You’ve been brewing for a while now, the last batch was probably your best yet, and someone — maybe a mate, maybe a stranger on a homebrew forum — said “you should enter a competition.” The idea is flattering and terrifying in equal measure. What if the judges hate it? What if you bottle-bomb the judging table? What if your “amazing” IPA turns out to be just average? Here’s the thing: entering your first homebrew competition will make you a better brewer, regardless of the result. And the UK has more competitions than you’d think.
In This Article
- Why Enter a Homebrew Competition?
- UK Homebrew Competitions Worth Entering
- How Homebrew Judging Works
- Choosing Which Beer to Enter
- Preparing Your Entry
- Packaging and Shipping Your Beer
- Common Faults Judges Look For
- What to Do with Your Feedback
- Becoming a Beer Judge Yourself
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Enter a Homebrew Competition?
Honest Feedback from Trained Palates
Your mates will tell you your beer is great even if it tastes like band-aids and wet cardboard. Judges won’t. They’ll tell you exactly what’s wrong, using specific terminology, and give you actionable notes on how to fix it. After entering three competitions over the past year, the feedback sheets alone have taught me more about my brewing faults than any book or YouTube video.
A Benchmark for Your Brewing
Without external feedback, you have no idea how your beer stacks up. That IPA you’re proud of might be genuinely excellent — or it might have a diacetyl issue you’ve gone nose-blind to. Competition judging gives you an objective benchmark against style guidelines and other brewers’ efforts.
The Community
Homebrew competitions in the UK are remarkably friendly. They’re not elitist gatekeeping events — they’re gatherings of people who love making and talking about beer. You’ll meet brewers at every level, swap tips, and probably pick up a few recipe ideas. The social side is worth the entry fee alone.
It’s Cheap
Most UK competitions charge £3-8 per entry. For that, you get structured feedback from at least two trained judges, a score, and the chance of a medal or certificate. Compare that to the cost of a professional beer evaluation and it’s extraordinary value.
UK Homebrew Competitions Worth Entering
The National Homebrew Competition (NHC)
Run by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), this is the biggest and most prestigious homebrew competition in the UK. Regional heats feed into a national final, and winning it carries genuine bragging rights. Categories cover everything from milds and bitters to IPAs, stouts, and speciality beers. Entry typically opens in spring with judging through summer.
- Entry fee: About £5-7 per entry
- Categories: 20+ beer styles plus cider and mead
- Format: Regional rounds → national final
- When: Spring entry, summer judging
- Who should enter: Everyone — beginners compete alongside experienced brewers, and the regional heats are lower pressure than you’d expect
London Amateur Brewers (LAB) Competition
One of the best-organised homebrew competitions in the country. LAB runs an annual competition open to all UK homebrewers, not just Londoners. The judging standard is high — many judges are BJCP-certified — and the feedback sheets are detailed and constructive.
- Entry fee: About £5 per entry
- Categories: BJCP-aligned style categories
- Format: Single round, all entries judged together
- When: Usually autumn
- Who should enter: Intermediate to advanced brewers wanting detailed BJCP-style feedback
Bristol Homebrew Competition
Run by Bristol Homebrew, this is a well-regarded regional competition with a friendly atmosphere. It’s a good first competition if you’re in the South West — the judging is fair, the organisers are welcoming, and the event itself is enjoyable.
Scottish Homebrew Championship
For brewers north of the border, this is the main event. Organised by Scottish homebrew clubs, it covers a full range of styles and attracts a strong field. The feedback quality has improved markedly in recent years.
Club-Level Competitions
Almost every homebrew club in the UK runs internal competitions. These are the perfect starting point — low pressure, friendly judging, and you’ll get immediate verbal feedback alongside the written sheets. Search for homebrew clubs near you through CAMRA or local brewing forums.
How Homebrew Judging Works
The BJCP System
Most serious UK competitions use the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines, or at least a system heavily influenced by them. Judges score your beer on a 50-point scale across five categories:
- Aroma (12 points) — does it smell like the style it’s supposed to be? Any off-aromas?
