
Preliminary Session 4
Saturday, February 20, 2027 1:00 PM, PST
Preliminary Session 5
Saturday, February 27, 2027 9:00 AM, PST
Preliminary Session 6
Saturday, February 27, 2027 1:00 PM, PST
Best of Show
The 2026 World Cup of Beer Best of Show winner will be honored with an engraved plaque on the Sierra Nevada World Cup Trophy on display at Oak Barrel in Berkeley.
Awards
The awards ceremony will take place once judging is completed.
Places 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 a single, overall Best of Show beer selected.
Results will be posted to the competition web site after the ceremony concludes.
Scoresheets will all be available electronically within a few days following the awards ceremony.
Any ribbons not picked up at awards ceremony will be mailed to the winning contestant.
Awards Ceremony
World Cup of Beer
Faction Brewing, 2501 Monarch St, Alameda CA
Sunday, February 28, 2027 1:30 PM, PST
Volunteers
Judges and Stewards
If you are willing to judge or steward, please return to register on or after Tuesday, December 15, 2026 9:00 AM, PST.
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.
Other Volunteer Info
Volunteer information coming soon!
Sponsors
Contact
Use the form below to contact a competition official. All fields with a star are required.