How to Enter

Dates

The 2024 Denver International Beer Competition will be held on Saturday, November 16th and Sunday, November 17th.  The entry window will open on June 1st and a link will be posted below.  The entry window will remain open until the start of the festival. Entries must be received between Monday, November 11th and Friday, November 15th.  Entries should be sent to the following address:

Denver International Beer Competition
ATTN: Kyle Dobbins
630 Utica Street
Denver, CO  80204

Entry Fees and Requirements

Entries are limited to beers, meads, and ciders.  The entry fee for each individual product is $95.

Any brewery licensed for production in the country in which they are established is eligible to enter.  By submitting your entry, you are certifying that you are in compliance with all TTB (U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) regulations. 

All entries can be completed through our competition’s entry page on the Beer Awards Platform, and a link will be posted when registration opens.  Your payment constitutes your entry.

There is no limit to the number of products that you may enter, however each product may only be entered into one category.

DO NOT SHIP YOUR BEER UNTIL THE WEEK OF THE FESTIVAL.  Please see the packing and submission guidelines for more information.  

Any entry may be canceled at any time, however, the refund deadline is October 31st.  Entries canceled before this deadline will receive a full refund.  Entries canceled after October 31st will not have any part of their entry fee refunded.

Categories

Any beverage may be entered using any of the categories established by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).  For beer, the Denver International Beer Competition will be using the 2021 categories.  These categories may be found here.  Please note that many of the main categories have sub-categories.  For example, Light Lager is further broken into Light American Lager, Standard American Lager, Premium American Lager, Munich Helles, and Dortmunder Export.

Meads and ciders may be entered using the 2015 style guidelines, which are the most recent guidelines for both meads and ciders.  Mead categories can be found here.  Cider categories can be found here.

Any beer which does not fit into any of the established categories may be entered using Category 34, “Specialty Lager”.  This includes experimental ales and lagers.

Packing Guidelines

Please package your product so that it can withstand rough handling during transport.  When shipping beer, you should hope for the best handling but plan for the worst.  If broken containers are received, we will do our best to judge your entry using any beer in the non-broken containers.  If so many containers break that we cannot judge your product, we will reach out to you and see if another submission can be made in time for judging, however if replacement product does not arrive in time, we will not be able to judge your entry.  No refunds will be given for broken containers, however we may be able to give you credit towards the following years competition.

Submission Guidelines

We need a minimum of four containers.  This allows one container for initial judging, a container for any retastes (judges in the past have asked to have a sample from another container to check for consistency), and one to two bottles for any final round judging.  Most breweries send in a four or six pack of cans or bottles.  If you are sending larger containers such as bombers or crowlers, a minimum of three are needed.

Please, if possible send product in cans or bottles without any brewery labels on them.  Once you register your entries through Reggie Beer, you can print competition labels for you entries.  Apply a competition label to each entry and send them in with these labels only.

Due the time it takes to ship crowlers and their shorter shelf life, the DIBC strongly recommends against crowlers unless you are a brewery in the Denver Metro area and will be dropping them off in person.  Any crowlers received will be judged, but quality of product issues due to shelf-life issues crowlers cannot be accounted for by the BJCP judging staff).

Kegs of any size are NOT accepted, and any delivered growlers or kegs will not be judged or returned.

Please do not ship any alcoholic product by US Mail. Please, if possible, do not ship product in packing peanuts.

If your beer arrives late but during the competition, we will do our best to accommodate judging.  If your product arrives after judging is completed, it will not be adjudicated.  No refunds can be given for entries which are not adjudicated due to late arrival.

Breweries in the Denver metro area may elect to have their beers picked up the week before the festival, or to drop them off at the festival location in person.  Details for each of these options will be communicated closer to the competition.

Entries from breweries outside of the United States MUST include the following label:

For sample purposes only. Not for resale. Government Warning:(1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems.

Judges and Judging

All adjudication is conducted by BJCP certified adjudicators and is done in a double-blind format.  The adjudication follows the rules set forth by the BJCP and takes five factors into account: Aroma (12 points), Appearance (3 points), Flavor (20 points), Mouthfeel (5 points), and Overall Impression (10 points).  There are fifty points possible in total.  Beers will be given a final rating of Outstanding (45-50 points), Excellent (38-44 points), Very Good (29-37 points), good (21-29 points), Drinkable (14-20 points) or problem (0-13 points).

 Following the competition, score sheets and adjudicator feedback will be provided for all submissions

Awards

All awards are based on the score of each entry, with the exception of the Best in Show Award. The award types are as follows:

  • Gold (Beers that achieve a score of 40 or more points by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
  • Silver (Beers that achieve a score of 35 to 39 points by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
  • Bronze  (Beers that achieve a score of 30 to 34 by the BJCP Certified Adjudicators)
  • Best in Show (Top three scoring beers, top three ciders, and top three meads entered into the competition)

All award-winning breweries will receive a press package with awards won and publicity materials.  Digital images of the awards, logos, and photos will also be sent.  Additionally, a diecast medal will be sent to your brewery following the competition.