- Appearance (3 points) — colour, clarity, head retention, carbonation
- Flavour (20 points) — the big one. Malt and hop balance, finish, aftertaste, bitterness
- Mouthfeel (5 points) — body, carbonation level, warmth, creaminess, astringency
- Overall impression (10 points) — how well it represents the style, drinkability, craftsmanship
What the Scores Mean
- 0-13: Problematic — significant faults, possibly infected or badly off-style
- 14-20: Below average — noticeable issues that need addressing
- 21-29: Good — solid beer with room for improvement
- 30-37: Very good — few faults, well-made, style-appropriate
- 38-44: Excellent — outstanding beer, competition-worthy
- 45-50: World class — exceptional, rarely awarded
Most decent homebrewers land in the 25-35 range on their first entries. Don’t expect 40+ without years of refinement. A score of 30 on your first attempt is something to be proud of.
Judging Panels
Each entry is typically assessed by two or three judges. They taste independently, then discuss and calibrate their scores. This consensus approach reduces the impact of individual bias. You’ll receive each judge’s written feedback sheet, which is where the real value lies.
Choosing Which Beer to Enter
Enter Your Most Consistent Beer
Don’t enter your one-off experimental smoked chilli porter. Enter the beer you’ve brewed multiple times with consistent results. If you know the recipe works reliably, you can be confident the bottle you send represents your brewing ability rather than a lucky (or unlucky) batch.
Match the Style Precisely
This is where many first-time entrants trip up. Judges assess against specific style guidelines, and a brilliant beer entered in the wrong category will score poorly. An American Pale Ale entered as an English Bitter will be marked down for being too hoppy and too pale — even if it’s delicious. Read the category descriptions carefully and be honest about which one your beer fits.
Consider Less Competitive Categories
IPAs and pale ales attract the most entries. Your excellent IPA is competing against dozens of others. A well-made mild, porter, or wheat beer might face only a handful of competitors. This is tactical, not cheating — judges still score on absolute quality, but fewer entries mean a better chance of placing.
Fresh Beer Wins
Judges taste a lot of beer in a session. Fresh, vibrant beers with clean flavours stand out against older bottles that might have oxidised or developed stale notes. Time your brewing so the beer is at peak condition on judging day. For most ales, that’s 4-8 weeks from brew day. For lagers, allow longer.
Preparing Your Entry
Bottle Quality Matters
Use clean, unchipped, standard 500ml brown glass bottles. Crown caps, properly crimped. No swing-tops unless the rules specifically allow them. No labels — judges should assess blind, and many competitions require unmarked bottles. It sounds fussy, but professional presentation signals that you take your brewing seriously.
Carbonation Is Critical
Under-carbonated beer tastes flat and lifeless. Over-carbonated beer gushes on opening and gives the judges a face full of foam instead of a clean pour. Aim for style-appropriate carbonation — a hefeweizen should be more carbonated than a mild. If you’re bottle conditioning, record your priming sugar calculations carefully and give the bottles enough time at room temperature.
Fill Two Extras
Most competitions require two or three bottles per entry. Fill at least two extras from the same batch. If one gets damaged in shipping or is obviously off when you open it for a last-minute check, you’ve got backups. Label the bottoms with a pencil (not pen, which can smear) — just enough to tell them apart from your other brews.
Taste Before You Send
Open one bottle from the batch a week before the deadline. I once sent an entry without tasting it first and discovered — via the judges’ feedback — that it had developed a slight vinegar edge from a slow infection I hadn’t noticed. Lesson learned. If something’s wrong — infection, off-flavours, flat carbonation — you still have time to enter a different beer. Sending a beer you haven’t tasted recently is gambling.
Packaging and Shipping Your Beer
Wrapping
Each bottle needs individual wrapping. Bubble wrap works, cling film around the cap prevents it catching on anything. Place bottles upright in a sturdy box with dividers or padding between them. The box should pass the “shake test” — if you can hear anything moving, add more padding.
Shipping Labels
Mark the box as “Fragile — Glass” and include “This Way Up” arrows. Inside the box, include your entry form and any labels the competition requires (usually adhesive tags with your entry number). Don’t include anything identifying — judging is blind.
Timing
Ship at least 3-4 days before the deadline. Royal Mail Tracked 48 or a courier service like DPD both work. Beer doesn’t love being shaken in the back of a van for days, so faster delivery is better. Never use untracked services — if the parcel goes missing, you’ve lost your entry with no proof of posting.
Temperature
If you’re shipping in summer, consider the temperature. Beer sitting in a hot delivery van for 48 hours won’t taste the same as beer stored at cellar temperature. Ship early in the week to avoid parcels sitting in depots over weekends.
Common Faults Judges Look For
Off-Flavours
- Diacetyl — buttery, butterscotch. The most common homebrew fault. Usually caused by removing beer from yeast too early. Fix: extend fermentation by 2-3 days and do a diacetyl rest at 18-20°C
- Acetaldehyde — green apple, raw pumpkin. Sign of incomplete fermentation. Fix: let the yeast finish its job
- DMS (dimethyl sulphide) — cooked sweetcorn, canned vegetables. Common in pale lagers. Fix: vigorous rolling boil for at least 60 minutes with the lid off
- Oxidation — cardboard, sherry, stale bread. Caused by oxygen exposure after fermentation. Fix: minimise splashing during transfers, purge bottles with CO2 if possible
- Phenols — band-aid, medicinal, smoky (when unwanted). Usually from wild yeast, chlorinated water, or certain yeast strains at high temperatures. Fix: use campden tablets to treat water, control fermentation temperature
Appearance Issues
- Haze — acceptable in wheat beers and NEIPAs, a fault in most other styles. Fix: cold crash, use finings, improve mash technique
- Poor head retention — flat-looking beer with no foam. Fix: include wheat or oats in the grain bill, ensure your glasses and bottles are scrupulously clean
Style Mismatches
The beer might be excellent but not match the entered category. An over-hopped best bitter, an under-attenuated IPA, a stout that’s too thin — these all lose points for style accuracy, not quality.
What to Do with Your Feedback
Read It Twice
First read: emotional. You’ll focus on criticisms and feel defensive. Second read: analytical. This is where you spot the patterns. If two judges independently mention diacetyl, you have a diacetyl problem. If one mentions it and the other doesn’t, it might be borderline.
Look for Patterns Across Entries
If you enter multiple beers and the same fault appears on several feedback sheets, that points to a process issue rather than a recipe issue. Persistent oxidation notes suggest your transfer technique needs work. Recurring “thin body” comments suggest your mash efficiency or grain bill needs attention.
Make One Change at a Time
Don’t overhaul your entire process based on one competition. Pick the most significant fault, fix it, brew the beer again, and re-enter. This iterative approach — essentially the same method we use when learning to brew from scratch — is how you go from 25-point beers to 35-point beers.
Keep a Feedback File
Store every feedback sheet you receive. Over time, you’ll build a picture of your brewing trajectory — faults that have been eliminated, scores that have improved, styles that you’ve mastered. It’s surprisingly motivating to look back at early feedback and see how far you’ve come.
Becoming a Beer Judge Yourself
Why It Helps Your Brewing
Judging other people’s beer sharpens your palate faster than anything else. You learn to identify faults at low thresholds, understand style nuances, and appreciate the difference between good and excellent. Every experienced homebrewer I know says judging transformed their own brewing.
The BJCP Route
The Beer Judge Certification Program offers a structured path from novice to master judge. The entrance exam is online and covers beer styles, brewing process, and evaluation techniques. The tasting exam requires assessing beers under exam conditions with a proctor. UK sittings are organised periodically — check the BJCP website for upcoming dates.
Start as a Steward
Most UK competitions need stewards — volunteers who help with logistics, pour samples, and assist judges. Stewarding gives you a front-row seat to how judging works without any pressure to evaluate beer yourself. Many competitions let stewards observe judging sessions, which is an invaluable learning opportunity.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many bottles do I need to submit per entry? Most UK competitions require two or three 330ml or 500ml bottles per entry. Check the specific competition rules — some accept 330ml bottles, others insist on 500ml. Always fill a couple of extras in case of breakage or last-minute quality checks.
Can beginners enter homebrew competitions? Yes. Most competitions welcome all skill levels, and the feedback alone is worth the entry fee. Regional and club-level competitions are particularly beginner-friendly. Nobody expects perfection from a first entry — judges are looking to help you improve.
Do I need to brew a specific style or can I enter anything? You enter a specific category that matches your beer style. Getting this right is crucial — judges score against style guidelines, so a brilliant beer in the wrong category will score poorly. If you are unsure, read the category descriptions or ask the competition organisers.
What does it cost to enter a homebrew competition? Typically £3-8 per entry, plus postage. Some competitions offer discounts for multiple entries. The feedback you receive is worth far more than the entry fee — think of it as a professional evaluation for the price of a pint.
How long does it take to get feedback after a competition? Usually 4-8 weeks after the judging session. Some competitions are faster, some slower. National competitions with multiple rounds take longer. The feedback arrives as written score sheets with detailed comments on every aspect of your beer.